she is at the japanese american museum here in japantown with much more on on the history of japanese americans, and particularly those here in san josellie. >> yeah, the history, art and culture documented commemorated here at the san jose at this museum, the japanese american museum of san jose. and when you walk in, it's about 6400ft!s. it looks like your typical museum with a lot of historical photos, maps and artifacts. but i want to take you inside a very unique exhibit here that people who come to this museum can walk into. this is a replica of one of the barracks. this touches on a very sad, dark chapter of u.s. and california history, when there were about 120,000 japanese americans and american citizens who lived on the west coast, who were forced to live in these internment camps all along the west coast. and so when they formed this museum, when they started collecting artifacts and started interviewing people to put some of these exhibits together, they talked to some of the people in the survivors who had lived in these internment camps, and they helped put together this replica of the barracks where people had to live.

yeah, the history, the art and culture behind me is the japanese american museum of san jose. seum, the idea behind it really started back in the 1980s. so a few decades ago, that's when a group of community members started collecting family histories, historical photographs, private memoirs of japanese and japanese american families who had settled in the santa clara valley, many of them contributing to the agriculture industry here. and they have some of the original early 20th century farming equipment and vehicles on display inside the museum. also collected and on display some powerful mementos documenting a dark chapter in u.s. and california history. when about 120,000 japanese amicand american citizens were incarcerated against their will and forced to live in internment camps during world war two. inside this museum is a replica of one of those barracks people were forced to live in. now, museum curators say they want this place to prompt and facilitate discussions and reflection on the issues of civil liberties, race relations and american identity today. so along wit