Japanese American National Museum

My mom bought this for me when we went to the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. 

We got it that day as a piece of "evidence" that I visited the the museum, picked it up in the museum shop. For my Japanese class in high school we had to take trips to experience different cultural events as an assignment. We would then come back to class and present what we found and did to the class. 

I think I have one other purple-ish shirt. They're not very common to buy in the first place but I don't really go looking for purple shirts unless they have a very particular reason for being purple. Since, I assume, the museum is a non-profit they're trying to save money on their merchandise. I say that because their shirt is just a standard purple size M with their logo screened on in one color back and front without a gradient or halftone dots.

The logo for the Japanese American National Museum is a simplified set of crashing waves inside a rhombus. They describe it as "the co-mingling of influences and the never ending sweep of generations. Two waves, one from the East, one from the West, represent the joining of cultures." On the front, it is on the left of the chest and tiny. It has the words "Japanese American National Museum" under it. On the back the logo is huge and there is no text at all.

I like to wear this casually whenever I can. It represents my affection for the Japanese culture. But not in an "OMG I <3 ANIME" way, this design is subtle and refined. I want it to communicate that while I enjoy the finer things from Japan I also am working to understand and respect their heritage. There is an upper echelon of otaku who have transcended the fandom and appreciate Japan as a whole and not just the sum of its visual media. Also, since I used to go to the museum when I was in middle and high school on trips to Little Tokyo, it reminds me of those good times. 

The most memorable day I had to wear this was when I presented my Japanese experience project for that semester. Matsumoto Sensei had us present the projects in Japanese -or at least the best we could muster- in front of the class. Sadly my Japaneses hasn't gotten much better since then but my appreciation for their culture has come a long way.