The Japanese American Museum of Oregon (JAMO) in Portland preserves and shares the history and culture of the Nikkei community (Japanese emigrants and their descendants). Formerly known as the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, JAMO serves as a venue for culture and research as well as an invaluable resource for exploring Nikkei experiences and their role in Oregon’s multicultural community. Its permanent exhibit space highlights Issei immigration and early life in Oregon, Nihonmachi (Japantown), and the experience during World War II through Nikkei life today.
In early March, we invited JAMO to visit our downtown Portland Facility as part of our ongoing neighborhood and community outreach efforts. This visit sparked conversations about how we could best support their own community engagement goals. Together, we landed on providing their team with one of our Book Bike models and a custom design to celebrate their upcoming cherry blossom event. With this goal in mind, we designed a trike that could provide long-term versatility and create meaningful connections.
We sit down with JAMO’s Philanthropy Manager, Lauren Sadataki, to talk about their outreach endeavors. In this interview, we ask how their Book Bike from Icicle Tricycles continues to help those efforts and how a mobile utility cart allows them to attend and distribute materials more easily at local events.
“We realized our presence at the plaza was lacking.“
JAMO stewards the Japanese American Historical Plaza, located on the Portland, OR waterfront. This plaza raises greater public awareness about the diversity of cultural experiences in America. “Having the tricycle has been a great way to [make] our outreach a little more mobile.” Lauren says, when asked how the trike affects operations, “Instead of setting up a tent and a table at the plaza during the busiest times of the year, we’re able to just bring the tricycle over.” Lauren goes on to say how having a utility cart’s aesthetic, design and custom wrap yield an increase in public engagement as well. “We were just standing there for maybe 20 minutes, and had like 40 people come up to us as a result of the trike.”
Overall the utility cart proves incredibly helpful as an outreach tool, says Lauren, “The tricycle does drive people back [to the museum].”
Check out JAMO online at jamo.org to see all their events and exhibits, both current and upcoming!
