(Image Credit: Curtis Goodrum / CFJC Today)

By Curtis Goodrum

JAPANESE MUSEUM

Kamloops Japanese Canadian Museum and Archives opens to the public after year-long remodel

Feb 11, 2026 | 6:30 AM

KAMLOOPS – The Kamloops Japanese Culture Centre reopened to the public after a year of renovations to its storage facilities and basement museum. 

The museum is a combination of Canadian-Japanese history and the history of the Kamloops Japanese Canadians Association (KJCA). 

The centre is open every Tuesday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The facility was last renovated after a fire in 2008, making this refresh needed. 

“We were really fortunate enough to receive a grant from the Japanese Legacy Society. It was a major grant of $250,000, which allowed us to enlarge our museum and update the storage and increase the storage, and the lower part of the basement has been renovated,” Shirley Nakashima, co-chair of the Kamloops Japanese Canadian Museum and Archives says. 

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Maps, information boards and antique items are on display in the new room, celebrating the history of Japanese Canadians.  

“Now we’re in our new museum, renovated museum, and all we saw were yellow walls, these walls there. We split it up into two,” Nancy Keller, the co-chair of the Kamloops Japanese Canadian Museum and Archives says. 

The two sections, one about the history of the KJCA and one about the history of Japanese Canadians coming to Kamloops. 

“We decided that the early stages of Canadian history, we would keep it like a permanent section, and then we would change all the other areas accordingly with new activities,” Keller says. 

Museum staff are excited to display the new look to the public, and this year are celebrating a milestone in the community. 

“This year, being our 50th anniversary, is a special year for us. There will be events happening throughout the coming year. The anniversary of the 50th is actually December, and began in 1976,” Nakashima says. 

More information about the museum is available on their website.