Inouye, Irene Hirano
name: label: Collection Interviewer
content: Moniz, Amanda B.
label: Collection Creator
content: National Museum of American History (U.S.)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Philanthropy Oral History Collection
label: See more items in
content: Philanthropy Oral History Collection / Born-Digital Interviews
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 62.2 Megabytes (Total Running Time: 01:04:47, audio/mp3)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2017-06-08
container: label: Container
content: Item NMAH-AC1582-BDA0004
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Audio
label: Type
content: Megabytes
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Irene Hirano Inouye (née Yasutake) (b. 1948 - d. 2020) is the founding president of the U.S.-Japan Council, an organization she helped to create in 2009. She discusses her family's history with Japanese incarceration camps during World War II and her diverse  childhood experience with church and community service in Gardena, Los Angeles County, California. Inouye describes her path in the nonprofit world,  Asian American outreach, her work at a women's clinic, and her role as director and president of the Japanese American National Museum. Inouye also shares an insight into her experiences as a board member of foundations and cultural institutions, including the Kresge foundation and the Ford Foundation. She passed away three years after the interview was conducted.