The Japanese American Chamber of Commerce (JACC) of Washington State is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that was founded in 1992 by current Chairman, Scott Oki and the late Taul Watanabe. Our mission is to promote increased understanding of Japanese and Japanese American culture and heritage. We do this by encouraging and nurturing leadership and collaboration while promoting values of integrity, excellence and entrepreneurship.
The JACC is primarily volunteer-driven and encourages projects that grow into self-sustaining concerns that benefit the community. We believe the startup and nurturing of successful projects foster vibrant leaders in the community. We attract successful, forward-looking individuals who like to work with others on projects. We also raise funds to benefit the good works of other nonprofit organizations.
Previous projects of the JACC include the Executive Development Institute (EDI), a program to help advance Asian Americans into leadership positions in large public and private institutions; and Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project, an educational organization that preserves the personal testimonies of Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II. EDI and Densho are both thriving nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations being led by committed leaders.