Established in 2003, the Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Washington (JCCCW) is dedicated to preserving, promoting and sharing Japanese and Japanese American history, heritage and culture. Founded by a group of longtime community leaders, we are a true community based organization with staff, board members, volunteers and supporters from throughout the Seattle area Japanese and Japanese American communities.Located at the site of the original Seattle Japanese Language School founded in 1902, JCCCW is deeply rooted in the history of the community and committed to preserving its legacy for future generations. Currently our facilities and programs attract thousands of visitors from all over Washington State including Spokane and Yakima as well as visitors from out of state locations such as Portland, Oregon, Boise, Idaho and Honolulu, Hawaii. While we are based in the Japanese American community we serve a wide constituency that is characterized by its diversity with people from different generational, socio-economic, educational and ethnic backgrounds actively participating in our programs and events.
In service of its mission, JCCCW currently provides a wide variety of educational, cultural, recreational and social programs as well as a central community gathering place for events and functions. In order to meet the growing needs, interests and concerns of our constituents we provide over fifteen different programs to the public including the Omoide Project, the Seattle Japanese Language School, the Northwest Nikkei Museum, the Nikkei Bunko Japanese Language Library, the Resource Center as well as a variety of other Japanese cultural and martial arts classes. As a central community gathering place, JCCCW sponsors and organizes annual community events and fundraisers including the Tomodachi Luncheon, Kodomo no Hi, All Things Japanese Sale, Bunka no Hi, and Mochitsuki that attract thousands of participants and volunteers.
JCCCW is proud to be a place where people of all backgrounds can learn the Japanese language and traditional arts, celebrate Japanese and Japanese American history and culture, and build intercultural understanding.