The 2026 Pioneer Spirit Award honorees will be recognized during the Nisei Week Pioneer Spirit Awards Luncheon on Wednesday, August 19, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Omni Los Angeles Hotel at California Plaza, Bunker Hill Ballroom, located at 251 South Olive Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Tickets for the luncheon are $105 per individual seat or $1,050 per table of 10. Registration is available through NiseiWeek.org. Questions may be directed to pioneerluncheon@niseiweek.org.
Joyce Wakano Chinn – Nominated by Nikkei Women Legacy Association
Joyce Wakano Chinn has been an active leader in the Japanese and Japanese American community for 52 years. She started in the Nisei Week Foundation office in 1974, answering phone calls and performing light office work. Later as office manager, she became the heart and soul of the Nisei Week office. Joyce recruited and trained more than 150 young adults to volunteer at the Nisei Week Japanese Festival during her 50 years in the office. Even after retiring in 2024, Joyce continues to be a Nisei Week Foundation board member.
Joyce also serves as a board member of the Nikkei Women Legacy Association, an organization dedicated to recognizing the contributions of Nikkei women and preserving and promoting Nikkei cultural heritage. As part of the Nikkei Women Legacy Association’s Terasaki Grant, she mentored many seniors in the creative writing program at Sakura Gardens. She also helped them make memory books, now archived at UCLA.
She also served as the English secretary for the Japanese Women’s Society of Southern California. She later became president, serving for two terms. Joyce was also the co-chair of its annual Shinnenkai installation and spearheaded annual visits to the Kei-Ai nursing home with Christmas holiday gifts.
As a volunteer for the Japanese American Optimist Club, Joyce helped with its Halloween and Christmas parties for inner-city students, participated as a judge in an oratorical contest, and helped with its 5K run in Little Tokyo.
Her efforts as a board member with the Los Angeles Nagoya Sister City Affiliation have helped organize a children’s art exchange between the two cities. She has also been a member of Nisei Week delegation in Nagoya. As a volunteer for the Little Tokyo Senior Nutrition Services, Joyce gave monthly taxi coupons to low-income seniors.
Thousands of elementary students are fortunate to have been taught by Joyce during her 38 years as a school teacher at Vanalden Avenue Elementary School. Her 5th and 6th grade students learned more than just reading, writing and math, they learned so many life lessons from her.
Joyce has spent a lifetime nurturing, guiding the way for others to give back to the Japanese American community and beyond.