George Takei and Brad Takei have pledged their entire estate, valued at more than $21 million, to the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) in Little Tokyo.

The gift, announced Wednesday, Sept. 23, is the couple's latest commitment to the museum George Takei helped found in 1985. JANM is the sole beneficiary of the estate, according to the museum's press release. Since 1989, the Takeis have given a combined $22.5 million to JANM, including this pledge, according to the Rafu Shimpo.

The estate gift pushes JANM's "Our Promise" fundraising campaign to $135 million. The campaign launched in 2019 with an $85 million goal, according to a separate museum announcement in March. As of Dec. 31, 2025, it had raised $108 million from roughly 33,000 donors.

A 9,200-square-foot gallery inside JANM's renovated Pavilion will bear the Takei name. The space will house the museum's new core exhibition, "In the Future We Call Now: Realities of Racism, Forging Democracy."

"We wanted our gift to ensure that for generations to come, the museum will remain a vital and active place for our community to come together to learn, reflect, and be inspired to continue the fight for a more just future," George Takei said in the announcement.

Takei, an actor and social justice activist, was incarcerated as a child during World War II. He was held at the Rohwer concentration camp in Arkansas and the Tule Lake segregation center in Northern California. His graphic memoir "They Called Us Enemy" and children's book "My Lost Freedom" chronicle those experiences.

A founding JANM trustee, Takei chaired the museum's board from 2000 to 2004 and still serves on it. JANM awarded him its Medal of Honor for Lifetime Achievement and Public Service in 2015. In 2017, he donated more than 175 linear feet of personal artifacts, photographs, scripts and correspondence to the museum's permanent collection.

Among those items: a sculpture his father carved while the family was incarcerated at Rohwer and the Olympic torch Takei carried ahead of the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

Ann Burroughs, JANM president and CEO, called the couple's commitment an honor. She said the gift will help the museum "keep those memories alive, shape a more just future, and carry on the legacy of George and Brad Takei for generations to come."

The couple held their wedding at JANM. An image from the ceremony appears in the "Onward" section of the new core exhibition.

JANM's Pavilion, closed since Jan. 6, 2024, for renovation, is scheduled to reopen Jan. 23, 2027. The renovated building will include interactive StoryFiles featuring Takei and other Japanese American concentration camp survivors, the new Hirasaki National Resource Center, and the Kosasa Education Center with two classrooms serving more than 14,000 K-12 students each year. Hours will be Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with Friday hours extended to 8 p.m.