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The Japanese-American Association of Lane County, Oregon, Oral History Collection

Oral histories of Japanese Americans living in Eugene, Lane County, Oregon, and the vicinity; they document the immigrant experiences of the interviewees' families; their WWII experiences in internment camps; and their lives in the years after the war.

Edward T. Miyakawa

Edward T. Miyakawa was born in Sacramento, California, in 1934. His grandfathers both had emigrated from Japan and owned a strawberry and grape farm among other businesses. His father graduated from Harvard University in the 1920s. Miyakawa's family (his parents and two sisters) were forced to relocate to Tule Lake Relocation Camp in 1942. After a year, they settled in Colorado and eventually moved back to California. Ed served in the Navy during the Korean War, 1952 - 1956, and lived in Japan for two years. He graduated from the University of California in 1962 with a degree in architecture. He and his wife moved to Oregon and settled in Waldport where he practiced architecture for thirty years and raised a large family of adopted children. In 1979 he wrote a book, Tule Lake, about experiences in the relocation camp. He served on the Japanese American Memorial committee in Eugene

Link to interview.