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Interview with Miyoshi Noyori, 1986 May 28-31

 Item
Identifier: SR 980

Scope and Contents

Audio recording of interview with Miyoshi Noyori (1901-1993), with abridged English transcript (27 pages). Noyori immigrated to the United States from Japan with her husband, Seizaburo Namba, in 1919. They worked on a farm in Dee, south of Hood River, Oregon, and had five children. After Seizaburo Namba died, she remarried, to Shigeji Noyori, in 1939. Miyoshi Noyori discusses her early life in Okayama Prefecture, Japan; her marriage to Seizaburo Namba; and her journey to the United States in 1919. She talks about adjusting to life in the Hood River Valley, about raising a family while working on farms, and about her experiences after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. She discusses life at the Tule Lake incarceration camp in California and the Heart Mountain camp in Wyoming. She speaks about returning to the Hood River Valley after the end of World War II, and briefly discusses discrimination Japanese Americans experienced when they returned, particularly the removal of Japanese American names from a veterans memorial, including the name of her son, Isao Namba. She closes the interview by reflecting on her experiences as a first-generation Japanese American woman.

Dates

  • Creation: 1986 May 28-31

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Extent

7 audiocassettes (5 hr., 55 min., 48 sec.)

Language of Materials

From the Collection: Japanese

From the Collection: English

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

The sound quality of the recordings on Tape 4 and Tape 7 is very poor.

Repository Details

Part of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library Repository

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