http://www.toleranceeducationcenter.org/PDFs/MiyatakeExhibitr.pdf

The Tolerance Education Center is honored to present a very special program in commemoration of Japanese-American Internment Day of Remembrance, Saturday, February 19, 2011, at 6:00 p.m. Our observance will begin with the opening of the Toyo Miyatake photography exhibit depicting life at Manzanar Internment Camp. Joining us to speak of his experiences, will be Mas Okui who was an internee at Manzanar as a young boy.

The annual Day of Remembrance commemorates the impact of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, which on February 19, 1942 authorized the forced removal of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans from their homes on the West Coast because of government fears that their loyalties lay with Japan.

The Miyatake family scrambled to pack what it could into a few suitcases before being shipped off to the Manzanar internment camp located on Highway 395 near Independence, CA. The family patriarch, Toyo Miyatake, who owned a successful photography business in Los Angeles, sneaked a camera lens and film into his luggage even though internees were forbidden to carry such items as cameras, binoculars, flashlights and other mechanical devices for fear that they might be used to spy on behalf of Japan. Once inside the camp, he then constructed a makeshift camera with that smuggled lens and a camera body made from wood and began shooting pictures depicting life inside Manzanar. Unfortunately, Toyo passed away in 1979, but several members of the Miyatake family (including his children who were also interned) will be in attendance at the event.

Special guest speaker Mas Okui was 10 years old when he, his father and his 2 brothers were forced to pack up and relocated to Manzanar. Mas, a retired school teacher and renowned fly fisherman, will speak of his family’s experiences as a backdrop to the photo exhibit. Mas will speak in the theater at 7:00 p.m.

All are welcome to the February 19 exhibit opening, lecture and reception. Admission is free. Limited lecture seating will be awarded on a first-come-first-served basis.

The Toyo Miyatake Photo Exhibit will run for approximately 3 months.