It took many years for Asawa to make the Japanese American Internment Memorial sculpture in San Jose. Prior to beginning her working drawings, she researched the story of Japanese immigration to the United States, the internment in general, and how it affected the local Japanese living in Santa Clara County. Many people from the community contributed their stories and memories. Families who were interned also sent in their mon or family crest design so that they could be included in the sculpture as well. Then Ruth and Nancy Thompson began designing the layout of the sculpture based on the historical information, and the story Ruth wanted to tell. Ruth's husband did the architectural drawings for the form she would need to sculpt the panels; her sons built the form using wood, and then Ruth, Nancy Thompson, and Ruth's son, Paul Lanier, began sculpting the bas-relief in dough. There are two panels, 14'4" long by 5' high. It took Ruth and her assistants almost a year to sculpt the panels in dough. It took another six months for the foundry men at Mussi Artworks Foundry to cast the panels in bronze, weld them together, and put the patina or finish on them. You can view the completed Japanese American Internment Memorial at South 2nd and San Carlos Streets in San Jose, California. 

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