The Honolulu Chapter of the League of Japanese American Citizens presents “Forcibly Removed: The Exodus of Japanese Americans from Hawaii during World War II.”
Through personal interviews and accounts of affected people, advocates, volunteers, and government officials, this one-hour film chronicles the unique and relatively unknown experiences of 1,500 Japanese-Americans from 23 geographic areas of Hawaii who were deported, but not interned, during the WWII.
“Not many people know about the Japanese Americans living in Hawaii who were forcibly removed from their homes during the war with nowhere to go,” said Bill Kaneko, the film’s producer and past president of the Honolulu JACL. “It was devastating to hear their stories and it became really personal for me to do something about it.”
Kaneko, whose father-in-law was forcibly removed from his home in Kahuku, fought for the resettlement of 2,000 people of Japanese descent in Hawaii who had been interned, as well as 1,500 Hawaiians of Japanese descent who had been expelled but not imprisoned.
“These stories have gone unheard for far too long,” said Ryan Kawamoto, the film’s director and producer. “It was an honor to be a part of a project like this that captures a part of history that has been ignored.”
“Removed By Force” premiered June 29 at the Hawai’i Convention Center and will be shown at the 2023 JACL National Convention in Los Angeles.
JACL Honolulu will host the following public screenings of “Removed by Force” throughout the summer.
- July 8, 1:00 pm at Maui Nisei Veterans Memorial Center
- August 17, 7:00 pm at the Hawaii Convention Center
- Aug. 19, 10 a.m. at the Hawaii Convention Center
- Aug. 26 (preliminary) at Kauai Community College
- Sept. 23 at the Hawaii Japanese Center in Hilo
“It is important for our community to remember the illegal acts that took place during the war so that this does not happen again to another group of people,” said Minda Yamaga, president of the Honolulu JACL.
“Force Removed” was funded in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Japan Closed Places Grant Program. Sponsors include Hawaiian Electric Industries (HEI), Bank of Hawai’i, First Hawaiian Bank and Island Insurance.
For more information, visit jaclhonolulu.org.