Ryan Kawamoto

Ryan Kawamoto has been with Kinetic Productions based in Honolulu, Hawai‘i for over 11-plus years where he has established himself as a television and film director with a flair for storytelling. He is a fourth-generation Japanese American. His great grandparents emigrated to Hawai‘i from the Yamaguchi and Hiroshima Prefectures during the early 20th century. Kawamoto served as the writer, director, and editor of The Untold Story: Internment of Japanese Americans in Hawai‘i.

Updated October 2013

Stories from This Author

Stepping into the Past: Behind the Scenes of The Untold Story: Internment of Japanese Americans in Hawai‘i

Oct. 11, 2013 • Ryan Kawamoto

As a Hawai‘i-born Yonsei filmmaker, I’ve always been deeply interested in films about the Asian American experience. In 2009, I was asked by the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i (JCCH) to write and direct a short documentary about the Honouliuli Internment Camp located on the island of O‘ahu. As we began to conduct interviews with survivors and their families, I was exposed to a wealth of oral histories and research that was nearly lost or forgotten. When the short film …