Film unearths history of isle internment camp

An untold story is always a powerful lure, especially if it happened in your own backyard. Ryan Kawa­moto, a local film and TV director with Kinetic Productions, found one near Kunia, on plantation land used during World War II as an internment camp.

What happened there, in a place the internees called Hell Valley, inspired the 36-year-old Kawamoto to create a documentary that he will screen today for the first time. "The 1,800: The Untold Story of Internment in Hawaii" will be shown — although in a draft form — at the annual day of remembrance ceremony sponsored in part by the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii and the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii. The free event starts at 1 p.m. at the University of Hawaii law school.

"There are many great documentaries about the internment camps on the West Coast, but I found that very little was done about the camps in Hawaii," Kawa­moto said. "This documentary focuses on those stories of those who were interned in Hawaii."

The largest of the camps used by the U.S. Army was in Hono­uli­uli Gulch and housed Japa­nese and Italian internees from Hawaii as well as prisoners of war shipped to the islands. It was wedged on 160 acres between Oahu Sugar Co. fields just west of what is now Kunia Road.

The Army demolished the camp after the war, leaving only two structures and a landscape dotted with concrete slabs. As the property changed hands, the memory of the camp faded so much that the current generation of farmers in the area was never sure whether the stories about a camp with a barbed wire fence, guard towers and armed soldiers were true.

But volunteers at the cultural center located the camp site 10 years ago, and their efforts prompted a National Park Service archaeologist to begin an excavation that helped unearth the lost chapter of history. It is the last of the detention camps in the U.S. to be studied.

Their work is part of the documentary, said Kawa­moto, who has been to Hono­uli­uli about a dozen times. He’s tried to imagine being imprisoned there.

"The physical nature of the valley really made you feel isolated from the outside world, and it was hot," he said. "A brutal environment."

Many of those who were interned at the camp have died, but Kawa­moto has a pair of interviews with the late Harry Urata, a local music teacher who was held at the camp and was interviewed for two other projects. Kawa­moto also has photographs of the camp, including a collection of more than 100 photos that were donated recently by the Arkansas family of a former camp guard.

Hawaii’s internment experience, although often the focus of scholarly papers, was seldom discussed among those who lived it, Kawa­moto said.

"They were kind of ashamed, and some were even viewed suspiciously in their own community," he said. "They were ostracized for a period of time."

As he’s tried to convince surviving family members to be interviewed, Kawa­moto has found that the memory of that shame remains.

"Even though it happened almost 70 years ago, when I interviewed family members it is still incredibly painful for them," he said. "When they really think about it, you can see how it haunts them. Almost every interview I’ve done with a family member ends up with them crying on camera."

AND that’s a wrap …

Mike Gordon is the Star-Advertiser’s film and television writer. Read his Outtakes Online blog at honolulupulse.com. Reach him at 529-4803 or email mgordon@staradvertiser.com.