Removed by Force

The Eviction of Hawai‘i’s Japanese Americans During World War II  

For more than fifty years, approximately 1,500 Japanese Americans in Hawai‘i kept silent about crimes committed against them by the United States government, when they were forcibly removed from their homes at gunpoint, without warning or due process, following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941. These American citizens were unable to take most of their personal or household belongings and were barred from returning home during World War II. Many never returned to their neighborhoods even after the war. Removed by Force: The Eviction of Hawai‘i’s Japanese Americans During World War II, chronicles this sordid history in vivid detail, recounting individual cases in 23 geographic areas throughout the Territory of Hawai‘i, as well as the subsequent decades of nationwide redress and apology efforts and, in particular, the work of the Japanese American Citizens League of Honolulu (JACL), the civil and human rights organization that initiated legal claims against the US government.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

William M. Kaneko is a lawyer and civil rights advocate who, as President of the Honolulu JACL, coordinated redress efforts resulting in $30,000,000 in compensation for the Japanese American victims. Sara N. Lin is an accomplished journalist and public policy advocate who has been a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journaland is a founding editor of Honolulu Civil Beat.

ISBN 978-1-958701-30-0

Release date: May 2026

260 pages, softcover