Japanese American National Museum Exclusive Home Movie Footage Included in Ken Burns' Documentary, "The War", Set to Premiere Sept. 23

Exclusive home movie footage from the permanent collection of the Japanese American National Museum is included in filmmaker Ken Burns' latest documentary, "The War", a 15-hour examination of America's role in World War II, which will premiere on PBS stations across the country on Sunday, September 23.

Known for his landmark documentaries such as "The Civil War", "Baseball" and "Jazz', Burns and his staff previewed parts of his latest work at the Japanese American National Museum for a group of board members and volunteers. Before showing selected clips which included his use of National Museum archival home movie footage taken by Japanese Americans during their unconstitutional mass incarceration by the U.S. government during the war, Burns explained, "We really wanted to come and share this with you to first of all thank you for honoring us with your trust in (using material from) your archives. We're grateful that you thought that we were going to do a serious job."

"The Japanese American National Museum is pleased that Ken Burns and his staff utilized material from our permanent collection to help tell the Japanese American World War II experience in his latest documentary," said Irene Hirano, President & CEO of the National Museum. "The National Museum has the largest permanent collection devoted to the story of Japanese Americans and we were honored that when the time came to tell this important chapter of American history, Ken Burns and his staff chose to visit our Hirasaki National Resource Center. Because of this, millions of viewers will watch 'The War' and discover the Japanese American story."

Over six years in development, "The War" tells the story of how World War II affected America by gathering first-person accounts of individuals who lived in four cities: Mobile, Alabama; Waterbury, Connecticut; Sacramento, California; and, Luverne, Minnesota. Approximately, 7,000 Japanese Americans lived in the Sacramento area, which allowed the documentary to detail the story of U.S. government's illegal mass incarceration of 120,000 individuals of Japanese ancestry as well as the heroic military service of Japanese Americans in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Among those prominently featured from Sacramento are Robert Kashiwagi, who was imprisoned with his family at the Amache, Colorado camp, and subsequently volunteered for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team; Susumu Satow, another 442nd R.C.T. volunteer; and Tim Tokuno, who was already in the Army when the war began and who became a sergeant in the 442nd R.C.T.

Other Japanese Americans are also interviewed, including United States Senator Daniel K. Inouye of Hawai`i, who recalls his World War II experiences, from helping the wounded at Pearl Harbor to his joining the 442nd R.C.T., losing his right arm during battle and returning to civilian life. He ends up a lawyer and a statesman.

Burns explained during his visit to the National Museum, "This story of Japanese Americans is one of the most powerful of the through lines. And people just say, 'I heard of internment, but I had no idea of what it was like. I had no idea about the 442nd/100th. I had no idea what had gone on.' I think at the heart of our concern that we tell the story right is also a sense that we're all Americans. There's really no difference. And I think that this is the promise of America. Often delayed, often deferred. And in the case of Japanese Americans, horrendously abused. Not just in the internment camps, but also, obviously, in the way the 442nd was treated as cannon fodder to be used here to solve problems.

"And as regards to the American perspective, (we) tried to put our arm around as many experiences as we could and share them as our own. Flawed, filled with outrageous un-American things, but nonetheless, at the end, filled with all of the same things that we want. Same list of positive attributes that ended the war as opposed…the negative ones of jealously and anger and victimhood. But leadership and faith and extraordinary courage and the word that suffuses nearly every one of the chapters on Japanese Americans, which you know, of course, a word that has gone out of fashion and isn't used in this country since the 19th Century, which is honor. So we try to honor your contributions."

"The War", produced and directed by Burns and Lynn Novick, is scheduled to air over two weeks beginning Sunday, September 23, 2007, (four nights the first week and then three nights the second week), 8:00-10:00 p.m. ET (8:00-10:30 p.m. ET on three nights) on PBS. In addition to the national broadcast on PBS, "The War" will air simultaneously on PBS High Definition Channel with surround sound. PBS will repeat each episode the night it airs, stage marathon viewings on the weekends and launch the film as a weekly series after its first two-week run. The series will also be rebroadcast on PBS' World Channel following the original broadcast. A Web page dedicated to "The War" has been launched at www.pbs.org/thewar.

Los Angeles' PBS Station KCET will premiere "The War" at 8 p.m. on Sunday, September 23 with episode one. It will show the first four episodes beginning Sunday and through Wednesday, repeating each episode that same evening at 12:30 a.m. KCET will show each of the first four episodes consecutively on Sunday, September 30, beginning at 11 a.m., before showing episode five at 8 p.m. The final two episodes will be shown at 8 p.m. on Monday, October 1, and Tuesdays, October 2. For more information, go to www.kcet.org.

For more information, contact the Japanese American National Museum at (213) 625-0414.