The Filmmakers

Creative Director: Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto-Wong

has been a koto performer for over 50 years, and a koto teacher for over 35 years.  She has produced and exhibited work dealing with the subject of Japanese traditional arts in the concentration camps in two live presentations in San Francisco and Los Angeles.  Her interest in this subject stems from the fact that her mother learned to play the koto at Topaz and Tule Lake camps.  She is a founding member of the world jazz group, the Murasaki Ensemble, which combines koto with traditional jazz instruments, such as guitar, bass and flute, with the rhythms from the Middle East, Latin and Western cultures.  Shirley has taught hundreds of students, in classes and privately, at UC Berkeley, and at public elementary and middle schools in the Bay Area.  Her koto studio is based in Oakland, California.

Project Manager: Pauline L. Fong

has a long background in working on Asian American civil rights and women’s issues, dating back to the 1960s.  She was one of the founders of the first Asian American economic development organization in the country, was part of the team that taught the first course on Asian American Women’s Studies at UC Berkeley, conceived and developed the Asian American Women’s Educational Equity Act project that addressed the issues of low career aspirations and salary levels.  She is an active volunteer of J-SEI, the major service organization serving the Japanese American population in the San Francisco East Bay.

Film maker: Joshua Fong,

a graduate of USC Film School, is an independent film maker who has been working in the Los Angeles area for the past 15 years.  His film making experience includes 3 independent feature films, documentaries (several of which were for Asian organizations), industrial films (including national and local award winning films), and short films (including an official selection for a film fest).  He has done a considerable amount of work with performance artists, including musicians and comedians, and filming at live venues.  In addition to his specific film making expertise, he brings other useful skills in interview techniques, putting subjects at ease with the camera.