The youngest and only boy of four children, Masao Kanemoto grew up in San Jose, California. It was not until after World War II that he picked up the name 'Wayne.' When he attended San Jose High School his father asked him what he wanted to do for a living:

> I told my father I didn't want to be a farmer. Let me go to college. He says, what the hell you want to go to college for. And I said, I want to be a lawyer. That must have been, to an Issei farmer especially a farmer father, it must have been a shocking thing. But you know, he didn't bat an eye. I'm sure he was thinking a lot. So he said okay, and he let me go to college. I went to San Jose State College while the rest of the family stayed home and worked. [Oral History]

Even though he did not complete his undergraduate degree, Santa Clara University made an exception for him and allowed him to enter their graduate law program. Three years later he earned his law degree in the first few months of the Pacific War:

> I was taking my final examination when the order to evacuate came. And the dean of the law school let me, gave me a passing grade without having to take the final examination. I cut couple of courses because of the evacuation order. So I graduated and got my diploma at Santa Anita. [Oral History]

When eviction notices first came, his parents moved east of Highway 99 to avoid relocation, but Kanemoto stayed behind to finish his degree. All people of Japanese ancestry were sent to Santa Anita Assembly Center, and Kanemoto went with his law books to study for the Bar. Ironically, Kanemoto pleaded with camp officials to let him take the bar exam, and eventually they gave him a military escort to Los Angeles. In October 1942, he joined the rest of his family in Gila River, AZ Detention Camp:

> Of course, I was pretty upset. I knew that unusual things were happening and we were being selected because we were Japanese. Japan, after all, bombed Pearl Harbor and started a shooting war... Asians, and Japanese in particular before all this, we were not looked up on favorably, we were discriminated and a lot of prejudice and when the started, especially by Japan bombing Pearl Harbor, I knew there was going to be hell to pay.
> I was very optimistic, maybe kind of dumb and naive, but, you know, I was optimistic that some day things are going to get better and I'm going to fight for that. That's the attitude I had, I was going to roll with the punches and some day our turn will come and things will get better. [Oral History]

In November, he received a letter telling him he had passed the bar and he started working for the detention camp's Project Attorney.
When Army recruiters came to camp in May 1943 Kanemoto signed up for the 442nd and left by bus to Camp Shelby, Mississippi for basic training. One day Kanemoto was surprised to find that he was listed as one of the soldiers to be sent to Camp Savage, Minnesota for language training even though no one had ever interviewed him for his language ability.
Later, he learned that a friend from Gila River Detention Camp had become an instructor at Camp Savage and signed him up. When Kanemoto arrived at the Military Intelligence Service Language School (MISLS) they tested his ability:

> The first day you go, they give you a Japanese primer and says translate that. It was a good thing it had pictures... It was a story about Momo Taro and I was able to tell them a story about Momo Taro from what my mother told me. I couldn't read. [laughter]. [Oral History]

Out of 42 levels, they placed him in the 41st, second from the bottom. He studied diligently and was assigned to the Voice Intercept Section of Signal Intelligence to intercept enemy radio transmissions. In 1944 Kanemoto shipped out to India and worked in North Burma until the end of the war:

> We're doing voice intercepting of the Japanese Arm Air Force primarily because we were interested n Air Force Intelligence. And one of the sections our group was to determine where the enemy's signals were coming from. They had the call letters of the Japanese Army Stations, all these field stations. They had them identified. [Oral History]

Luckily, he did not encounter much combat action, and after the war ended he returned to the U.S. without stopping in Japan.
In March 1946 he returned to San Jose to live with his parents and began working at Santa Clara University's law library and a year later started his own practice on First street in San Jose. When Congress passed the Evacuation Claims Act, which allowed evacuees the chance to reclaim $2500 of their lost properties, Kanemoto helped members of the Japanese American community make their claims.
Around the same time the Japanese American Citizens' League began challenging the Alien Land Law, which forbade Asian immigrants from becoming naturalized citizens, and other prejudiced and discriminatory laws. Congress then passed the Naturalization Act and then the McCarren Act of 1952, which removed racial barriers for immigration. Subsequently, many Issei, first generation Japanese immigrants, began to apply for citizenship and Kanemoto helped set up citizenship classes in San Jose.
As one of the only Japanese American lawyers in the Santa Clara valley, Kanemoto helped many people draw up documents and leases, and assisted with the buying and selling of real estate. He began to work with the Democratic Party and helped organize and served as chairman of the Nisei Democrats of Santa Clara County.
When Pat Brown ran for Governor, he put together a fundraising dinner together, the first ever in the county. Later the JACL encouraged him to seek an appointment for a judgeship and the Democratic party supported his nomination. In January of 1962 he took office. After three successive six-year terms, he retired in 1982.