Behind The Lens: The Journey Documenting Navajo Code Talkers

Japanese photographer Kenji Kawano is working on a project nearly 5 decades in the making: preserving the legacy of Navajo Nation Code Talkers.

For nearly 50 years, Kenji Kawano has been photographing the Navajo Code Talkers of World War II throughout America's southwest. 

"It became my life's work," Kawano said.  

It's a lifelong project that began with a ride from a stranger while hitchhiking on the Navajo Nation.