Tributaries: Reflections of Aiko Suzuki

This video installation was inspired by Susan Sontag’s writing about cancer, the terminology and language that’s used, how war terminology is used by oncologists when talking about cancer and treatments. Aiko then relates this to the second world war, pointing out the irony in the fact that the chemotherapy she was receiving, you know, contained mustard gas and other chemicals that are, or were used in warfare. So that’s what the whole exhibition was about, and I think that was her way of processing and coming to terms with the disease, her own involvement in it, and the victimization one feels as a cancer patient: you’re out of control of your body, and the medical system is basically controlling you.
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Wreck Beach Butoh

Fortunately, there is no wind. The sky has darkened, however, and a few small drops of water start to create small explosions on my skin. Around me are the white-painted bodies of more than twenty other beings, naked like myself. We appear to be walking slowly, but inside time has a different velocity. With each step, a week goes by. In one step we travel 100 kilometers. Our bodies lean forward to fight with resistance against the force of energy that confronts our bodies. We edge toward the ocean.
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Does “Japadog” Sound Offensive?

In the Japanese language, the name is pronounced “Japadoggu” Because long words both foreign and Japanese are often abbreviated, “Japa,” as short for Japan or Japanese, is sometimes used. At an international university I attended in Tokyo in the 1960s, students from abroad were officially referred to as “non-Japanese” to avoid using the word “foreigner.” Japanese students and staff found “non-Japanese” too much of a mouthful, so they all said “non-Japa” instead. Pretty soon, Japanese students with mixed cultural and educational background were being called “han-Japa,” meaning “half-Japanese.”
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Japonica – Eri Yoshida

Born and bought up in Vancouver’s Japantown, I aspired to join the Japanese Army as Kagoshima Prefecture had produced famous soldiers and my dad had served in the Russo-Japanese War, but in my late teens, when I discovered the atrocities committed against Chinese civilians, I decided to join the Canadian Army. However, I wasn't accepted in Vancouver, so I moved on to Moose Jaw, riding the box cars. When fellow hobos broke into an empty passenger coach, we were all arrested and charged. Instead of paying a fine, I chose to be jailed for seven days.
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