Synopsis 2

2.

50 years after the World War II the economic bubble burst; many people dyed their hair around the same time as Western companies opened their doors.

Japan used to be considered a part of the Third World until 1962. Japanese people emigrated for economic reasons, mainly to the U.S., Brazil, Peru and Hawaii. After WW II, Japan's reconstruction was remarkable and in the late 80's until mid 90's it was considered as one of the richest countries in the world. In mid 90's,when the economic bubble burst Western companies (mainly American) opened their branches in Japan and our tradition of economic structure shifted from Capitalism to Liberalism.

The second part of the film is about the quest for an answer to the question “What is Japan and what does ‘Japanese’ mean?”

I attempted to put this part into the context of a specific moment in time: the moment after the economic bubble had burst and what had happened before this, between the early 20th century and 1976.

The sound is an extract of an interview I did with diverse age groups of ‘Japanese’ people on Maui.
Answers are in Japanese and English. People talk about the land, about memory, family, roots, common Japanese behaviors, attitudes and paying taxes. I thought it was interesting to include the paying of taxes because it shows that the economy is important in Identity.

For the visual part I mainly chose images from both of my grandmothers’ and my mother's photo albums. . I attempt to follow their footsteps because they are my roots. I mix them with some images I shot in Tokyo. At the beginning of the wig sequence I try to make myself look like a Caucasian woman to show that time has changed. This is the opposite of the traditional images of a family album. I attempt to create a confrontation between these images. Gradually, again visually, I become a Japanese woman who holds on to her wig and chooses to keep it and not let go.