2016
Film Installation
On the evening of July 19, 1946, more than 200 residents in Japan from the former Japanese colony of Taiwan rode across Tokyo in a sedan and numerous trucks, with jeeps in the lead. The group of youth in their teens and 20s clashed with police at a checkpoint outside the Shibuya Police Station. Due to a previous feud, violent gangs became actively involved fighting with the police against the Taiwanese, resulting in a shoot-out and many deaths, in what was to become known as the “Shibuya Incident.” This became a trigger in Japanese society for the strengthening of prejudice against “third-country nationals.” This work narrates the tense moments before the shoot-out in the closed container of a large truck, enacted by 41 young Taiwanese immigrants and residents living in Tokyo today. The performers’ telling of their own experiences reveal a glimpse of the discrimination against non-Japanese which continues to this day.