An Alien Species in a New Environment

LOCATION: Intersection of Jackson and 6th Street.

DESCRIPTION: Through this piece, you will experience how three communities were treated as ‘alien species’ but supported each other when they arrived in a new environment, almost a hundred years ago.

In order to complete the story, you need to visit all of the four corners of the intersection of Jackson Street and 6th Street. The blue flowers are chrysanthemums, representing the Chinese community. Magenta flowers represent the Japanese community. Yellow flowers are sampaguita, which represent the Fillipino Community. Finally, purple flowers (plum blossom) represents the mixture of the three communities.

PART 1, located in front of Kogura’s Store, depicts the arrival of Japanese community and Filipino community.

PART 2, located in front of Kazoo Restaurant, represents the growth of the three communities.

PART 3, located in front of Union Bank, depicts the fire that happened in 1887 to the Chinese community before the arrival of the other two communities.

PART 4, located at the corner of the new apartment complex currently under construction, represents the future of San Jose Japantown.

SAMPLE:

ARTIST’S STATEMENT: Before participating in this project, I did not know that San Jose Japantown was Chinatown before. I did not like learning history, but now I know history is there to understand who I am and to build a better future. I hope my piece gives an idea of a rough flow of the history of the town and helps you get interested in exploring the history and yourself further.

ARTIST PROFILE:

Tamaki Fujino was born and raised in Osaka, Japan. After she graduated from high school, she moved to the Bay Area to study Digital Media Art. She is interested in AR installation using projection mapping with sensors to explore psychological ideas: what human emotions are and where they come from.