YAMAMOTO HANA

Yokosuka, where I have been conducting a field survey for a year and a half – a land where many Americans reside in Japan because of the U.S. military base, although I have never had the opportunity to naturally engage with US military personnel in the past. Even though I live in Yokosuka some day, such opportunities must to be rare, and relying on a “teach/be taught” structure may be the quickest way to get involved with someone, and may even have a win-win effect. That assumption led a way to make this 7 minutes video work.

In this work, “M.S.S.” shows a person when studying the slang used on a U.S. military base (=military slang sayings) by herself, in preparation for the day when he/she will be involved with U.S. military people. Without knowing whether there is a chance to actually use those slangs in conversation. The aim of the video work is taking back to my hands an ability for being optimistic in self-taught language studying, in the society of Japan that learning English is a kind of way to be privilege. In between the act of studying a language that one does not know when one will use it, and the act of learning a language that, even if learned, seems to be useless(but being fullfilled with hope).