Japalive / Japalive

• Chiaki Iida (2nd year, Department of Painting)
• Nan Shuu (2nd year, Department of Architecture)
• Mayu Sokabe (2nd year, Department of Imaging Arts and Sciences)
• Yan Jun Li (2nd year Masters Student, Department of Imaging Arts and Sciences Graduate School of Art and Design)
• Li Hau Wan (2nd year, Department of Architecture)

The title “Japalive” contains the word “live”, which can mean many different things. As in, for example, how we live, being alive, and even live broadcast. Our idea was to use this project to convey those meanings to people in ASEAN countries through the Japanese lifestyle, the people who live in Japan, and live broadcasts. Put simply, this project is all about “Living in Japan”. We want to highlight the appeal of studying in Japan through dramatic stories told in settings with uniquely Japanese elements.

Thinking that many overseas students might be concerned about fitting well into the Japanese environment or about feeling lonely, we conceived this project to help eliminate that anxiety or unease. Overseas students tend to worry most about being able to make friends and whether they will be accepted in Japan. So we thought it would be good to record the everyday life of an overseas student in Japan from her perspective and show the process of the central character in the video becoming good friends with almost all the people around her. So this shows an experience in Japan where an overseas student thinks, “I’m really glad I came to Japan!”