David Favrod

GAIJIN (japanese word meaning the foreigner) «For a Swiss, I am a Japanese and for a Japanese I am a Swiss or rather a gaijin.» My name is David "Takashi" Favrod. I was born on the 2nd of July 1982 in Kobe, Japan, of a Japanese mother and a Swiss father. When I was 6 months old, my parents decided to come and live in Switzerland, more precisely in Vionnaz, a little village in lower Valais. As my father had to travel for his work a lot, I was mainly brought up by my mother who taught me her principles and her culture. When I was 18, I asked for double nationality at the Japanese embassy, but they refused, because it is only given to Japanese women who wish to obtain their husband’s nationality. It is from this feeling of rejection and also from a desire to prove that I am as Japanese as I am Swiss that this work was created. The aim of this work is to create “my own Japan”, in Switzerland, from memories of my journeys when I was small, my mother’s stories, popular and traditional culture and my grandparents war narratives. "Mishiko" Mishiko was the sister of my grandfather. She fell ill during the second war, doctors diagnosed him a poor hydration. In Japan, watermelon is a fruit very popular and holds much water. So his parents gave him regularly. But the diagnosis was wrong and it was a salt deficiency and she died. "BAOUMMM" The sound is a very important part of the war memories of my grandparents (the explosions, the holings, the sound of the B-29,...) Baoummm is the onomatopoeia of an explosion. The onomatopoeias are painted on the print. "Raid B29 du 18 juin 1945 sur Kobé" 1945, my grandparents were 17 years old and lived at Kobe. The Bombing of Kobe in World War II was part of the strategic bombing campaign waged by the United States of America against military and civilian targets and population centers during the Japan home islands campaign in the closing stages of World War II. The 18. of june, 25 B29 laid naval mines in several areas. ...