Jatiwangi International Performance Artist
in Residence 2006
in Jatiwangi, Indonesia
16 Dec. 2006
ARAI Shin-ichi (Japan)
"Viva! Globalisation"

ARAI said
My name is ARAI from Tokyo, Japan.
I was born in 1959 in Toyama city 600km from Tokyo.
So I am now 47 years old.
My house is facing a big road to Tokyo. In those days, my house was almost completely surrounded by rice fields and some petrol stations only. Basically,my home town was very country side.

In our primary school days in Japan, we had school lunch with bread, powdered milk and some Japanese dishes. And I had eaten neither bread nor milk at my home. We ate rice and miso soup at home. The bread was made from expired flour and powdered milk also, both of which are used as livestock food in the United States. The United States gov't sold them to the Japan gov't. So we were familiar with bread and milk. Sometimes I asked my mother to buy bread and milk. But she said that they were too expensive to buy for us.

ARAI asked
some audience to come and splash them over his head and the baloon globe
then ask them to massage him.



I also liked Coca-Cola very much but I only could get it once or twice a year. When our relatives visited us at New Years or some other festival, they gave me small money and I ran to buy Coca-Cola. My parents asked me why I liked Coca-cola, which tasted like medicine and was very expensive!



In those days TV spots always sung the "DEL MONTE tomato ketchup" song. We happily sung "DEL MONTE tomato ketchup" song without knowing what the ketchup was. After I knew what ketchup was, I liked it very much and ate it with everything. But my parents never used it.

ARAI dancing and singing
"DEL MONTE tomato ketchup" song



In my house there was Ajinomoto, monosodium glutamate, on the kitchen table.
Usually my family used it in almost all the dishes.
Ajiomoto was said to make people clever, especially children.


ARAI Said
40 years ago, my home town was very country side. But nowadays there are no rice fields, only McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, 24 hr open convenience stores like "Circle K", and US style road side restaurants.

Also in our Japanese kitchen there is no Ajinomoto now. But all the food we buy from the store contains it already.

My father, who died 4 years ago, liked Kentucky Fried Chicken very much in his last years.
He also liked Japanese sake very much and drank sake and ate Kentucky Fried Chicken.
He drank sake with Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Now my mother lives alone in my home town. She told me that sometimes she does not like to make her meal so she buy bread and milk at the convenience store, "Circle K" , for her lonely dinner.



ARAI Shouted
"Viva! Globalisation"
"Viva! milk and Bread"
"Viva! Coca-Cola"
"Viva! Del-Monte, Sunkist and Dole"
"Viva! Ajinomoto"
"Viva! Nike"
"Viva KFC and McDonald's"
"Viva! Globalisation"

ARAI Shin-ichi (Japan)
"Viva! Globalisation"

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