Ayumi Nakanishi 331 Octavia St. #8 San Francisco, CA 94102 415-431-9478 ani@sfsu.edu
What made me start this project four years ago was the anger and confusion. I started taking pictures of Japanese punks after I was beaten up by teenagers in England just because they didn't like that I, an Asian looked like a punk kid. Six to seven of them surrounded me throwing stones and bricks at me and pushed me around. What I understood was they didn't like my dyed hair and dress. Although the beatings among teenagers were common there, I was too scared to tell anyone about it. Racism or discriminations often happened to me in England as people shouting at me "Fucking Japanese, piss off," "No Chinese!" or "Go back to where you belong." But punks and blacks, even skin heads were always nice to me. Being punks or loving the punk spirit as Japanese who might have been influenced by the Western culture does not necessarily mean that they are "fake" or "imitation" of the so-called "original punks."
