<Begin Segment 55>

MT: Now, you brought at least one of those performances to Seattle, and how was the reception in places like Seattle or other places where there is a high Asian population?

RS: Well, the piece I brought to Seattle, I believe was called "California Sushi." Is that right?

MT: Well, there is one here written that has that name. [Laughs]

RS: Yeah. And I brought it to C.O.C.A. (Center on Contemporary Art), when Larry Reed was there.

MT: I was there.

RS: Oh, you were there?

MT: I saw that.

RS: Oh, I didn't know that. And that piece, of course, was quite different than the "7 Kabuki Plays" in that they were sort of vignettes and sort of small ideas, sort of single issues. There was actually a piece that was done before that which was called "Trans-Siberian Excerpts" that kind of followed that format. And "Trans-Siberian Excerpts" was written when I was on the Trans-Siberian Railroad. That's why it has that title. And I wrote it between Beijing and Moscow, riding on the train. And I took that trip just to do that, to sit in the train with [makes sound effects] Mongolia and everything else going by. And I thought that I could focus a little differently. But "Trans-Siberian Excerpts" and "California Sushi" were sort of filled with these sort of little issues, little observations, complaints and so on. Things that I, it was very cathartic for me to do these things. For example, I think it was the piece that you saw, did I do that piece called "KIKE"?

MT: I don't know, I remember there was rice in it.

RS: This was a piece, because I was always very opposed to the term "JAP," meaning Jewish American Princess. And so I wrote a piece called "KIKE." And, whereas JAP meant Jewish American Princess, my claim was that Japanese American girls called them, called each other KIKEs which stood for Kinky, Kinky Immature Kimono Empress. And I said that's what Japanese American girls called each other, KIKEs, for short. And it gave this whole genealogy of words that began with K-I-K-E and so on. And it was a very complex piece that I actually did in New York City at my first show in New York for my dealer, who was Jewish. And I ran the piece by her before I did it because she wanted me to do a performance at the opening of my show of paintings. And this was in the late '80s. And so, I, at NYU I gave a lecture and I ran through this piece just for her. And she thought it was wonderful. And so at the opening I had everything set up and I did this piece. And there was a huge Jewish audience there. And when the piece was over, one woman in particular was hysterical, crying. And she couldn't even talk to me. And Bernice had to take her to the back room, and I didn't know what that meant. And Bernice came out and said, "She feels so badly because she has used that term 'JAP,' so frequently. And she wants to apologize to you but she can't because she feels so guilty." And then this other woman was standing there in tears and she apologized. And so I thought, my God. I mean, this is the first time I'd ever gotten this kind of a response from one of my performances.

And then, all of a sudden I get this one woman, there was a producer called Mitchell Cannold who produced the first TV program on the internment experience for CBS. And Mitchell Cannold called me one day and said he wanted to buy this particular painting. And it was one that George Suyama had. And I said, "Well, that painting is gone," and so I sold him one of the Pearl Harbor day paintings of the diary series. Well, his mother and father came to the opening of my show in New York. And they wanted to buy him a painting to surprise him because he couldn't make it. And so they bought the biggest painting in the show that was on the card announcing the show. They saw the performance, and they changed their mind. They reneged on the sale and told them, "Shimomura is a racist, he hates Jewish people," blah, blah, blah, "We don't want his painting." And Bernice said, "Don't you get it?" you know? And she says, "What's there to get? He's a racist." And they both walked out of the gallery. And Bernice just screamed at them, "You don't deserve the painting." And that was it. So that sort of represents the mixed response at that performance. Gardner, the show -- but what it also did was convince me that I was doing something that might be important.

<End Segment 55> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.