[Locale Part I] Process.

locale part i: presentation

location: the japanese park cemetery

Why? I visited the location often in JC for research for a history project, and it’s a place that I find really peaceful and historically rich, so I thought it would be apt if I used this project to dig down into the unique aspects of the site. :))))))

Entrance to the Park
Lane in the middle of the Park.

observations

Photographs and written observations about the Park. :))

Plaque on the Park’s history

Here’s a brief overview of the history of the Park, which is Southeast Asia’s largest Japanese cemetery, housing 910 tombs. :O

View of the Park’s tombstones
More tombstones
More! Tombstones!!
Grave marker of a karayuki-san
Memorial stones for Japanese soldiers

So as a cemetery would have it….graves and tombstones dating from the pre-war times to the post-war times. In my presentation I gave a brief overview of some of the different tombs, like tomb markers for the karayuki-san, Japanese prostitutes who were surprisingly some of the first Japanese people on the idea. As the community flourished, the Japanese’s socio-economic status heightened and you can see this from the shift in the tombstone to more elaborate designs. With the war came memorials and tombstones dedicated to the war dead as well. I thought it was interesting how you could see the rise and fall of the community through the different groups of tombstones.

Plaque of Yoshio Nishimura

There are a lot of plaques littered around the Park, especially at tombstones of notable Japanese people who for example, made contributions to not just the Japanese community, but pre-war Singapore as well.

The prayer hall called Midō

Interestingly enough the prayer hall isn’t supposedly for a fixed religion, so anyone can come here to pray. Midō is a religion neutral term apparently.

The view from when you sit on the steps of the prayer hall

On my first visit I sat down on the steps and noted down some observations about the place:

Recorded some ambient noise but there was really barely anything other than rustling haha.

I spent a lot of time following this indifferent cat around :3c 
A cute map of the cemetery!! I really like the style

Continue reading “[Locale Part I] Process.”

[Locale] Final Work — Gallery!

 ABOUT THIS PROJECT 

‘Locale’ required us to pick a site to explore, quantitatively and qualitatively, its unique and interesting features. Part I of the project was to create a visually engaging presentation on our site, whereas Part II was to curate our materials to create a zine with abstract elements, about our location.

My choice of site was the Japanese Cemetery Park, an overlooked historical site in Singapore that was a site I often visited in JC for research. It houses Japanese tombs from the Japanese community that lived in Singapore before the war, as well as the Japanese war dead.

 PART I – PRESENTATION 

Continue reading “[Locale] Final Work — Gallery!”