Writer's Block

Well, here goes...My husband suggested I write a blog to generate interest in our new documentary that is in production. It is called 'Seeking Satoshi' and so far maps the journey of our son Marlon, who has Asperger's Syndrome through his pre-teen years and his special interest in gaming/Japanese culture. If Marlon reads this he will correct me and say he doesn't like things just because they are Japanese he likes them for other reasons, although predominantly the cultural things he likes are Japanese Video Games and music ( usually soundtracks from Japanese Video Games).
Oh it's called 'Seeking Satoshi' because when we made our first documentary film a few years ago 'Courage is a Telescope' we noticed that quite a few boys involved in that film (all who had Asperger's) were into Pokemon and then we discovered that 'Satoshi Tajiri' creator of Pokemon is also said to have Asperger's. Marlon was singularly obsessed with Pokemon when he was about 7 years old (he is now 12) and he started home school after unsuccessful attempts to get him support at local public school. Our first home school lessons used Pokemon as a springboard for learning for instance I found a flyer for a fundraiser 'Host your own Pancake Day' you can't eat Pokemon( although we found Pokemon branded food in Tokyo) but Marlon also loved Pancakes. So we planned a 'Pancake Day' to raise money for charity. This was a useful activity incorporating Maths(ordering the pancake making ingredients/charging for pancakes etc.) Art (we painted Pokemon Carnivale Masks) and a great social event, Marlon even set up his own home school fundraising jar 50cents to enter donut eating competition. We learnt about other cultures and festivals, Mardi Gras, Carnivale, Lent and helped the homeless of Sydney at the same time. It was a promising beginning to a home school lifestyle. His siblings still attend local schools.
The Pancake Day experience fuelled our quest in connecting with our son by trying to understand his playscape and 'step into his world' as recommended by the Asperger experts. We were so grateful to have the Pokemon portal to help us, and were curious as to what it meant to him..so many statistics..so many Pokemon.
He is still an avid Pokemon fan and this has been his introduction to much other Japanese Gaming Culture. This eventually took us on a trip to Japan in 2009 to seek 'Satoshi'. We had a map of Japan overlaid with a map of Pokemon sites from Bulbapedia website and discovered that Japan has the highest incidence of Autism in the world. Curious. We visited a group of children in Nagoya at the Japanese Asperger Society and where Marlon made friends despite the language barrier-they all spoke gamespeak ' Do you like Mario? Kirby?...and my favourite Pokemon is..' Despite contact with GameFreak Inc. of which Satoshi is CEO, we haven't yet met the Pokemon Master himself but setting that as our goal has led us on the most fascinating journey of discovering so much about Japan and the Japanese Imagination and most importantly about Marlon.
As Marlon has matured he has become a 'Digital Native' self directing much of his own learning and often teaching me in the process.- I am now studying Japanese and relaying this to Marlon. Don't worry, he occasionally gets out of his bedroom and onto his bike to visit his friends in person. He is blessed to have another friend with Asperger's up the road who also homeschools and last week we have had another boy join us- perhaps they are starting their own education revolution?
Stay tuned to learn more about the film as it unfolds. Oh here is a little film we helped Marlon and his friend Jake make for a homeschool project- they won 'Best Cinematic Film' at the Japan Foundations Video Matsuri Competition 2010.

I Heart Japan from russellkilbey on Vimeo.

You can also check out our website www.empressartsfilm.com