A collaborative project captures the personal histories of the Cambodian diaspora in Japan.
A collaborative project captures the personal histories of the Cambodian diaspora in Japan
A collaborative project captures the personal histories of the Cambodian diaspora in Japan
May 2024 - Present
Japan
A project in Japan aims to unearth, record and share the memories of the Cambodian diaspora, with a vision to aid the healing process, teach the younger generation their histories, and create new connections across generations based on these shared community memories.
A collaborative project captures the personal histories of the Cambodian diaspora in Japan
A collaborative project captures the personal histories of the Cambodian diaspora in Japan.
May 2024 - Present
Japan
Acts of Memory is an audiovisual project that captures the experiences of Cambodian survivors of the Khmer Rouge era, as told to younger Cambodian interviewers. Phnom Penh-based Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center have produced 97 videos to date, featuring people with a diverse range of experiences.
This new phase extends Acts of Memory beyond Cambodia for the first time to include migrant communities in Japan. Our hope is that it will help participants to process their experiences and deepen understanding of survivors’ experiences among both younger people with Cambodian roots in Japan and the wider Japanese society. The videos will also be available online to international audiences, including people in Cambodia who may be unfamiliar with the journeys of those who left Cambodia as refugees.
From 2019 to 2022, Cambodian artist Kim Hak worked with Cambodian communities in Japan, interviewing them, and photographing objects that tell the story of their journeys. This work resulted in Alive IV, a series of exhibitions and public events in Japan that brought Cambodian migrants and their descendants together to share their culture and memories. Today, many of these experiences remain difficult to discuss. This work revealed both the depth of these experiences and how rarely they are shared.
Kim Hak’s project galvanised the diaspora in Japan. The exhibitions and public events sparked intergenerational storytelling, with younger family members learning more about their parents and grandparents’ experiences. The Alive IV experience led participants to form a new voluntary organisation, Alive, and its members are excited to continue this work, through the next step of telling their own community’s stories.
Members of Alive participating in film workshop at Bophana Center. Photo Credit: Bophana Center
Members of Alive participating in film workshop at Bophana Center. Photo Credit: Bophana Center
Members of Alive participating in film workshop at Bophana Center. Photo Credit: Bophana Center
Members of Alive participating in film workshop at Bophana Center. Photo Credit: Bophana Center
The experiences of those with Cambodian roots in Japan during and after the Khmer Rouge period often differed sharply from those who remained, but nonetheless were often traumatic. Some were studying in Japan when the Khmer Rouge regime took hold, exiled and cut off from family for years. Others emigrated after surviving the horrors of war and long periods in refugee camps.
Kim Hak says of this group, “Some experienced the conflict directly, some only heard rumours of it, and some found out more after the end of the regime. But all have lost family members through executions and separations. The students who were overseas lived without hearing any news from their families for several years.”
Many younger relatives of participants in Alive IV confessed to having no prior knowledge of what their grandparents and other relatives had gone through. Some were aware that something bad had happened but sensed that their loved ones were reluctant to open up about it.
As involuntary expatriates and survivors of war, this generation of Cambodians have carried emotional scars that make it difficult for them to discuss their experiences. Many people in Japan have little understanding of Cambodian history and culture, and many survivors felt like outsiders and were forced to assimilate and rebuild their lives. Even survivors who have recognised the importance of sharing their personal stories have lacked the opportunity or the means to do so. Acts of Memory shifts storytelling back into the hands of the community itself.
Bophana guides project participants through a comprehensive orientation. Photo credit: Hikaru Nakamura
Sopheap Chea, director of Bopahan Center guides project participants through a comprehensive orientation. Photo credit: Hikaru Nakamura
Photo of the project participants and RFL project partner (Alive and Bophana Center). Photo credit: Hikaru Nakamura
Acts of Memory is a collaboration between Rei Foundation, Bophana Center and Alive. The project team has lead each part of the production, from planning to delivery and dissemination of the finished and subtitled videos. This process gave all participants the opportunity to discover their strengths and develop new skills. Roles included director, camera technician, liaison person, interview coordinator, interpreter, accountant and translator for the final video subtitles.
First, the project team was assembled, and then the interviewees selected. The whole project team undertook training on modern Cambodian history to ground their work. Throughout 2024 and 2025, the team filmed the interviews and worked on editing and translation.
At its core, this project creates an opportunity for young people with Cambodian roots to hear the stories of the first generation of immigrants to Japan. In the past, interview projects have often relied on extractive formats led by outsiders. This project takes a different approach. It creates space for participants to share memories and emotions that can only emerge in conversations between people who share language, history and experience.
First interview session with project participant. Photo credit: Hikaru Nakamura
First interview session with project participant. Photo credit: Hikaru Nakamura
First interview session with project participant. Photo credit: Hikaru Nakamura
In line with our values and those of the communities we work with, Rei Foundation aims to safeguard cultural heritage and knowledge systems through collaborative, community-led projects such as this. Acts of Memory enables Cambodian migrant communities in Japan to control their own narratives supported by their peers and family. We believe that the resulting videos will continue building confidence and strengthen connectedness in the participants, their families and more widely, across Japan’s Cambodian community.
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