What are words. Recently I had the opportunity to visit England and HongKong. I could not help feel the awkward frustrations of not being able to speak English nor Cantonese, though my English education dates way back to my middle school years. Added to this, I did take two years of Chinese courses in college but so little success when it comes to speaking it.

It seems the mother tongue and second hand languages differ greatly. The former, people have no trouble speaking but the latter there seems to be a great difference between those who acquire it naturally and those who struggle. Wasabiccio, the Ringnecked Parakeet, blurts "cho-dai" when longing for food, attentively speaks "domo," when encountering a stuffed animal, and repeats its name while doing its courtship dance.

It is a parakeet who not only imitates but "talks" in Japanese, and with this I decided to take it along to my French lessons. Presumably, there should be no mother tongue, or second hand languages for parakeets, and it came to me how they may even be better at imitating intonations than us human beings.

"Why Not Hand Over a "Shelter" to Hermit Crabs?"

Daily life is mundane.
I wish to seek out.
I wish to journey away whenever the idea crosses my mind.
I envy such freedom.

But even if I were given the chance to go to a deserted island, I would not be able to survive by myself for sure.
Not only that, I probably wouldn't even have the courage to live in a foreign city. I wish to journey away, but I haven't the gift to do so with grace. In reality I am very much tied down, strapped to my life. But then again this state of inconvenience may be the norm.

The "hermit crabs" presented in the work, obviously have nothing to do with overseas travels and will most likely continue living in the same locations if they manage to escape being caught. Hermit crabs however have tendencies to move into "shelters" they deem preferable. However, their lives in the wilderness are harsh, some seeking shelter in PET bottle and detergent caps. Therefore I wanted to provide "shelters" for the hermit crabs, shelters with essences of foreign cities that seem oddly familiar yet still un-encountered. As I had assumed, the hermit crabs moving into such shelters became walking cities in itself.