The Cats of Mirikitani is a Linda Hattendorf documentary that tells the story of an elderly Japanese American street artist that lives near Washington Square in SoHo district of New York City. The documentary begins in 2001, detailing how “Jimmy” Mirikitani lived on the street and made money by selling his drawings. Jimmy kept his belongings in a shopping cart and set up a makeshift table beside a storefront. In the aftermath of the Twin Towers collapse, the documentary maker invited Jimmy into her home to escape the toxic cloud that spread over lower Manhattan during the disaster, and he ended up staying with her while she tried to procure a permanent place for Jimmy to live. During her time with Jimmy, Linda discovers that he had lived in
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He always included himself within these drawings, appearing small and insignificant. These repeated scenes suggested that a part of Jimmy was still confined at camp, and he was unable to move forward in life.
The stress of living on the streets was compounded by his isolation. While Jimmy interacted with all kinds of people each day, these social exchanges were superficial. Jimmy had no visible social support while he was homeless and had lost everyone who had mattered to him. He was also isolated from Japanese culture and lamented the loss of his 950 year-old samurai family clan, the “trust people.”
Spiritually, Jimmy was shattered. He was troubled by memories of Hiroshima and the 260,000 that were killed from the World War II bombing; his mother’s family had been “wiped out.” He had seen sickness and death during his two and a half years at the internment camp and was haunted by the “ghost people sleep in Tule Lake desert.” He spoke of his reoccurring dream of a young man who had died while incarcerated, and how he wished he could take him a flower to say good-bye. …show more content…
48). This dynamic process describes how a person reacts with his or her environment, and how that person and the environment influence one another. These different environments can be physical, social or cultural with the effects on the interaction ranging from neutral, to positive or negative. When analyzing how healthy an environment is for a person, social workers consider “goodness of fit.” If a person is struggling, he or she has the choice of either adapting to the environment or changing the environment
He always included himself within these drawings, appearing small and insignificant. These repeated scenes suggested that a part of Jimmy was still confined at camp, and he was unable to move forward in life.
The stress of living on the streets was compounded by his isolation. While Jimmy interacted with all kinds of people each day, these social exchanges were superficial. Jimmy had no visible social support while he was homeless and had lost everyone who had mattered to him. He was also isolated from Japanese culture and lamented the loss of his 950 year-old samurai family clan, the “trust people.”
Spiritually, Jimmy was shattered. He was troubled by memories of Hiroshima and the 260,000 that were killed from the World War II bombing; his mother’s family had been “wiped out.” He had seen sickness and death during his two and a half years at the internment camp and was haunted by the “ghost people sleep in Tule Lake desert.” He spoke of his reoccurring dream of a young man who had died while incarcerated, and how he wished he could take him a flower to say good-bye. …show more content…
48). This dynamic process describes how a person reacts with his or her environment, and how that person and the environment influence one another. These different environments can be physical, social or cultural with the effects on the interaction ranging from neutral, to positive or negative. When analyzing how healthy an environment is for a person, social workers consider “goodness of fit.” If a person is struggling, he or she has the choice of either adapting to the environment or changing the environment