Hotel Red Shoes

“A pretty little girl with red shoes on has gone overseas
By her side a foreign man from overseas
The pretty little girl has boarded the ship from Yokohama Pier
By her side a foreign man from overseas
The pretty little girl’s eyes surely have turned blue by now
Living somewhere in the land of the foreign man
I always think of the pretty little girl whenever I see red shoes
I always think of the pretty little girl whenever I see a blue-eyed man”
(Japanese folk song ‘The girl with the red shoes’, 1922)

A girl wearing red shoes accompanies a blue-eyed man to his far-away country and departs from Yokohama pier, one of oldest seaports near Tokyo frequented by international vessels. This old nostalgic song dates back to 1922 and is popularly known as “the girl with the red shoes” still sung in Japan as a classic song.
Nearby our parents home in Japan is a hotel – one of the many “love hotels” in Tokyo – bearing the same name as this song. Both the name and the appearance of this hotel reflect the distinct nostalgic atmosphere and exotic nature of this story.
There is a peculiar contrast between this rather bland residential area and the hotel constructed of fake bricks featuring all kinds of European ornaments which used to leave an even stronger impression on us half-Belgian sisters living in Tokyo.
This project consists of our personal archives about this hotel with the film representing our new interpretation of the song. With the red shoes serving as a metaphorical red thread, this fixed spot becomes impregnated with the mutual desires between Japan and Belgium that are driving us.