A while ago, Bloom did a series titled “MilTeen Spotlight,” where amazing military teens were highlighted alongside their work, businesses, and their impact on the military teen community. I decided to revamp the series into “Bloom Spotlight.” Hopefully as this series continues, we can showcase not only current military teens, but all individuals regardless of age, who once were military teens and continue to serve our community.
The Bloom Spotlight series is kickstarting with Taiyo Reimers, a second year student at Keio University in Japan. Taiyo’s father was a Navy officer who retired after 26 years, and Taiyo graduated in 2022 from Nile C. Kinnick High School at United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan.
Taiyo reached out to Bloom to share his passion project, a documentative video that crafted the story of the demolition of Negishi Heights, a base community in Japan. Taiyo highlighted the many lives that were impacted by living at Negishi Heights, and we interviewed him to showcase not only his unique perspective surrounding the creation of his project, but of also being a military teen.*
Where have you lived?
I was born in Bremerton, Washington, and have lived in Panama City, Florida and Honolulu, Hawaii, where my dad retired from 26 years in the Navy. All our stations since have been within the Kanto region of Japan: Negishi Heights in Yokohama, Camp Zama, and Yokosuka.
Describe your community involvement in your own words. What inspired you to start/get involved with the military teen community?
I can think back to sophomore year in high school as when I began developing a community-oriented mindset. While I still think back to the origins of that mentality, I think it was always rooted in some form of a lack of belonging. In trying to understand what made a (my) specific community unique from others, I turned to seeking out stories in everyday places within that community: the NMCRS thrift store, MWR theater, and of course, our Command Fleet Activities Yokosuka (CFAY) school-age community.
Evidently, I never really addressed my projects to just the military teen community, but rather beyond that, to all of CFAY. I aspired to get students involved in the community at-large (to care and contribute) and for the community to recognize high schoolers as a part of the community. As for myself, I wanted to do something new, something that didn’t operate within the confines of volunteer programs or other established organizations; I wanted to find a novel way to contribute, and I believe I found that in my documentative and journalistic work.
Tell us about your experience with filming the “By Fair Winds (a story of Negishi Heights)” video?
Producing By Fair Winds (a story of Negishi Heights), was one of the most moving experiences of my life. While stressful, it was my honest attempt at making sense of the change and confusion that comes with the beginning of adulthood: high school graduation, college, understanding who I am.
When I started the project during the summer of my senior year, I thought it would be just another video project - I didn’t plan it out very well and simply went with the flow. It would be an attempt at showing the insides of the base and how it went away, to open the base one last time to those who couldn’t see beyond its fence and gates. I wanted to understand what made Negishi so special and how that could be applied to Yokosuka (or other base communities). Little did I know this would extend far past graduation and well into my third semester at college; I ended up making 17 trips to the base and interviewed over 40 past Negishi community members.
Looking back at my time creating the video, I see the person I was when I made that edit or cut - what I was thinking, who I was when standing behind the camera filming that part of the video. I remember what I felt that day, what I did at school, the conversations with those I rode to the housing area with. I remember standing on those streets, quietly watching the hills, many days thinking it would be years before any demolition would actually happen. The wind would blow up from below the cliff, and it almost felt as though I was being pushed forward, pushed to move on.
It was from this, and the naval saying “Fair Winds and Following Seas,” wishing one well when they move on to a new station or retirement, that I derived the title: By Fair Winds. I don’t like saying that my motivation behind the production was purely of self-interest, but it was. It was a way of helping myself move on, to cope with loss and confusion. By Fair Winds (a story of Negishi Heights) was a desperate attempt at finding my way, at finding hope.
And while the video alone ultimately failed to accomplish that goal, it is solid evidence of the journey I took along the way. I often use the metaphor of comparing storytelling to a quilt - as a symbol of stories, of legacies, of where we’re going and where we’ve been, of the vanity of it all. And I believe my video is not a quilt, but merely one pattern within many.
To discover more about Taiyo's personal plans, gain wonderful advice, view his documentative video, and more, click here for part two!
*Some responses have been edited for clarity while still trying to remain parallel to the original message.
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