‘Tokyo Bound’ Has Its Roots in Artist’s Life : Performance art: Amy Hill’s autobiographical piece uses characters she invented to portray the culture shock that hit her when she visited the Japanese city to explore her mother’s homeland.

“Compared to other forms of drama, performance art is often thought of as inaccessible and overly artsy,” said Amy Hill, who performs her one-woman show “Tokyo Bound” tonight at the San Juan Capistrano Regional Library. “I prefer to think of it as storytelling, something that has been with us through the ages and a part of every culture.”

Hill’s award-winning autobiographical performance tells what it is like growing up in the United States as the child of a Finnish-American father and a Japanese mother. “It’s actually a topic many people can relate to, since so many of us in the U.S. are of mixed heritage,” said Hill, 38, who first performed “Tokyo Bound” at the Japan America Cultural Center in Los Angeles in 1990.

The show tackles alienation, bitterness and disappointment through humor and satire. Hill fills the spotlight with characters she invented to portray the culture shock that hit her when she visited Tokyo at age 17, hoping to create an identity for herself by exploring her mother’s homeland.

Among them are the demure white-gloved female department store clerk whose sole duty is to wipe the escalator handrail, a hollow-voiced television weather girl and a young talent contest winner in a gaudy red dress papered with miniature snack bags.

Hill portrays herself as a young innocent trying to cope with daily essentials in a foreign land where everything seems turned on its head. She knows enough Japanese to ask where the restroom is, but she can’t understand the reply. Her tiny Tokyo apartment has no bathtub or shower, so she must bathe in the public baths with a tubful of strangers. She’s a plump, brassy buffoon compared to the petite and subservient Japanese women in a world she hopes become a part of.

“I was all innocence and curiosity, and I just wasn’t ready for the initial lack of acceptance. It was just more of what I got in the U.S., where I wasn’t really an American since I was part Japanese. But then the Japanese didn’t consider me one of them either.”

Hill, who was born in South Dakota and reared in Seattle, spent five years in Japan after graduating from high school. When she returned to the United States, she went to the University of Washington, where she majored in art and Japanese. At age 25, she moved to San Francisco, where she became involved in theater. But it wasn’t until she moved to Los Angeles that she decided to try performance art.

“It’s scary, because it’s just me up there telling about myself,” she said. “But in Los Angeles I had the right support and the proper venues, so I decided to give it a try.” In addition the premiere at Japan America, Hill has performed “Tokyo Bound” in San Francisco, Seattle and at the East West Players and Matrix theaters in Los Angeles.

Her topic is one that appealed to library director Jose Aponte, who met Hill while serving on the California Arts Council. Hill’s appearance is part of the library’s continuing Multicultural Performing and Visual Arts Festival.

“I went through a similar encuentro , or period of discovery, when I started to explore my heritage,” said Aponte, a Puerto Rican-American.

“As a kid in New York City, people called me (derogatory names), so I decided to find out what Latinos were really all about,” he said. Aponte developed an idealized image of his homeland, but when he went there he found himself a convenient target at whom Puerto Ricans vented their animosity toward Americans.

“Since then I have learned that nothing can break through these walls better than humor, and Amy is a great comedienne and mimic,” Aponte said. “Ten percent of the population in Orange County is Asian, so there must be a lot of people out there wanting to see the Asian-American experience portrayed. Amy’s scripting and orchestration are theatrically dynamic. The show leaves an impact.”

Added Hill: “A lot of people have come up to me after a performance to tell me that the show affected them and made them feel that they are not alone. I’m glad for that. My purpose is that our stories must be told.”

Amy Hill will perform “Tokyo Bound” tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the San Juan Capistrano Regional Library, 31495 El Camino Real, San Juan Capistrano. There will be a second performance at 9 p.m. if the first show sells out. Admission: $2 donation requested. Information: (714) 493-3984.