Chika is a real person. She is a Japanese woman who spent a decade in Australian jails for a crime she has always insisted she did not commit. She was one of a Japanese tour group who were arrested for importation of heroin in 1992. She was released on parole in November 2002 and is now living in Japan.

CHIKA is a multi-layered production and contemporary story telling, crossing genres of journalism, visual and performing arts, incorporating original live music, dance and narration, documentary images, archival video and recorded interviews.

CHIKA is a story of human endeavour and overcoming adversity with multiple layers of experience, CHIKA brings forth a multi-dimensional understanding of the human condition with the immediacy of unscripted and unrehearsed voices, the reflective nature of still images and the evocation of live music and physical expression.

“CHIKA: A Documentary Performance” premiered in Melbourne in 2005, the Sydney season was at Carriageworks in 2008. The radio feature CHIKA was first aired on ABC Radio National’s Radio Eye in 2004 and was finalist in the Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism.