tokyo lily: an international woman

Yuriko at 20

happy International Women’s Day to all you heARTists and heART lovers! 

it’s the 8th day of the 3rd month of another new year, and we hope you’re  enjoying 2024 so far. 

as for us, we’re considering grouping the five ‘War Brides of Japan, a  docu*memory’ films so that audiences will only have to pay one time to view all of them. they’ll still be available on Gumroad, but grouping them will make it a little easier and sukoshi cheaper for everyone to see.

https://watermelonsushi.gumroad.com/

 

and, now for some news about our favorite war bride and heARTist, Yuriko, or Tokyo Lily as she’s called in our latest film. 

we began our Crowdfundr campaign late last year and, eternal thanks to our loyal and generous supporters, we’ve raised enough money to send all the super 8mm and mini DV tapes out for digitizing! 

https://crowdfundr.com/tokyo-lily 

the super 8mm footage (containing scenes from the early 1970’s) will be scanned at a high resolution suitable for inclusion in the film; while the mini DV’s feature footage from the beginning of the 2000’s—including interviews with Yuriko and her family. 

Yuriko with her first child in Japan

there are also scenes of her showing off her heART work, her cooking, her dancing, and moments where she discusses surviving WWII as a civilian in Japan. 

speaking of WWII, Tokyo experienced the worst fire bombing in the recorded history of the world when Americans dropped bombs during a March 9-10,1945 campaign. because houses back then were mostly made of wood and paper, over 100,000 people perished when fires quickly spread throughout the city. 

here’s some information from Wikipedia: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo 

that will be just one of many events we’ll cover in 'Tokyo Lily, a war bride docu*memory’. 

we’ll begin with Yuriko witnessing the Great Kanto Earthquake at just four years old, then being sold into servitude at age 13, working for the U.S. military during the Occupation, then meeting her African American husband and moving to a segregated Texas post-war. then, she goes on to live in Germany and the U.S. while raising two children and six dogs, before finally finding her way to expression through art when she married for the second time. 

Yuriko with her family in Germany

Yuriko's painting of her dog, Princess

here’s the first trailer we produced, and we’ll have more once the digitized footage is ready for editing. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qW3S8xr-eQ

arrigatou to all of you—our valuable contributors. just as with ‘War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory’, ‘Tokyo Lily’ would not be possible without your support. 

on this International Women’s Day, we honor of all your Japanese war bride mothers, your Japanese war bride relatives and your Japanese war bride friends. 

until we meet on June 8, please stay posted by visiting:

our websites:

https://hapateez.wixsite.com/tokyo-lily 

www.warbridesofjapan.com

our Youtube channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@warbridesofjapan/videos

our Facebook page: 

https://www.facebook.com/WarBridesOfJapan/

ja!

Yuri’s Fans Forever

lily of tokyo

Tokyo Lily

happy holidays to all you heARTists and heART lovers all around the world! it’s the 8th day of the 12th month, and time to celebrate more heARTwork by Yuri.

everyone, we have more great news for you! 

in October, we released the first trailer for our upcoming film, ‘Tokyo Lily, a war bride docu*memory’—which is about Yuriko’s life and heART.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qW3S8xr-eQ

and, last month, we started a fundraising campaign to help us complete the film:

https://crowdfundr.com/tokyo-lily

with the money you donate, we’ll be processing film footage for editing. we’ll also hire an illustrator/animator to help fill in the spaces of missing WWII Japan images. and, we’ll employ a historian/researcher so we can accurately portray that time period. we’ll need to license music, too. one song we have our heARTs set on costs a whopping $10,000.

oil painting

we’ve already been hard at work cataloging Yuri’s heARTwork including her oil paintings on canvas—on wood, on silk cloth, and even clamshells; her wood carvings, her cut and folded paper creations and, of course, all her sewing projects including crocheted high heel shoes, quilts, and knitted dolls. 

oil on clam shells

wood carved parrot

paper kasa (umbrellas)

crocheted high heels

quilts

knitted dolls

we hope to have that portion of the film done by the end of this year. and, even though that’s just weeks away, it will be the easier part.

 Yuriko means Lily in Japanese

here’s where some of Yuri’s paintings can be seen now:

https://lenastarwheels.wixsite.com/iamartistyuriko

meanwhile, we’ll be processing mini DVD and super 8mm footage of Yuri throughout the years. some of it dates back to the late 1960’s. far out! groovy!

please join us via your contributions. we would really appreciate your help, and we do list each and every name publicly (unless you prefer that we don’t).

besides social media, we’ll also post your name on our Tokyo Lily website:

https://hapateez.wixsite.com/tokyo-lily

if you’d like to know more about our past war bride film projects, check us out at:

https://watermelonsushi.gumroad.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@warbridesofjapan/videos 

https://www.youtube.com/c/WatermelonSushi/videos 

www.warbridesofjapan.com

here’s to a wonderful holiday season to you and yours! arrigatou.

Yuri's Fans Forever

'tokyo lily' blossoms

greetings to all you heARTists and heART lovers of the world! it’s the 8th day of the 9th month, and time for more heARTwork by Yuri.

coming soon: 'Tokyo Lily' film

the good news is that we’re finally cataloging all of Yuri’s amazing heARTwork that will be included in the film, 'Tokyo Lily'. fingers crossed, and the story of her life should hit the screens sometime next year.

Yuri making heART in her studio

even before becoming a Japanese war bride, Yuri lived an adventurous life with many sudden changes. all of those unexpected moments will be shared through actual film interviews, vintage photos and, of course, displays of her heARTwork.

after leaving Japan with her first husband (an American soldier), Yuri raised two children. but it wasn’t until her second marriage that she was finally able to express her full heARTistic self thanks to her husband, Bob. besides helping out by schlepping Yuri and her heARTwork to various competitions and exhibits, Bob also promoted her creative endeavors. yay to Bob for making Yuri’s dreams come true!

Bob promoting Yuri's heART

until the release of 'Tokyo Lily', you can learn more about Japanese war brides by watching these 5 films:

https://watermelonsushi.gumroad.com/

you can also subscribe to our Youtube channels:

https://www.youtube.com/@warbridesofjapan/videos 

https://www.youtube.com/c/WatermelonSushi/videos 

here’s our official website:

www.warbridesofjapan.com

and, Yuri’s website:

https://lenastarwheels.wixsite.com/iamartistyuriko 

arrigatou for your love and support!

Yuri’s Fans Forever

summer heART

greetings, heARTists and heART lovers across the universe! it's the 8th day of the 6th month and time to meet again.

how’s your summer going? ours has been super hot with busy-ness! 

we’re so sorry to disappoint you, but we haven't been able to keep our promise to launch two projects about our favorite Japanese war bride and heARTist, Yuri. 

we had hoped to get our fundraiser started by now, but it looks like it will be more like this fall.

meanwhile, we continue to present our 5 war brides films on Gumroad:

https://watermelonsushi.gumroad.com/

in addition to our upcoming doc, 'Tokyo Lily', we’re also creating a graphic novel about Yuri’s life. it's called 'Lily Wisteria' because Yuriko means lily, and her family mon is represented by the wisteria.

Yuri sells her art at the International District Summer Festival

Yuri with her family

as a conduit for Japanese war brides, we’re often contacted by grandchildren who have discovered the extraordinary lives their grandmothers lived—how they left their homes and families to marry their former enemies, American military men. and, how some of them were disowned, never to see Japan again, while others were physically and emotionally abused by their husbands; and, some even by their husbands’ families. 

just consider arriving in a new country, barely speaking the language, and having to navigate a new living space, often with no one around who looks like you. further, most war bride immigration took place during the 1950’s and Jim Crow. 

the Supreme Court ruling of Loving v. Virginia didn’t occur until 1967. prior to that, some white husbands couldn’t even take their Japanese brides to their home state lest they both be arrested for marrying illegally.

Japanese war brides also raised mixed-race children without books or blogs advising them on how to bring up their kids in a society that they were barely familiar with themselves.

but more often than not, Japanese war brides had satisfactory marriages. some even found immeasurable happiness in their new American homes.

if you’d like to know more about Japanese war brides please visit our Youtube channels and subscribe:

https://www.youtube.com/@warbridesofjapan/videos 

https://www.youtube.com/c/WatermelonSushi/videos 

we also have a new 'War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory' website. it’s not as fancy as the old one, but all the info is there:

www.warbridesofjapan.com

and, to see more of Yuri’s heARTwork, check out her website:

https://lenastarwheels.wixsite.com/iamartistyuriko 

have a happy heART summer. we’ll return when things cool down some.

Yuri’s Fans Forever

'tokyo lily' and 'lily wisteria' on international women’s day

Yuri painting in her studio

konnichi-wa, heARTists and heART lovers everywhere!

it’s the 8th day of the 3rd month and, once again, we’re celebrating International Women’s Day by honoring Japanese war brides alongside their sisters around the world.

as you know from reading this blog, Japanese war brides were amazing women. in addition to marrying their former enemies (American military men), these ladies arrived in the U.S. during racial segregation and shortly after Americans of Japanese ancestry were imprisoned behind barbed wire. 

besides having to learn a new language and culture, Japanese war brides also raised mixed race children in environments that were often hostile towards them, and sometimes in isolated areas of the country.

we created our ‘War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory’ films to celebrate these amazing women. all five movies are currently available on Gumroad:

https://watermelonsushi.gumroad.com/ 

meanwhile, we’ve been busy cataloging Yuri’s incredible heARTwork for a film, ‘Tokyo Lily’. we also have a graphic novel in the works, ‘Lily Wisteria’, which is all about her life.

'Tokyo Lily' will feature Yuri’s numerous paintings, wood carvings, quilting, crocheting and sewing projects, as well as her traditional dance performances and haiku (Japanese poetry). 

Yuri dancing in a male role

we hope to have both projects completed by early next year.

you can learn more about Japanese war brides at our two Youtube channels:

https://www.youtube.com/@warbridesofjapan/videos 

https://www.youtube.com/c/WatermelonSushi/videos 

here's our 'War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory' website:

www.warbridesofjapan.com

and, Yuri’s heARTwork can be seen here:

https://lenastarwheels.wixsite.com/iamartistyuriko 

along with our two projects about Yuri, we’re also reworking ‘Watermelon Sushi’ as animation. this story of two AfroAsian sisters showcases their Japanese war bride mother, and how they discovered their identity through her. check it out here:

www.watermelonsushi.com

stick around as we’ll be announcing our crowdfunding campaign this summer.

happy International Women’s Day!

Yuri’s Fans Forever