heARTwork by Yuri: 2018

Saturday, December 8, 2018

heARTing the War Brides of Japan docu*MEMORY

konnichi-wa, heARTists and heART lovers of the world!

heARTist Yuri with her ichi-ban supporter

it’s the 8th day of the 12th month, and time to show all heARTists some love. arrigatou gozaimashita for your past support!

we apologize but, due to our busy schedule, we’re moving to a quarterly posting. with all the activities going on with our War Brides of Japan docu*MEMORY, our time is so limited.

in 2019, please look for this blog’s updates on March 8, June 8, September 8 and December 8.

meanwhile, we’d like to share some of Yuriko’s pieces that depict geisha.

an important part of Japanese history, geisha continue to maintain important aspects of Japanese culture. as entertainers, they’re responsible for keeping alive the playing of instruments like koto and shamisen, and certain traditional songs and dances. in the War Brides of Japan docu*MEMORY film, one of our participants shares information about geisha and the story of her own mother as an entertainer in Little Tokyo, Japantown, Los Angeles.

Yuri made this geisha from scrap material

here's Yuri's version of hagoita, used for New Year's

here are a couple of promo trailers we’ve recently created for the film:

no matter how many times you knock him down, daruma always bounces back:

daruma

sweet kokeshi nods her head in agreement:

kokeshi

below are the usual links to everything you want to know about the film:

please stay updated about at our website at www.warbridesofjapan.com

war brides of Japan videos:

vimeo the chase

youtube the chase

youtube 88.1 Fresno interview
vimeo behind-the-scenes trailer
youtube behind-the-scenes trailer
vimeo pre-production trailer
youtube pre-production trailer
youtube v.2
youtube v.1

war brides of Japan websites:
warbridesofjapan.com
weebly
jimdo

war brides of Japan news:
stubborn hearts
multiracial media
DIFT interview
NBC
international examiner
international examiner 2
discover nikkei

war brides of Japan facebook:
fan page

throwing rice productions facebook:
fan page

war brides of Japan linkedIn:
how they learned to forgive and love the enemy
making love, not war
those bad ass brides!

war brides of Japan twitter:
watermelonsushi

war brides of Japan G+:
google plus

war brides of Japan blogs:
on the road
tumblR

a war bride's artwork:
iamartistyuriko
heartworkbyyuri

happy holidays to all our readers! until we meet again on March 8, akemashite omedettou gozaimasu!

Yuri’s Fans Forever

Saturday, September 8, 2018

home is where the heART is

Yuriko with her mother in Tokyo 1965

konnichi-wa, heARTists and heART lovers of the universe!

it’s the 8th day of the 9th month and time to celebrate Yuriko’s heARTwork.

one of the best ways we’ve been doing that is by making a docu*MEMORY about Japanese war brides like herself. and, we’re very close to premiering that film for you.

during filming, we heard stories of how most Japanese war brides were unable to return to Japan to see their families for nearly a decade. back in the 1950’s, air travel was costly, rare and inaccessible for most brides married to low-salaried US military men. imagine how much you would miss your country, culture and family after spending dozens of years away from them.

in the photo above, Yuri visits her mother in Tokyo in 1965.

here’s a piece she painted of a farmhouse. although it depicted neither the home she grew up in, nor the home she later lived in, it carries the essence of family and home to her.

please take a look at the trailer we created to promote the War Brides of Japan docu*MEMORY.

on vimeo:

https://vimeo.com/285660140

on you tube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDpNuvT0vos

the best way to keep updated about our film project is by checking our website at www.warbridesofjapan.com, and following the links below.

war brides of Japan videos:

youtube 88.1 Fresno interview
vimeo behind-the-scenes trailer
youtube behind-the-scenes trailer
vimeo pre-production trailer
youtube pre-production trailer
youtube v.2
youtube v.1

war brides of Japan websites:
warbridesofjapan.com
weebly
jimdo

war brides of Japan news:
Stubborn Hearts
multiracial media
DIFT interview
NBC
international examiner
international examiner 2
discover nikkei

war brides of Japan Facebook:
fan page

Throwing Rice Productions on Facebook:
fan page

war brides of Japan LinkedIn:
how they learned to forgive and love the enemy
making love, not war
those bad ass brides!

war brides of Japan Twitter:
watermelonsushi

war brides of Japan G+:
google plus

war brides of Japan blogs:
on the road
tumblR

a war bride's artwork:
iamartistyuriko
heartworkbyyuri

good fortune to all our readers until we meet again on December 8.

Yuri’s Fans Forever

Friday, June 8, 2018

off the grid with iAmArtistYuri

konnichi-wa, heARTists and heART lovers of the world!

it’s the 8th day of the 6th month and we’re getting very close to completing our War Brides of Japan documentary film.

in fact, we have a new website at: www.warbridesofjapan.com

meanwhile, here are two of Yuri’s more experimental styles of artwork. while she mostly loved painting landscapes, seascapes, animals and flowers, every once in awhile, she went off the grid.

please enjoy!

crows off the grid

evergreens off the grid

in fact, last quarter’s blog, directly below, contains some excellent information about what you can expect to see once the film is available for screening.

until September 8 when we meet again, we will always be…

Yuri's Fans Forever

Thursday, March 8, 2018

heARTing Japanese war brides on International Women's Day

Yuri dances in drag;
playing a man's role in a kimono she sewed

konnichi-wa, heARTists and heART lovers everywhere.

it’s the 8th day of the 3rd month and time to celebrate International Women’s Day around the world. while we do so, let’s also remember our pioneering war brides from Japan.

after interviewing several brides last year, many of their children, some of their grandchildren and even one of their great grandchildren, i have come to admire the amazing accomplishments of these women—Yuri the heARTist included.

first of all, to meet, fall in love with, and marry a man who was a former enemy who helped bombed their country and possibly killed or maimed their loved ones, these women were able to find within themselves the capacity to forgive. they also embraced hope by becoming involved with foreign men despite incurring the wrath of their relatives—some who disowned them—and being shunned by other Japanese who saw their marriages to Americans as an act of disloyalty.

Yuri sewed this heart from fabric

some Japanese women had relationships with military men who abandoned them and left them to raise mixed race children alone. in the mono-racial society of post-WWII Japan, it was very difficult for a gaijin or outsider to find acceptance, especially a child who looked different and served to remind Japanese they had lost the war.

this whimsical dancer and cherry blossoms were painted on a piece of driftwood by Yuri

for the Japanese women who married American GI's, it was challenging to move to America during Jim Crow and segregation. at the time, 16 states still upheld anti-miscegenation laws forbidding whites to marry anyone other than whites.

Japanese women who married African American men became 'black by default' and were denied housing, dining out privileges and other recreational activities reserved only for whites.

Yuri carved this sparrow inside a thick piece of wood

most brides spoke broken English and were discriminated against by store clerks, cashiers and others who held anti-Japanese sentiment because of WWII.

many Japanese war brides lived in isolation if they weren’t in dependent quarters on military bases. often, these women were the singular war bride in their neighborhood, the only one in an interracial marriage, the lone Asian and always the only person of Japanese ancestry where they lived.

one of Yuri's many oil paintings depicting the sea and a longing for her home across the ocean

with no long distance calls back then, nor daily flights overseas, war brides resorted to writing letters back home. many were homesick for the culture they had grown up with and for the foods they had eaten which were not available in most of the US.

Yuri's all-American apple pie, one of the many 'foreign' foods she grew to love cooking

yet these women persevered, creating families and holding jobs, often sharing knowledge of Japanese culture with others in their environment. to those wonderful women, we have created a documentary film that honors them just as we honor all women on this day.

www.warbridesofjapan.com

these Heian-era dolls with plum blossoms were painted on wood by Yuri

as for Yuri, please enjoy the art she created seen on this blog post. as an artist, poet, dancer, chef, tailor, gardener, mother and wife, she embodied the spirit of the ever achieving Japanese war bride.

links to the War Brides of Japan documentary film:

war brides of Japan videos:
youtube 88.1 Fresno interview
vimeo behind-the-scenes trailer
youtube behind-the-scenes trailer
vimeo pre-production trailer
youtube pre-production trailer
youtube v.2
youtube v.1

war brides of Japan websites:
warbridesofjapan.com
weebly
jimdo

war brides of Japan news:
multiracial media
DIFT interview
NBC
international examiner
international examiner 2
discover nikkei

war brides of Japan Facebook:
fan page

war brides of Japan LinkedIn:
how they learned to forgive and love the enemy
making love, not war
those bad ass brides!

war brides of Japan Twitter:
watermelonsushi

war brides of Japan G+:
google plus

war brides of Japan blogs:
on the road
tumblR

a war bride's artwork:
iamartistyuriko
heartworkbyyuri

until June 8, we are...

Yuri's Fans Forever