Sunday, December 8, 2024

joy to the world of heARTists

wreath by Yuri
happy holidays dear heARTists and heART lovers all around the world! season’s greetings and merry wishes for a most peaceful and prosperous new year.

it’s the 8th day of the 12th month, and time for more heARTwork by Yuri.











recently, our film about her, ‘Tokyo Lily a war bride docu*memory’, was chosen to be a participant in CrowdfundR’s Media Spotlight. what an honor. thank you, CrowdfundR!


since our campaign is never-ending, you may still donate here:

and, here’s the trailer for 'Tokyo Lily, a war bride docu*memory’:


we’ve also made heART merchandise available for three of our films, including ‘War Brides of Japan’, ‘Tokyo Lily’ and ‘Watermelon Sushi').

currently, we're offering buttons, mouse pads, posters, stickers, t-shirts and more that can be purchased at our YayoiClanArt stores on:

and




if you’re looking for holiday presents, but want to bypass posters and t-shirts, you can always gift a view of ‘War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory’ on Gumroad. the price is right!

a further demonstration of Tokyo Lily's (Yuri’s) creativity is revealed in the article below about giving her mixed-race daughter a Japanese name. you can vote for your favorite among the many interesting stories about Japanese names.


due to our recent focus on merch, as well as producing a separate animated short film, we have not been able to turn our full attention to 'Tokyo Lily’—yet.

but 2025 promises an Opening Title Sequence, hopefully, before the end of January. please subscribe to our Youtube channel to stay updated. 

we also have a 'Watermelon Sushi' channel that features two very early war brides' videos:


you can also keep up with us at these websites:

FACEBOOK:

unfortunately, we haven’t spent much time at our Instagram accounts, but if you follow us we promise to follow you back.

finally, Yuri’s paintings live here:

we are so grateful to our donors and supporters for helping to make these important films.

Tokyo Lily (Yuri) paints
see you in Spring!

Yuri’s Fan Forever

Sunday, September 8, 2024

falling in heARTwork

autumn painting ©2012 Yuriko

autumn is on its way, dear heARTists and heART lovers, and we hope that it brings you immense joy. 

it’s the 8th day of the 9th month, and time for more of our star heARTist, Yuriko.


yes! we’re still moving forward with our ‘Tokyo Lily, a War Bride docu*memory’ film, but we have fallen a little behind as we juggle several projects. not to worry, we’ll soon catch up.


and, yes, we are still crowdfunding for 'Tokyo Lily', so please check us out here:


https://crowdfundr.com/tokyo-lily


a short trailer for the film is available on Youtube:


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


and, that trailer just won its first film festival laurel as an Official Selection!



since we’ll be posting more videos on our YouTube channel, please subscribe:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPemluw0stoTsx8yvz2tCrg


we’re extremely thankful to our donors who have made it possible to have our tapes digitized. now, we need a little more to help us license some music and hire an animator.


our researcher, Lynn Hammonds, is locating images of WWII Japan for us. she’s also the author of Becoming Misako Kikuchi:


https://www.amazon.in/Becoming-Misako-Kikuchi-Lynn-Hammonds/dp/1537745956/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_pl_foot_top?ie=UTF8


r to l: Yuriko and her war bride friends, Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Wright


soon, we’ll be making an announcement about a Japanese war brides touring exhibit in partnership with the Smithsonian Museum. that event is being organized by the filmmakers of ‘Fall Down Seven Times’, another war brides’ film. the touring exhibit will run for five years and features Yuriko’s war bride story among many others.


we’ll keep you updated here at this blog, as well as on our Facebook page:


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


and, on our website:


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


https://warbridesofjapan.com/


and, if you haven’t already seen them, our 'War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory' series is available on Gumroad:


https://watermelonsushi.gumroad.com/







very soon we will be offering t-shirts, posters and other paraphernalia that we’ve been busy creating at another platform. we're no longer on Cafe Press and, when our shop is ready and opened, we’ll let you know here or at one of our other websites.


we cannot thank you enough, our friends and fans, for all your support now and in the past.


we’re looking forward to seeing you again on December 8.


stay safe, stay kind, and stay with us!


Yuri’s Fans Forever


Saturday, June 8, 2024

summer bloom: toyko lily

here’s our hope for a most joyous upcoming summer to you, dear heARTists and heART lovers!

it’s the 8th day of the 6th month, and time to catch up with our favorite heARTist, Yuriko.


if you’ve been following this blog, then you know that we’ve been in the process of making a film about her called ‘Tokyo Lily, a War Bride docu*memory'.


here’s the trailer we created with some images that will be featured in the film:


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


and, yes, we’re still fundraising. 


https://crowdfundr.com/tokyo-lily


although our dedicated donors have been so instrumental in getting our super 8mm and miniDV tapes digitized for editing, we could always use more donations. 


besides paying for music licensing, we also hope to hire an animator for scenes that lack images.



fortunately, we do have the assistance of a researcher who's locating WWII Japan footage and stills. not only is she incredibly knowledgeable, but she's made her own unique story known in the book she's published:


https://www.amazon.in/Becoming-Misako-Kikuchi-Lynn-Hammonds/dp/1537745956/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_pl_foot_top?ie=UTF8


Lynn Hammonds was also instrumental in the production of our 5 films that collectively became ‘War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory’. 


those films are still available on Gumroad:


https://watermelonsushi.gumroad.com/


War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory


please subscribe to our YouTube channel below:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPemluw0stoTsx8yvz2tCrg


you can also check us out at our websites:


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


https://warbridesofjapan.com/


and, at our Facebook page:


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



arrigatou to our supporters for all your encouragement!


until we meet on September 8, please enjoy your summer!


Yuri’s Fans Forever




Friday, March 8, 2024

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.


 






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! 


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: 


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. 


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:

our Youtube channel: 

our Facebook page: 

ja!




















Yuri’s Fans Forever