springtime heART

dear heARTists and heART lovers of the heART universe. it’s the 8th day of the 6th month, and time for more heARTwork by Yuri.

OUR JAPAN TRAVELS

recently, we were fortunate to travel to Japan during hanami (flower viewing) of sakura (cherry blossoms). 

besides staying in Ikebukuro, we also visited other cities and districts like Ginza, Machida-shi, Bunkyo, Sumida-ku, Shinagawa, Shibuya, Yokohama, Tsurumi-ku, Ueno, Asakusa, and even took the shinkansen (bullet train) to Osaka and Kyoto. all of this in a two-week time period!

one of the reasons we visited so many places was for information and image gathering of specific memorials. as you know, we’ve been working on a film about Yuriko called ‘Tokyo Lily, a war bride docu*memory’ for awhile. amazingly, she survived three major disasters early in her life. 

the first one was the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, which killed some 100,000 people. 

later, Yuriko lived through the B-29 fire bombing that destroyed Tokyo and also killed around 100,000 people. it was the singular most destructive bombing against civilians in the world, ever.

interestingly, both memorials are enshrined in the same temple in Yokoamicho Park.

Yokoamicho Park

later on our trip, we visited Soji-ji in Yokohama. these palatial grounds are home to dozens of temples and one is in honor of the Sakuragicho train disaster victims of 1951. unbelievably, Yuriko not only survived that crash, but so did i! yes, i was quite young then.

anyway, all of it will be part of ‘Tokyo Lily, a war bride docu*memory’.

a big shout-out to all of our Japanese hosts and the friendly people we met along the way who helped us with directions. tomodachi (friend) forever!

and, major gratitude to our donors for their continued support! https://tokyolily.com/donate

WE’RE NOW ON REDBUBBLE AND TEEPUBLIC

REDBUBBLE

finally, we were able to find time to knock out a few designs for our film fans. and wasn’t just for t-shirts. we also have buttons, stickers and posters. we even have cushions and phone cases!

if you watched the ‘War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory’ on Gumroad, you can now own a t-shirt representing those films. although we have more designs coming soon, the posters of all five films will not be reproduced since they contain private family photos.

still, if you’d like to support ‘Tokyo Lily, a war bride docu*memory’, please consider buying a t-shirt in her honor.

https://www.redbubble.com/people/yayoiclanart/shop

https://www.teepublic.com/user/yayoiclanart

when time permits, we will be printing some of Yuriko’s paintings on products as well. here are some images of her heARTwork:

https://lenastarwheels.wixsite.com/iamartistyuriko

TEEPUBLIC

these past few spring months have been beyond busy with Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May along with Cinco de Mayo. and, now that it’s June, we’re celebrating Juneteenth, Father’s Day and Pride Month. whew!

please stay in touch through any of the links below:

WEBSITES

https://www.tokyolily.com

https://www.warbridesofjapan.com

https://www.watermelonsushi.com

https://www.yayoiclanart.com

YOUTUBE (please subscribe!)

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

https://www.youtube.com/@WatermelonSushi

FACEBOOK

https://www.facebook.com/WarBridesOfJapan

https://www.facebook.com/throwingriceproductions

https://ww.facebook.com/hapateez

INSTAGRAM

https://www.instagram.com/warbridesofjapan/

https://www.instagram.com/yayoiclanart

WAR BRIDES OF JAPAN, A DOCU*MEMORY FILMS

https://watermelonsushi.gumroad.com/

DONATE TO TOKYO LILY

watermelonsushiworld.blogspot.com

thank you for your continued support!

Yuri’s Fans Forever

 

celebrating heARTists during women’s history month

Yuriko in her 20's

dear heARTists and heART lovers around the world. it’s the 8th day of the 3rd month, and time for more heARTwork by Yuri.

it’s also International Women’s Day during Women’s History Month.

exactly why do we need a month honoring women’s history, you might ask. well, because so many women have not been celebrated for their achievements the way that men have for theirs.

among those women are some who also accomplished greatness as mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, sisters, aunties, friends and family members—just like yours.

for 'Tokyo Lily', or Yuriko, life was extremely difficult for about 2/3’s of it. as a child, she suffered through the Great Kanto Earthquake, one of the worst natural disasters in the world.

shortly after, Yuriko lost her father—the family patriarch, which left her mother alone to raise 5 
young children.

back in those days, there were no government programs to assist poor families. so, Yuriko was

sent away at the age of 13 to work. the money she earned was all given to her mother to pay 

the living expenses of her siblings. working without pay is akin to slavery!

by the time she was in her 20’s, Yuriko’s work contract was completed so she returned home

to finish school. she was working and studying when Japan entered WWII and caused a major

disruption in her life.

imagine running from bombs dropping on your city! and, yet that’s exactly what Yuriko did. 

further, food and other commodities had to be rationed due to massive shortages throughout the country.

when the war finally ended, Japan was occupied by U.S. soldiers. as frightening as that was to

the Japanese, Yuriko actually benefitted from it. besides finding work with the U.S. military, she

later married an American soldier.

but that didn’t end her struggles. when she arrived in the U.S. via boat, her husband was not

waiting at the pier and she had to navigate through two long train rides to the segregated South—her first home in a foreign country.

Yuriko painted this footlocker she brought from Japan

eventually, Yuriko lived in the Pacific Northwest where she married her second husband. only

then, was she able to explore the artistic expressions she was so passionate about. 

for a peek at her some of her work, visit: iAmArtistYuriko

https://lenastarwheels.wixsite.com/iamartistyuriko

landing page of iAmArtistYuriko

besides creating oil paintings, wood carvings, sewn fabric art, handmade kimono and more, Yuriko also cooked scrumptious meals made from scratch with hand-picked mushrooms and other local vegetables and fruits.

Yuriko painted these clam shells

similarly painted clam shells are seen in this screen capture from the
'Abarenbo Shogun' tv series, taking place in the early 1700's

would you like to celebrate Yuriko on this International Women's Day? you can do so by donating to a film about her. 

'Tokyo Lily, a war bride docu*memory' is currently in the production stage. thanks to our dedicated donors, we've raised enough funds to have several years' worth of video digitized as well as some super 8 footage and slides.

next up will be budgeting for historical research, archived images and music. you can be a part

of 'Tokyo Lily, a war bride docu*memory' by donating here:

watermelonsushiworld.blogspot.com

here's a reminder that you can still watch all 5 'War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory' films on Gumroad:

https://watermelonsushi.gumroad.com/

and, if you're looking for a unique gift idea, please visit our Red Bubble and TeePublic stores for movie posters featuring Yuriko:

Red Bubble

TeePublic

if you're on Youtube, please subscribe to @warbridesofjapan.

also, please be on the lookout for the Japanese war brides exhibit in conjunction with the Smithsonian!

you can stay up to date here:

FACEBOOK:

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

https://www.facebook.com/throwingriceproductions/

https://www.facebook.com/hapateez

INSTAGRAM:

https://www.instagram.com/warbridesofjapan/

https://www.instagram.com/yayoiclanart/

arrigatou for celebrating with us!

Yuri’s Fans Forever

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:

'Tokyo Lily' on CrowdfundR

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

'Tokyo Lily' trailer

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:

YayoiClanArt shop on Redbubble

and

YayoiClanArt shop on Teepublic

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!

War Brides of Japan on Gumroad

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.

https://discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2024/10/29/whats-in-japanese-name/

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. 

@warbridesofjapan on Youtube

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

Watermelon Sushi on Youtube

you can also keep up with us at these websites:

Tokyo Lily website

War Brides of Japan website

FACEBOOK:

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

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

https://www.instagram.com/warbridesofjapan/
https://www.instagram.com/yayoiclanart/

finally, Yuri’s paintings live here:

I Am Artist Yuriko

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 Fans Forever