holiday happiness

a winter scene painted by Yuri

dear heARTists and heART lovers everywhere. it’s the 8th day of the 12th month, and time for more heARTwork by Yuri.

how is it possible that’s the holidays are here already? what happened to the new year of 2025?

maybe you're a heARTist who likes to celebrate by incorporating holiday themes into your heARTwork like Yuri did.

below, is some of her work:

holiday wreaths by Yuri

Muffin says, 'happy holidays!'

cut-out tree decorations by Yuri

santa claus painted by Yuri

this year has flown by while we made a move overseas. so, now our editing schedule for Tokyo Lily, a war bride docu*memory has been significantly delayed. not to worry, we will make up for lost time very soon.

we thank you donors for your support, and hope for your patience and understanding. 

meanwhile, please stay updated at 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

TEE SHIRTS

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

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

a very merry holiday season to all. akemashite omedettou gozaimasu.

arrigatou!

Yuri’s Fans Forever

falling into fall

Tokyo Lily, a war bride docu*memory

dear heARTists and heART lovers of the heART universe. it’s the 8th day of the 9th month, and time for more heARTwork by Yuri.

is time moving faster, or are we just so busy that everything seems to be flying past us?

yes, it’s that time of year again. If you live in a part of the world where Fall is obvious in her profusion of yellow, orange and red leaves, then you’re fortunate to witness Mother Nature’s parade of stunning colors.

speaking of fall colors, here's one of Yuri’s most memorable fall paintings:

meanwhile, we’re keeping this blog post short and sweet as we’re in the middle of expansion. Tokyo Lily, a war bride docu*memory is still on our editing schedule, but we've experienced several delays. 

apologies to our donors! we hope you continue to support us in whatever way suits you best.

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 love.

arrigatou!

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

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