heARTwork by Yuri: Japanese war bride

Showing posts with label Japanese war bride. Show all posts

Friday, December 8, 2023

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

Monday, March 8, 2021

Yuriko's heARTwork contributions to international women's day

happy International Women’s Day to heARTists and heART lovers around the world!

an old woman reflects on her life's past

a young woman reflects on her life to come

it’s the 8th day of the 3rd month and time for more heARTwork by Yuri.

interestingly, Japanese war brides like Yuriko contributed to global awareness of women’s issues without even realizing it.

when they arrived in the US for the first time (along with their American military husbands), Japanese war brides had experienced very little contact with western culture—outside of what the US military brought to Japan during the Occupation.

even Empress Michiko designated the war brides as ‘cultural ambassadors’ for Japan.

obon dancers by Yuriko

besides their beliefs in Shinto and Buddhism, the brides also perpetuated obon (ancestral celebrations) with bon odori (obon dances), ikebana (flower arranging), sumi-e (calligraphy), and the introduction a variety of foods. everything—from sushi to tempura to sukiyaki—eventually became popular in US specialty restaurants.

war brides innocently brought their practices of Japanese culture to a country that had been so hostile towards Americans of Japanese descent that they had imprisoned them during WWII.

by naively clinging to their native beliefs and arts, war brides were able to keep aspects of Japanese culture alive while Japanese Americans had been forced to destroy many elements of it.

through her love for painting, Yuriko imparted messages of peace and hope. even though she preferred to paint landscapes and seascapes, she also created paintings that featured Japanese motifs as well purely American ones.

Yuriko's koi painting is very Japanese

while her eagle woodcarving is totally American

some of her heARTwork appear on this blog page while others can be viewed at iAmArtistYuriko.com

Yuriko won many prizes for her heARTwork

a Wordie by Jason

also, you can stay updated about the 'War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory' series at our website: www.warbridesofjapan.com

until June 30, I will always remain one of...

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

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

dog days with heARTist Yuriko

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

Yuri cooks and Muffin waits

it’s the 8th day of the 11th month and time for more heARTwork by Yuri.

at this point, you probably know that our documentary, War Brides of Japan—featuring women like Yuri, is well into post-production and our title has been added to IMDB:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt7354346/?ref_=ttmi_tt

but back to Yuri and her heARTwork. last month, we shared some of Yuri’s cat paintings, so this month we’ll post the photo of her single dog painting--her portrait of the regal Princess. ironically, while Yuri loved painting cats (as attested to by her numerous portraits of them), she preferred the company of dogs.

check it out!

the regal Princess who was later replaced
by the rambunctious Muffin

and check out our War Brides of Japan links, too:

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

Yuri and Muffin dance

Muffin sits and begs

until the next 8th day of the month, arf arf and bow wow.

ja!

Yuri's Fans Forever!

Friday, September 8, 2017

flora Yuri

painted on a coaster

konnichi-wa, heARTists and heART lovers around the world.

it’s the 8th day of the 9th month, and time to show off a little more of Yuri’s heARTwork.

while we’re still busy in post with our documentary, War Brides of Japan, we’ll make it quick.

besides being an incredible artist, Yuri also had a green thumb. a long-time lover of all varieties of flowers, she loved creating art with that theme as much as she enjoyed growing flora.

this is painted on canvas

this piece is made of silk

please join our Facebook group page: Japanese War Brides & Families & Friends to share your photos of the war bride in your life. you can also follow our fan page War Brides of Japan.

meanwhile, enjoy the links to the War Brides of Japan documentary 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:
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

arrigatou gozaimasu.

Yuri’s Fans Forever

Thursday, June 8, 2017

Yuri's favorite heARTworks

konnichi-wa, heARTists and supporters of Yuri's heARTwork. it’s the 8th day of the 6th month and time for more heARTwork by Yuri.

but wait, we’re still busy editing our War Brides of Japan documentary, so we only have a few images for you; some of Yuri’s favorite things.

here’s a self-portrait of her as a cross-dressing dancer. seriously, she took on the role of a famous judo master in a dance recital, and even made the man’s kimono herself. then, she painted herself from a photo.

Yuri means lily flower, and here are lilies that Yuri grew in her garden.

finally, here’s a plate of her homemade spaghetti with steamed green beans, and garlic toast from her favorite whole wheat bread that she baked from scratch.