Showing posts with label Tokyo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tokyo. Show all posts

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

Thursday, December 8, 2022

tokyo lily

Yuri and child
greetings heARTists and heART lovers all around the world! happy holidays and best wishes for a wonderful 2023.


what’s on your slate for the new year? we have quite a few items on ours. 


for one, we're making more people aware of Japanese war brides like Yuri by offering all 5 parts of ‘War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory’ on Gumroad: 



we’re also making appearances at educational institutions to discuss Japanese war brides. 


email us for more information: yayoi@warbridesofjapan.com 


slowly, we’ve been gathering materials for ‘Tokyo Lily’, a film about Yuri. it will not only cover her early years as WWII began building up in Japan, but also follows her to the US after she marries an American soldier—a former enemy of her country. 

 
later, we feature Yuri’s amazing life as she pursues a slew of artistic endeavors—traditional Japanese dance, oil painting, wood carving, sewing, quilting, crocheting, writing haiku, and more. 


Yuri dances a male character

besides the film, we’re also creating a graphic novel which will tell the same story. 

our Youtube channel for the war brides is: 


however, two of our earlier war brides films are on our other Youtube channel:


and, as always, you can view Yuri’s artwork here: 


please stay tuned! 

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:

on you tube:

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