heARTwork by Yuri: War Brides of Japan

Showing posts with label War Brides of Japan. Show all posts

Sunday, September 8, 2024

falling in heARTwork

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

Sunday, September 8, 2019

A Japanese heARTist Inspires A Docu*Memory Film

"Koi" painting by Yuri

greetings, heARTists and heART lovers of this heARTistic universe!

it’s the 8th day of the 9th month, and time for more heARTwork by Yuri.

again, this quarter, we digress from our usual exhibit of Yuri’s heARTwork (scroll down to view older posts featuring it). instead, we continue to bring you news about the 5-part series titled “War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory”, made in Yuri’s honor.

even though we were this close to wrapping up the films last quarter, we got so busy cutting new shorts and trailers to enter into film festivals. please give us a few more days, then check out our Vimeo link below to view the films.

https://vimeo.com/watermelonsushi

"War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory" collage

our last post featured 5 posters representing chapters of the docu*memory series, and we’re so happy to announce that all 5 were accepted as Official Selections in the Indo-Global International Film Festival, with the one titled “War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory: The Culture” winning a Best Poster award.

"Certificate of Excellence" from Indo-Global International Film Festival

our winning poster

and, in June, we also won Best Concept and Best Trailer awards at The Buddha International Film Festival of Pune Maharashtra India, respectively, for the film “BFF’s; Buddhist Friends Forever” and the short promo trailer "This Doc Rocks! (Buddha)".

"Best Concept Award" from The Buddha International Film Festival

"Best Trailer Award" from The Buddha International Film Festival

here’s the winning short promo trailer:

This Doc Rocks! (Buddha)

https://vimeo.com/305290266

here are the other 2 promo trailers:

This Doc Rocks! (Daruma)

https://vimeo.com/301430743

Rock This Doc! (Kokeshi)

https://vimeo.com/305181525

and, here are all 5 film trailers on Vimeo:

Herstory:

https://vimeo.com/337430653

The Brides:

https://vimeo.com/337432897

The Kids:

https://vimeo.com/337436195

The Culture:

https://vimeo.com/337747906

BFF’s: Buddhist Friends Forever:

https://vimeo.com/337749810

you can also get updates about the film at:

www.warbridesofjapan.com

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

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

and, please check out sugoi heARTist Yuriko and her sugoi heARTwork at this site:

https://lenastarwheels.wixsite.com/iamartistyuriko

until we meet again on December 8, we are and always will be…

Yuri’s Fans Forever

Saturday, June 8, 2019

heARTwork by War Brides of Japan, a docu*MEMORY

greetings, heARTists and heART lovers everywhere!

it’s the 8th day of the 6th month, and time for more heARTwork by Yuri.

but this time, we’re going to showcase another kind of art. the following posters are for the 5-part film series titled “War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory” that will be released to the public over the next few days.

you may already know that as a Japanese war bride, Yuri used art to overcome hardships in her life. in her honor, we produced a film about Japanese war brides.

here are film 5 trailers you can watch on Vimeo:

Herstory:

https://vimeo.com/337430653

The Brides:

https://vimeo.com/337432897

The Kids:

https://vimeo.com/337436195

The Culture:

https://vimeo.com/337747906

BFF’s: Buddhist Friends Forever:

https://vimeo.com/337749810

and, the good news is that our promo trailer, "This Doc Rocks! (Buddha)" and our film, “BFF’s; Buddhist Friends Forever”, were both official selections in The Buddha Film Festival of Pune Maharashtra India--screening this weekend!

This Doc Rocks! (Buddha)

https://vimeo.com/305290266

please stay updated about the film at the following sites:

www.warbridesofjapan.com

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

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

as for the amazingly incredible artist Yuriko, you can view her heARTwork at this site:

https://lenastarwheels.wixsite.com/iamartistyuriko

until September 8, ja. mate ne?

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

Thursday, March 8, 2018

heARTing Japanese war brides on International Women's Day

Yuri dances in drag;
playing a man's role in a kimono she sewed

konnichi-wa, heARTists and heART lovers everywhere.

it’s the 8th day of the 3rd month and time to celebrate International Women’s Day around the world. while we do so, let’s also remember our pioneering war brides from Japan.

after interviewing several brides last year, many of their children, some of their grandchildren and even one of their great grandchildren, i have come to admire the amazing accomplishments of these women—Yuri the heARTist included.

first of all, to meet, fall in love with, and marry a man who was a former enemy who helped bombed their country and possibly killed or maimed their loved ones, these women were able to find within themselves the capacity to forgive. they also embraced hope by becoming involved with foreign men despite incurring the wrath of their relatives—some who disowned them—and being shunned by other Japanese who saw their marriages to Americans as an act of disloyalty.

Yuri sewed this heart from fabric

some Japanese women had relationships with military men who abandoned them and left them to raise mixed race children alone. in the mono-racial society of post-WWII Japan, it was very difficult for a gaijin or outsider to find acceptance, especially a child who looked different and served to remind Japanese they had lost the war.

this whimsical dancer and cherry blossoms were painted on a piece of driftwood by Yuri

for the Japanese women who married American GI's, it was challenging to move to America during Jim Crow and segregation. at the time, 16 states still upheld anti-miscegenation laws forbidding whites to marry anyone other than whites.

Japanese women who married African American men became 'black by default' and were denied housing, dining out privileges and other recreational activities reserved only for whites.

Yuri carved this sparrow inside a thick piece of wood

most brides spoke broken English and were discriminated against by store clerks, cashiers and others who held anti-Japanese sentiment because of WWII.

many Japanese war brides lived in isolation if they weren’t in dependent quarters on military bases. often, these women were the singular war bride in their neighborhood, the only one in an interracial marriage, the lone Asian and always the only person of Japanese ancestry where they lived.

one of Yuri's many oil paintings depicting the sea and a longing for her home across the ocean

with no long distance calls back then, nor daily flights overseas, war brides resorted to writing letters back home. many were homesick for the culture they had grown up with and for the foods they had eaten which were not available in most of the US.

Yuri's all-American apple pie, one of the many 'foreign' foods she grew to love cooking

yet these women persevered, creating families and holding jobs, often sharing knowledge of Japanese culture with others in their environment. to those wonderful women, we have created a documentary film that honors them just as we honor all women on this day.

www.warbridesofjapan.com

these Heian-era dolls with plum blossoms were painted on wood by Yuri

as for Yuri, please enjoy the art she created seen on this blog post. as an artist, poet, dancer, chef, tailor, gardener, mother and wife, she embodied the spirit of the ever achieving Japanese war bride.

links to the War Brides of Japan documentary film:

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

until June 8, we are...

Yuri's Fans Forever

Friday, December 8, 2017

a heARTfelt hapa holiday!

konnichi-wa, heARTists and heART lovers worldwide.

a 60's holiday party starring Yuri

it’s 8th day of the 12th month and nearly the end of 2017. with our focus on completing the War Brides of Japan documentary film, we’ve decided to change our scheduled posts for 2018.

look for us quarterly on these dates:

March 8

June 8

September 8

December 8

since Yuri’s birthday is April 8 and Buddha’s is celebrated that same day in many Asian countries, too, we’ll keep our 8th day theme, but only post quarterly.

meanwhile, in honor of the holidays, we present some of Yuri’s culinary and decorative heARTwork below.