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

'tokyo lily' and 'lily wisteria' on international women’s day

Yuri painting in her studio

konnichi-wa, heARTists and heART lovers everywhere!

it’s the 8th day of the 3rd month and, once again, we’re celebrating International Women’s Day by honoring Japanese war brides alongside their sisters around the world.

as you know from reading this blog, Japanese war brides were amazing women. in addition to marrying their former enemies (American military men), these ladies arrived in the U.S. during racial segregation and shortly after Americans of Japanese ancestry were imprisoned behind barbed wire. 

besides having to learn a new language and culture, Japanese war brides also raised mixed race children in environments that were often hostile towards them, and sometimes in isolated areas of the country.

we created our ‘War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory’ films to celebrate these amazing women. all five movies are currently available on Gumroad:

https://watermelonsushi.gumroad.com/ 

meanwhile, we’ve been busy cataloging Yuri’s incredible heARTwork for a film, ‘Tokyo Lily’. we also have a graphic novel in the works, ‘Lily Wisteria’, which is all about her life.

'Tokyo Lily' will feature Yuri’s numerous paintings, wood carvings, quilting, crocheting and sewing projects, as well as her traditional dance performances and haiku (Japanese poetry). 

Yuri dancing in a male role

we hope to have both projects completed by early next year.

you can learn more about Japanese war brides at our two Youtube channels:

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

https://www.youtube.com/c/WatermelonSushi/videos 

here's our 'War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory' website:

www.warbridesofjapan.com

and, Yuri’s heARTwork can be seen here:

https://lenastarwheels.wixsite.com/iamartistyuriko 

along with our two projects about Yuri, we’re also reworking ‘Watermelon Sushi’ as animation. this story of two AfroAsian sisters showcases their Japanese war bride mother, and how they discovered their identity through her. check it out here:

www.watermelonsushi.com

stick around as we’ll be announcing our crowdfunding campaign this summer.

happy International Women’s Day!

Yuri’s Fans Forever