falling in heARTwork

autumn painting ©2012 Yuriko

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

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: 

https://watermelonsushi.gumroad.com/ 

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: 

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

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

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

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

https://lenastarwheels.wixsite.com/iamartistyuriko 

please stay tuned! 

Yuri’s Fans Forever

falling forward

Yuri in Japan

greetings to all you heARTists and heART lovers everywhere!

as heat waves explode across our globe, many of us look forward to fall. and, with cooler temps urging on home-centered activities, we’ll be spending more time working on our future film about Yuri.

we now have all 5 episodes of 'War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory' completed and available on Gumroad:

https://watermelonsushi.gumroad.com/

and, our 'Native Vegan' project (funded with a grant by VeganFlix) is viewable on our Youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byMMjdjj9CU

now, our attention is focused on a graphic novel and documentary film about the incredible artistry of Yuriko. we’ve been busy uncovering old footage, slides, and still photos showcasing her many art projects that we’ll be sharing in the film. 

here’s one of the many quilts that she created and sewed.

please enjoy the cooling breeze of falling autumn leaves, and we’ll reconnect at the end of this year. 

Yuri’s Fans Forever

picture this!

greetings fellow heARTists around the planet!

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

however, this month we’re going to focus on our upcoming film about the legendary heARTist, haiku writer, traditional Japanese dancer, photographer, painter and home chef extraordinaire—Yuriko!

Yuriko dances the role of Sanshiro Sugata, a male judo master

the film will feature old super 8mm footage from the 1960’s that Yuri shot of her family, and we’re also including slides and photos of Yuri over the years.

here's an example of family footage on Youtube shot by one of her daughters:

pop!1969 : TEEN STAR OF TACOMA

Yuriko in backyard garden with Lulu, circa 1970's

although she was born in an affluent part of Tokyo, Yuri and her family were plunged into poverty when her father suddenly died. 

the film will tell the story of how Yuri found herself working as a live-in nanny at age 13; and, how she gave up a career in fashion design because Japan had engaged in so many wars that its citizens had to toil in arms-producing factories.

Yuriko in her 20's

we’ll also show how Yuri’s marriage to an African American GI following WWII changed her life completely.

Yuri's changing life

speaking of that, our War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory film series is currently available on Vimeo for just a few more weeks. here’s the link:

https://vimeo.com/watermelonsushi/vod_pages

and, here's our website:

www.warbridesofjapan.com

looking toward 2021 and Yuriko’s film, we remain…

Yuri’s Fans Forever

a heART for you!

konnichi-wa all heARTists and heART lovers across the universe. it’s the 8th day of the 5th month and, we’re celebrating Yuriko’s art once again.

however, while we’re still in the editing phase of War Brides of Japan, we don’t have time to share as much as we’d like. 

a heART for you!

so we'll leave you with Yuriko's handmade hearts and the links below for more info about the film.

please scroll through “Older Posts” to see more of Yuriko’s fabulous heARTwork!

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!

Yuri's Fans Forever

happy birthday, heARTist Yuri!

konnichi-wa heART lovers! it’s the 8th day of the 4th month, and we’re honoring Yuriko’s birthday by showing a few of her favorite paintings. 

on an interesting note, today is also the day that many in Asia celebrate Buddha’s birthday.

flowers are always a favorite for Yuri. so here are a few that she painted in oils.

meanwhile, please check out our War Brides of Japan links to the documentary film we’re making for Yuri.

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

marching forward with War Brides of Japan!

konnichi-wa, heARTists and heARTwork lovers of the Universe.

it’s the 8^th day of the 6^th month, and we have not blogged on this site since December of last year. apologies, but our War Brides of Japan documentary is now a priority.

Yuriko and daughter, br, silk-screened dozens of these hachimaki

some results of that prioritization? our pre-production video on Vimeo:

https://vimeo.com/169397930

and, on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKOvPPv2nBo

here’s another YouTube slideshow, this one from 2012:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNSEUkT2N4E&feature=plcp

and, this YouTube video was one of three finalists at the 30-Second Snipler Competition at the Los Angeles New Media Film Festival in 2012. however, it was later disqualified for being created with the One True Media app.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnJkujn1iek&feature=colike

there’s also a website now:

http://www.warbridesofjapan.com/

and, two more are currently in the works.

Yuriko's bio

Yuriko won these ribbons for her heARTwork and quilts

here’s an essay that was posted on LinkedIn, about how Japanese war brides overcame their anger and bitterness to marry their former enemies:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-learned-forgive-love-enemy-yayoi-l-winfrey?trk=pulse_spock-articles

of course, you can always stay updated with the project on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/WarBridesOfJapan

and, if you happen to be a Japanese war bride or know one, please email us at Yayoi@warbridesofjapan.com or warbridesofjapan@gmail.com

above are ribbons that Yuriko won for her heARTwork and quilts, plus her bio that was posted at one of her painting exhibits. for more about her oil paintings, go here:

http://lenastarwheels.wix.com/iamartistyuriko

your cooperation is greatly appreciated in protecting these copyright images.

and, arrigatou gozaimashita for your continuing interest. please stay tuned in the months ahead as we march forward with War Brides of Japan!

ja!

Yuri's Fans Forever