'tokyo lily' blossoms

greetings to all you heARTists and heART lovers of the world! it’s the 8th day of the 9th month, and time for more heARTwork by Yuri.

coming soon: 'Tokyo Lily' film

the good news is that we’re finally cataloging all of Yuri’s amazing heARTwork that will be included in the film, 'Tokyo Lily'. fingers crossed, and the story of her life should hit the screens sometime next year.

Yuri making heART in her studio

even before becoming a Japanese war bride, Yuri lived an adventurous life with many sudden changes. all of those unexpected moments will be shared through actual film interviews, vintage photos and, of course, displays of her heARTwork.

after leaving Japan with her first husband (an American soldier), Yuri raised two children. but it wasn’t until her second marriage that she was finally able to express her full heARTistic self thanks to her husband, Bob. besides helping out by schlepping Yuri and her heARTwork to various competitions and exhibits, Bob also promoted her creative endeavors. yay to Bob for making Yuri’s dreams come true!

Bob promoting Yuri's heART

until the release of 'Tokyo Lily', you can learn more about Japanese war brides by watching these 5 films:

https://watermelonsushi.gumroad.com/

you can also subscribe to our Youtube channels:

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

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

here’s our official website:

www.warbridesofjapan.com

and, Yuri’s website:

https://lenastarwheels.wixsite.com/iamartistyuriko 

arrigatou for your love and support!

Yuri’s Fans Forever

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

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

"War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory" for heARTist Yuriko

greetings, heARTists and heART lovers all over this great big planet and beyond!

Yuri as a young woman in Japan, front, 2nd from right

it’s the 8th day of the 12th (and last) month, and time for more heARTwork by Yuri.

we recently spent several weeks cataloguing her paintings, wood carvings, handmade dolls and other trinkets, so now we have a good record of all Yuri’s incredible heARTwork. 

in 2020, we’ll begin a film about her life, so we’ll be posting some never-before-seen photos. please stay in touch!

meanwhile this month, we’re once again veering from Yuriko's heARTwork to tell you about the many awards that our “War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory” has won. after all, the film reflects Yuri’s story, too.

several days ago, we learned that we're a Finalist in the Rome Prisma Film Awards. our trailer, “The Chase”, was first an Official Selection, then a Semi-Finalist, and now a Finalist. we will know in a few days if we will be the final winner, but it doesn’t really matter because we are just so proud to have been selected for the Finalist category in the first place.

https://www.romeprismafilmawards.com/2019/12/05/prisma-november-2019-finalists/

*Picasso Einstein Buddha International Film Festival, Rishikesh Uttarakhand India: 

in November, we had several Official Selections in this fest. the final result was that we won a Best Trailer award for “The Chase” and a Best Film Poster award for “The Culture”.

*Indie Visions Film Festival, Tehran Iran and the State of Virginia:

in October, our trailer, “The Chase”,  was an Official Selection in this fest.

*Visualis Film Festival, St. Petersburg Federated States of Russia:

we had two film posters, "The Kids" and "The Culture" that were selected as Semi-Finalists in this fest.

*Great Message International Film Festival, Pune Maharashtra India: 

in September, several of our entires became Official Selections in this fest, including “The Chase”, which earned a Best Trailer award, and “Herstory”, a short experimental doc featuring two historians discussing Japanese war brides. 

*Lift-Off Global Network, Sessions 2019, Pinewood Studios, England:

the first festival we entered in January, was an online competition. for that, we presented a 5-minute short titled “The Race” which was a conglomeration of snippets from our 5 short films.

and below at our last post, you can see that our promo trailer, “This Doc Rocks! (Buddha)” was awarded Best Trailer at *The Buddha International Film Festival in Pune Maharashtra India and our “BFF’s; Buddhist Friends Forever” short doc won a Best Concept award there.

also, when we first began in September 2016, we were the Featured Documentary of the Month of our Fiscal Sponsor, *From the Heart Productions--due to our fundraising campaign.

we cannot thank our generous donors enough! you guys rock!

heARTist Yuriko is now honored in the 5 films that makes up “War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory”—which are all currently available for rent on Vimeo:

TRENDING TRAILERS:

The Chase:

https://vimeo.com/285660140

Herstory:

https://vimeo.com/337430653

and, here are the 5 films available on Vimeo:

Herstory:

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/wbojherstory/338403897

The Brides:

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/wbojbrides/337486782

The Kids:

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/wbojkids/338506008

The Culture:

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/wbojculture/337437295

BFF’s; Buddhist Friends Forever:

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/wbojbffsvod/337438784

and, please stay updated at these links:

www.warbridesofjapan.com

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

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

for more on Yuriko’s heARTwork, please visit this website:

https://lenastarwheels.wixsite.com/iamartistyuriko

omedettou gozaimasu! happy new year, and see you in 2020 on January 8.

Yuri’s Fans Forever

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

wooden you love it?

konnichi-wa dear heARTists and heARTwork lovers around the world!

it’s the 8^th day of the 11^th month, and time to enjoy more heARTwork by Yuri.

besides carving heARTwork out of wood, Yuriko also enjoyed painting on their surfaces. she especially liked to use pieces of wood with natural holes and other textures embellished on them. first, Yuri would have her husband cut, polish and prepare the wood. then, after tracing her designs on them with pencils, she would paint them with acrylics.

since Yuri painted so many pieces of heARTwork on wood, we’ll only feature the ones with flowers this time, but please stay tuned for more later.

lovely mums

small purple flowers

more small purple flowers

violets

circular purple flowers

more circular purple flowers

sunset-red flowers

sunflowers in a barrel

daisies

daisies with cherries

remember, Yuriko’s oils can be seen here:

http://lenastarwheels.wix.com/iamartistyuriko

of course, all images are copyright protected so please be nice.

and, if you have a moment, check out our 'War Brides of Japan' page on Facebook to learn about the documentary featuring Yuriko. 

like us, follow us, or contact us and tell us what you think.

https://www.facebook.com/WarBridesOfJapan

ja!

Yuri's Fans Forever