Bad Ass Brides: Keep On Keepin’ On!

Konnichi-wa, Hip Hapa Homeez!

beautiful brides: Mrs.Wright, Mrs. Davis, Mrs. Winfrey

Until our War Brides of Japan feature documentary is on the screen, we’re going to be blogging about it a lot.

If you’re interested in discussing being biracial or a transracial adoptee, or being in an interracial relationship or just crossing cultures, please go to our Hip Hapa Homeez group page on Facebook where we do just that.

Otherwise, we’re all about War Brides of Japan right now.

First off, a BIG UP! to all our donors. You know who you are, and we’ll mention you by name in another post. That is, if you haven’t chosen to remain anonymous. We’ll have to get your permission first, so let us know.

For the rest of you who haven’t yet made a 100% tax-deductible donation to the War Brides of Japan documentary, you can do so by clicking here: PLEASE DONATE!

best friends: Yuriko-san and Emiko-san,
who loved wearing Chinese dresses

Next, here’s a correction about our last blog post that indicated all Japanese war brides entered into interracial marriages with either black or white American military men. We have since learned that there were some Japanese American Intelligence Officers stationed in Japan during the Occupation. Some of them also married Japanese war brides. However, since those men did work that was highly classified, few people know of their stories. If you have such a story, please let us know.

Further, we recently located a Japanese war bride married to a Mexican American GI, another rare exception. If you know of a Japanese war bride who married someone other than a black or white American, please drop us a line. In fact, if you know any Japanese war brides at all, tell us about them, too.

in the kitchen with Yuriko-san
mover over, Julia Child!

Even though we have scheduled interviews with about a dozen war brides and or their adult children, it’s good to be aware of any others out there—especially on the West Coast where we’re going to begin our filming. We will keep you posted, Hip Hapa Homeez!

To know more about the War Brides of Japan documentary film project, please check out the links below:

Vimeo Pre-Production Trailer

YouTube Pre-Production Trailer

YouTube Version 2 Trailer

YouTube Original 30-Second Trailer

War Brides of Japan website

War Brides of Japan website on Weebly

War Brides of Japan website on Jimdo

War Brides of Japan fan page on Facebook

International Examiner article

Discover Nikkei reprint

LinkedIn Essay

We have also created a closed group page on Facebook called Japanese War Brides and Their Children. Please request membership if you’re interested in joining us.

Yuriko-san, back in the day with her ocha and ciggies

And, of course, we still have our Watermelon Sushi narrative film project although it’s understandably on hold right now:

Watermelon Sushi film 

Watermelon Sushi on Facebook 

Watermelon Sushi World Networked Blogs on Facebook 

Hapa*Teez on YouTube 

Hapa*Teez on Facebook 

Hapa*Teez on Café Press 

Yayoi Lena Winfrey fan page on Facebook (sorry, but Your Hip Hapa can’t add any more friends to her regular profile page) 

Twitter

There, that should hold you for awhile! See you in a bi-month, Hip Hapa Homeez. And, don't forget: PLEASE DONATE!

ja, mata ne!

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi

Beautiful, Brave, Bodacious And Bad-Ass: War Brides of Japan

Chi’z, hip hapa homeez!

A good friend from Japan who’s been teaching me the language told me the hip greeting for konnichi-wa is simply “chi’zzz” (cheese) as in chi-wa as in nichi-wa as in konnichi-wa. Clever, huh?

Another Japanese national I recently met told me the hip word to describe what was trending in Japan is “now-ee”. Japan has sure changed a lot since my Mom left it.

Asako Sakaguchi and Phillip Miller  

Speaking of, there’s lots of news to share about our ongoing War Brides of Japan documentary project. For one, we've released a preproduction trailer that shares a little history about Japanese war brides. Here it is:

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

Even though we haven’t officially launched our crowdfunding campaign yet, we’ve already received our very first donation. Thank you, Global Music Awards!

http://www.globalmusicawards.com/

Further, our donor also donated a video camera complete with accessories! So, now we’re in the process of scheduling interviews with both war brides and/or their adult children. Stay tuned here for updates, or else at our Facebook Fan page:

https://www.facebook.com/WarBridesOfJapan

Our website should be up and running by next week.

Teruko Nishina and Roland Franklin Stead, Jr.

Here’s our tag line:

…beautifully brave Japanese women who married American military men after WWII were called “war brides”—although contrary to that label, they didn’t marry a war but instead expressed their unconditional love by marrying “the enemy”…

Every single Japanese war bride entered into an interracial marriage. Following Japan’s surrender in WWII, it became occupied by American armed forces made up of either black or white men. Since interracial marriage was still banned in 16 states, some war brides took a big risk being with their own mates.

Besides struggling with cultural and language barriers, brave war brides also had to endure the hostility of some Americans once they moved to the U.S. with their husbands. Both black and white Americans blamed them for starting WWII because Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor. No matter that these women were innocent civilians and helpless to challenge their own government about its war agenda.

Harue Abiru and Charles William Lahn

Not only did war brides leave behind their families (some who disowned them for "marrying the enemy"), but they also moved to a country they’d never seen before with men that had only years earlier might have helped destroy theirs.

Each war bride from Japan has her own unique story, and we hope to tell as many as we can in this documentary.

Here are links to slideshows we've created in the past, including one that placed among the top three entries in the New Media Film Festival in Los Angeles in 2012 (although it was later disqualified for using the One True Media app):

War Brides of Japan v.2 on YouTube

War Brides of Japan on YouTube

Come along with us, Hip Hapa Homeez, on this amazing journey to honor these beautiful, brave, bodacious, bad-ass War Brides of Japan!

Yasue Hayakawa and Rev. Williams
with daughters

And, remember, we still have our feature narrative, Watermelon Sushi, to complete so please support our pages.

Watermelon Sushi film

Watermelon Sushi on Facebook

Watermelon Sushi World Networked Blogs on Facebook

Hapa*Teez on YouTube

Hapa*Teez on Facebook

Hapa*Teez on Café Press

Yayoi Lena Winfrey fan page on Facebook (sorry, but Your Hip Hapa can’t add any more friends to her regular profile page)

Twitter

We also have our Hip Hapa Homeez group on Facebook where members post articles about being bicultural, biracial, transracially adopted, from a blended family or part of an interracial couple.

See you next bi-month for more about the War Brides of Japan.

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi 

Yuriko Naito and A.W. Winfrey
with daughters

Hip Hapa Homeez' Work Goes On And On

Aloha blendies, mixies, and multis everywhere!

This morning, our new Watermelon Sushi associate producer in Tokyo sent me the following link and promptly ruined my day. Seriously, this is a sad story so have a box of tissues handy while you read it. Mahalo nui loa, Derrick.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080910f2.html

Amazing, isn't it? How humankind divvies itself into groups based on ethnicity? I know that among wildlife there is sometimes a self-enforced thinning of the herd, but don't humans actually have the ability to reason--to analyze and to rationalize? Or, are we just animals walking upright?

If you haven't read the article above yet, you won't know that I'm talking about mixed-race babies in Japan that were abandoned by their American military fathers and Japanese mothers. Often, the mothers came from poor families made even worse off by post-war shortages and economic despair. What this article doesn't cover, however, is the number of babies born out of wedlock to pure-blooded Japanese parents and given away. I'm sure it was nowhere near the numbers for the hapa kids though. I'm just thankful that my father honored his duty, married my mother and brought us to America. What my fate would have been as a half-black child in Tokyo....I can't even imagine. No disrespect to other women under similar circumstances, but one thing I know for certain, my Moms would've never given me up for nothin'. She's just that kinda lady.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting Teri LaFlesh in the flesh! I've been wanting to say that ever since I bumped into Teri in cyberspace. This sistah with a Caucasian father and African American mother has written the most fascinating book called Biracial Hair. Check out Teri's website and her blog to see for yourself:

www.BiracialHair.info

www.FromerMushroomHairedChild.blogspot.com

And, today, I heard from Allison who calls herself a CHEW. She's Chinese and Jewish, and creative as all get out. I've listed the link to her blog, so go for it:

http://manushkin.wordpress.com/

Besides building the new Watermelon Sushi website, I've been busy with so much Hip Hapa Homeez work that I didn't realize the latest taiga was on NHK. As much as I loved the Shinsengumi and Yoshitsune series, I am really digging this one starring a GIRL! Atsuhime (hime means princess) is fetched to the Shogun's court to convince him to pick a certain successor. It's all castle intrigue with servants weighing in with guarded opinions. In one hilarious scene, the Shogun is tossing beanbags and throws one at the head one of his advisors because he doesn't like what he's saying. Pure Japanese humor, but I love it! There's just something about feudal era drama that sucks me in like a whirlpool.

The pix this week are from left: my Moms about age 20 in Tokyo wearing a handmade (no pattern, no sewing machine) outfit she created; me in Jamaica with my Jah-fro waaay back in the day; and, Teri LaFlesh and me with my new straight tresses yesterday (thank you, Teri!).

Until next time, I remain...

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi