Enter the Dragon with War Brides, Watermelon Sushi and Tokyo Lily

 Aloha, Hip Hapa Homeez!

Welcome to the New Year of the Wood Dragon (as of February 10). So far, the charming and fiery creature has propelled us forward—and, fast.

dragon time

For one, we are now in possession of our original ‘Watermelon Sushi’ reels converted to 8K! The footage is just gorgeous, subtly vintage, and with an authentic 1980’s look.

watermelon sushi

Thanks to our Executive Producer, Lowell Douglas Ing--a Dragon himself, we will now complete the film that’s been languishing for decades!

dragon Doug Ing

Currently, we’re busy editing, but we’ll soon be recruiting animators, composers and voice actors for some scenes that weren’t shot the first time around. If you fit any of those talent and crew categories, please get in touch with us.

Meanwhile, we’re also working on ‘Tokyo Lily a war bride docu*memory’. This film is a continuation of the ‘War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory’ five-part series that was released in 2019. But the focus of ‘Tokyo Lily’ is on one war bride who eventually became an artist.

Tokyo Lily

War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory

Ironically (or not), today is ‘Tokyo Lily’s’ fake birthday. Unbelievably, she celebrated two. Since the cut off date for the birthdays of kids starting school in Japan is April 1, 'Tokyo Lily’s’ father reported her birth as March 31. So even though ‘Tokyo Lily' was really born on Buddha’s April 8 birthday, she commemorated both. Otanjoubi omedettou gozaimasu, Yuriko-san!

Since we’re using some of the same sources for both ‘Watermelon Sushi' and ‘Tokyo Lily, a war bride docu*memory’, we’ve made a slight change in our donation link. Please note that any contributions you make may be marked either for ‘Watermelon Sushi’ or ‘Tokyo Lily’. 

Additionally, ‘Tokyo Lily’ has her own crowdfunding page here:

https://crowdfundr.com/tokyo-lily?ref=ab_bCoUv9_ab_3e8AhlTqLsY3e8AhlTqLsY

It goes without saying that none of these projects could exist without you, our generous supporters. We truly appreciate you!

Please visit our December post below to learn about some of our most ardent contributors.

Here are some links to where you can stay updated:

Watermelon Sushi website

Watermelon Sushi on Youtube

Watermelon Sushi on Facebook

Tokyo Lily website

War Brides of Japan website
War Brides of Japan on Youtube

War Brides of Japan on Facebook

Let’s meet again in June, mina-san! have a Hapa Haru (spring)!

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi

Falling Forward

 Aloha, Hip Hapa Homeez!

Here we are again, preparing for Fall. But the darker days and longer nights are actually a blessing. It will keep us in our studio where we will spend more time working on our creative endeavors.

For one, Watermelon Sushi (the movie) now has an Executive Producer. In the posts to come, we will name that person and the work they are doing for our film. Soon, we’ll be starting our fundraising campaign!

Yayoi introduces her family 

We also have our yet untitled documentary and graphic novel about a Japanese war bride artist. 

a war bride and an artist

And, we’ll be licensing artwork for both films in the very near future.

Have you stayed updated on our two Youtube channels?

Watermelon Sushi

War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory

While you’re there, please subscribe. 

You can also view the 5 War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory films on Gumroad:

Gumroad

Finally, here are the links to our films’ main websites:

Starwheels

Watermelon Sushi

War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory

As always, we’re open to interviewing mixed-race, multicultural, multiethnic and multiracial folks who are making a difference. Please drop us a line!

Meanwhile, our deepest mahalo to you—our fans since 2006—for your continuing support.

Have a beautiful autumn!

Your Hip Hapa, 

Yayoi

War Brides of Japan in Post-Post

Aloha, Hip Hapa Homeez!

We have good news and we have bad news. 

First, the bad. We still haven’t released our docu*MEMORY, “War Brides of Japan”, because we’re still tweaking it. 

But we’re very, very close. 

production still by Diana Portugal

Besides making the film available to you at online platforms, we’re also planning to screen at several upcoming film festivals.

The best places to stay updated about our activities are on the website and social media pages listed below. 

If you’re connected to a Japanese war bride, please join our Facebook page, “Japanese War Brides & Families & Friends”.

dir. Yayoi with war bride daughter Diana Portugal &
her husband Ed in Clovis CA
production still by Sean H

dir. Yayoi with war bride daughter Roleta Fowler Vasquez &
her husband Joe in Moorpark CA
production still by Sean H

Meanwhile, the good news is that we've created a new trailer. Called “The Chase”, it features several Japanese war brides recalling how they met their GI husbands as well as several adult children talking about their parents.

Check it out!

Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/285660140

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDpNuvT0vos

And, here are all the usual links including a new podcast at Stubborn Hearts on iTunes. See item #11 dated June 8:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/stubborn-hearts/id1396398307

War Brides of Japan videos:
youtube 88.1 FM interview
youtube behind the scenes production trailer 
vimeo behind the scenes production trailer
youtube pre-production trailer 
vimeo pre-production trailer 
youtube v.2
youtube v.1

War Brides of Japan websites:

warbridesofjapan.com

weebly

jimdo

War Brides of Japan in the news:

Stubborn Hearts

DIFT 

NBC 

international examiner

international examiner 2

discover nikkei

War Brides of Japan on Facebook:

fan page

Throwing Rice Productions on Facebook:

fan page

War Brides of Japan on LinkedIn:

how they learned to forgive and love the enemy

making love, not war

those bad ass brides!

War Brides of Japan on Twitter:

watermelonsushi

War Brides of Japan on G+:

google plus

War Brides of Japan blogs:

on the road

tumblR

A War Bride's artwork:

iAmArtistYuriko

heARTworkByYuri

A big fat MWAHH to all our donors for their generous contributions. Without them, this film would have not been possible. Please see a list of their names at our website.

Until December, i am…

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi

War Brides of Japan: Still in Post

a war bride before she was a war bride

Aloha, Hip Hapa Homeez! 

At the risk of repeating last quarter’s blog, we are repeating last quarter’s blog. 

For those of you who are filmmakers, it’s likely you know why. For those not, please know that filmmaking is a long, involved process and right now our documentary, War Brides of Japan, is still in post.

If you’re interested in learning more about the mixed race experience, please join our Hip Hapa Homeez group page on Facebook. That’s where we discuss everything about ethnicity, nationality and multicultural living.

You can also join our Japanese War Brides and Their Children group page on Facebook to participate in discussions about your war bride mother--or any war bride you may know.

Meanwhile, enjoy these links to info about the War Brides of Japan documentary. If the main (first listed) website doesn’t work, please revisit it later as we have very recently changed web hosts.

War Brides of Japan videos:

youtube 88.1 FM interview 

youtube behind the scenes production trailer 

vimeo behind the scenes production trailer 

youtube pre-production trailer 

vimeo pre-production trailer 

youtube v.2 

youtube v.1

War Brides of Japan websites:

warbridesofjapan.com

weebly

jimdo

War Brides of Japan in the news:

DIFT 

NBC 

international examiner

international examiner 2

discover nikkei

War Brides of Japan on Facebook:

fan page

War Brides of Japan on LinkedIn:

how they learned to forgive and love the enemy

making love, not war

those bad ass brides!

War Brides of Japan on Twitter:

watermelonsushi

War Brides of Japan on G+:

google plus

War Brides of Japan blogs:

on the road

tumblR

A War Bride's artwork:

iAmArtistYuriko

heARTworkByYuri

We’re still accepting your 100% tax deductible donations, so please check out our Network for Good account to make your contribution.

https://fromtheheartproductions.networkforgood.com/projects/15778-documentaries-war-brides-of-japan

War Brides of Japan animator Michelle Jericho Poppler...

...has a surprise for you!

Enjoy your summer and arrigatou gozaimashita for your support and encouragement!

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi

visiting Masako White (l) in New Jersey

Your Hip Hapa Films War Brides Of Japan

Gommenasai, Hip Hapa Homeez!

director Yayoi with war bride daughter
Diana and her husband in Clovis

There are always firsts, and this is definitely a first. For the first time since 2008, and Your Hip Hapa’s regularly scheduled posts, we are late.

But you’ll understand why when you learn that all our time has been devoted to filming and editing our documentary, War Brides of Japan.

Besides, Your Hip Hapa’s calendar got soaked from a bottle of water that spilled inside her bag while she was on the road filming. Consequently, everything written in ink got smeared—including deadline dates.

Apologies! Meanwhile, here we are ten days late with news from our travels.

Please enjoy!

>>from Hollywood, to Oxnard, to Fillmore, to Laguna Woods, to Tucson, to Clovis and Fresno, to Elk Grove and Sacramento, to San Jose and San Francisco California, to Tacoma and Kirkland Washington and beyond--we've been meeting and filming the most amazing war brides, their adult children, grandchildren, hosts and hostesses, donors and many others.

see for yourself (all production stills courtesy Sean Hardin):

war bride daughter Roleta with her husband Joe and dog Ozzy in Fillmore

war bride Asako-san with her daughter Margaret in Laguna Woods

war bride daughter M. shows off kimono with husband Steve in Tucson

war bride Fumiko-san flanked by daughters Diane and Myokei in Elk Grove

war bride daughter Yoshi-san holds up pix of her mother and aunt making mochi in Sacramento

war bride daughter Jean shows off Chinese zodiac in San Jose

J-town in San Jose

donor Lenore with director Yayoi in San Francisco

donor Kareem in Seattle

donor Silvia with director Yayoi in Tacoma

war bride son Mike with his wife, sister Doris, their Japanese cousin and Doris' granddaughter Alana in Tacoma

war bride daughters Doris and Cassie in Tacoma

remember, we're still fundraising at Network for Good where your donation is 100% completely tax-deductible:<<

https://fromtheheartproductions.networkforgood.com/projects/15778-documentaries-war-brides-of-japan

And, here are more links!

War Brides of Japan videos:

vimeo

youtube preproduction trailer

youtube v.2

youtube v.1

War Brides of Japan websites:

warbridesofjapan.com

weeebly

jimdo

War Brides of Japan news:

88.1 Fresno radio 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

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

See you next bi-month, on December 7--a significant day for War Brides of Japan.

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