Watermelon Sushi World: a docu*memory

Sunday, March 31, 2024

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

Saturday, December 31, 2022

A New Year, A New Logo, A New (Old) Film

Aloha, Hip Hapa Homeez!

Hau’oli Makahiki Hou! Akemashite Omedettou Gozaimasu!

Best wishes for the happiest of new years to all of our loyal fans.

In our last post, we mentioned having an executive producer onboard to help complete Watermelon Sushi—first shot in 1998. Arrigatou! to the fabulous filmmaker Doug Ing for having our old footage digitized for easy editing.

Since Watermelon Sushi was not completed the first time (and the performers are now more than 20 years older), we will create an animated version of it. The story is still the same; still about two mixed-race sisters framed by nostalgic 1980’s rap and hip hop.

Please stay tuned as we produce a new logo in the next few weeks that will spearhead our crowdfunding efforts.

Speaking of new logos, we’re also working on another film, Tokyo Lily, which is a biopic of a Japanese war bride who married a Black American soldier and moved to segregated Texas in the 1950’s. Eventually, her family settled in another state where she studied traditional Japanese dance (playing male roles), became a painter and wrote haiku.

Additionally, we will have a graphic novel about the same bride titled, Lily Wisteria.