JCAY (Japanese Canadian Association of Yukon) and the Nikkei National Museum proudly present
Stories of Japanese Picture Brides in Canada
Online Zoom event
Wednesday August 11, 2021 5pm PT (90 mnts) | 8pm ET
JPN August 12, 9am
We welcome you to learn, share, and talk about Japanese picture brides who settled in Canada. This event will introduce the recent English translated e-book of PICTURE BRIDES 写婚妻 – written in Japanese by Miyoko Kudo and translated by Fumihiko Torigai.
Guest speakers:
• Fumihiko Torigai, Whitehorse, translator of PICTURE BRIDES by Miyoko Kudo
• David Tanaka, Lethbridge, descendant of a picture bride
• David Iwaasa, Vancouver, descendant of a picture bride
• Chino Otsuka, UK, visual artists, Arrival exhibition at NNM (2016).
• Masako Stillwell, Vancouver, daughter of picture bride
About the book
Between 1908 and 1928, young women ventured across the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Canada with dreams of a happily-ever-after with a spouse most had never met but pinned their hopes on from a photo.
Their reality, however, was far from fairy tale.
Originally written in Japanese and published in 1983, 13 first-person stories are narrated in great detail.
Thanks to the translation skills of Fumihiko Torigai of the Japanese Canadian Association of Yukon, copy editing by Ellen Schwartz, photo research by Linda Kawamoto Reid, and e-book design by Laura Suzuki, these stories are now available to all readers of English.
Download the e-book for free from the museum: centre.nikkeiplace.org/resources/picture-brides
To register for this Zoom session: centre.nikkeiplace.org/events/picture-brides-2021
