Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
So who are these women and what do we, their children, know about them?
After World War II, tens of thousands of Japanese women moved with their new husbands, American soldiers, and assimilated into American culture.
They are sisters and daughters of the ferocious enemy that attacked Pearl Harbor in the “day of infamy,” an enemy that surrendered four years later after waves of firebombing on Japanese cities and the dropping of atomic bombs. They married men who occupied their country and came to the United States. And then? They disappeared into America. There were tens of thousands of them, yet they vanished from public awareness — Japanese women who were barely a blip in immigration history, who married into families of North Dakota farmers, Wisconsin loggers, Rhode Island general store owners.
They either tried, or were pressured, to give up their Japanese identities to become more fully American. A first step was often adopting the American nicknames given them when their Japanese names were deemed too hard to pronounce or remember. Chikako became Peggy; Kiyoko became Barbara. Not too much thought went into those choices, names sometimes imposed in an instant by a U.S. officer organizing his pool of typists. My mother, Hiroko Furukawa, became Susie.
How did it feel to be renamed for someone in the man’s past, a distant relative or former girlfriend? My mother said she didn’t mind, and others said it made their lives easier to have an American name.
The brides, as many as 45,000, landed in the home towns of their husbands, places where Japanese people had been visible only on World War II propaganda posters. Was their skin really yellow? One war bride in South Carolina was asked to pull up her sleeve since no yellow was visible on her hands and wrists.
Pretty fascinating story, as many came over because they felt they had no future in war-torn Japan, and went to the US basically trusting in their newly-found husbands to guide them on their way. They gave up quite a bit, even their identities, but felt that is was worth the gamble..
I agree fascinating story I've heard a little bit about this and similar things from some really old guys that were in Japan at that time. I will watch the videos when I have time.
I'm not sure what media attention you're looking for though? The women were not forced to come to the US and as far as I know there wasn't some sort of epidemic of war veterans mistreating their Japanese wives back in the 50's and 60's. The story does touch on some of the negatives but it also states there was many many great love stories.
If there was a disproportionate number of these women being abused or something you would have heard about it during the civil rights movement in the US.
sounds like many of them didnt even speak english, and some say they didnt even know or like the man they were marrying, they just wanted to leave.
Some didn't I'm sure... but I believe many led good lives and were treated well. Just read some of the comments in the comments section. I think the article is possibly putting some sort of a feminist spin on it and maybe did some cherry picking when it comes to a few things. Naturally the pool of women they have to talk to is small in 2016.
German women had it much worse they were basically raped over and over again by the Russians and did not have the opportunities to fraternize with gentlemanly US men. They had to had to become sex slaves for the Russian soldiers or the Russians would kill them.
Another point to remember is that into the 1960's in the US it was illegal in some parts of the US to marry someone outside of your race. It could be difficult to find housing in a decent neighborhood or get a good job. I can remember as a young Marine coming back from Vietnam with an Asian bride and the kind of prejudice some people exhibited against mixed race couples.
Some didn't I'm sure... but I believe many led good lives and were treated well. Just read some of the comments in the comments section. I think the article is possibly putting some sort of a feminist spin on it and maybe did some cherry picking when it comes to a few things. Naturally the pool of women they have to talk to is small in 2016.
German women had it much worse they were basically raped over and over again by the Russians and did not have the opportunities to fraternize with gentlemanly US men. They had to had to become sex slaves for the Russian soldiers or the Russians would kill them.
I am an American who practices a form of Buddhism from Japan. With that being the case, many of the fellow Buddhists at my place of worship are these women and their children.
Many of them--particularly their children--share stories about how much their Japanese mothers were victims of domestic violence at the hands of their American/U.S. soldier husbands.
Last edited by Atlanta_BD; 10-01-2016 at 09:00 PM..
I am an American who practices a form of Buddhism from Japan. With that being the case, many of the fellow Buddhists at my place of worship are these women and their children.
Many of them--particularly their children--share stories about how much their Japanese mothers were victims of domestic violence at the hands of their American/U.S. soldier husbands.
Was it at a higher rate than the American wives of other war veterans?
After reading this, I think the one who is alive after a war suffer the most in their life. Those who lost their life during the war are lucky that they don't have to suffer for the life-time. They just had a very hard time in the war.
But the war keeps haunting back to those who survived.
I dunno. It seems like most of the women in question went on to lead good lives with men who loved them and had happy families. Even the mother of the woman who wrote the article generally led a pretty good life and has no regrets.
I think that the people who lived on to marry, have families, and create successful businesses or careers and parent children who went to ivy league universities and lead upper middle class lives where their biggest concern is trying to grapple with whether they feel more white or Asian got a better deal than the young men who agonizingly bled out on a battlefield and died alone, forgotten, nameless virgins, thousands of miles from home, in a war that ultimately was all for naught. But that's just me
Location: In a perfect world winter does not exist
3,661 posts, read 2,945,273 times
Reputation: 6758
I find it so disheartening to see Asian women kowtow to white culture. They bomb your land and than you marry the enemy without love just to escape Japan. Today you see many many Asian females chase white men to move up the social ladder. It's just embarrassing what some Asian females do to themselves.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
