What's this? Book review of ENARI Tsuneo's photo book.

Impressions: Senso Hanayome means "war bride" in Japanese. You might think that she is a bride who married a man who went off to war. But that's not what it really means in Japanese. The term was commonly used in Japanese newspapers and magazines from the end of World War II in 1945 until about 1955 shortly after the Korean War. It merely referred to Japanese women who married a foreigner (usually American) working in the military. He was not necessarily someone who actually went to war. He could have been an MP (military police) or even a chef in the mess hall on base.

War bride marriages started with the Allied (mainly US) Occupation of Japan after World War II. Inevitably, American military personnel met and fell in love with local women and vice versa. After the Occupation ended in 1952, America's strategic interest in Japan continued with the Korean War and Vietnam War. Japan (Okinawa especially) served as a springboard for military missions to these Asian countries. With the American military ever present on Japanese soil, international marriages between US servicemen and Japanese women continued. During the 30 years from the end of WWII to the end of the Vietnam War, it is estimated that several tens of thousands of Japanese women married American servicemen and moved to the US.

In the 1950s and '60s, most Japanese parents were prejudiced against marriages with foreigners. They vehemently opposed a daughter marrying a foreigner. But these Japanese "war brides" went through with the marriage anyway. They left Japan without the blessing of their parents only to face more prejudice and a language barrier in an unfamiliar land full of people who hated the "Japs" during the war. Even the US military frowned upon such marriages.

Times have changed. Marriages between Japanese women and US military personnel stationed at US bases in Japan still occur, but with much more social tolerance (in both Japan and America) than ever before. And living in the US for the Japanese is much more comfortable than ever before. In fact, living in America is probably more comfortable than living in Japan for many Japanese.

Tsuneo Enari, the book's photographer and author, lived in Gardena, California for a year from 1978 to 1979. Gardena, near Los Angeles, has (or had) a large Japanese-American population. During his stay, Enari interviewed and photographed over 100 Japanese "war brides" living in California who married and moved to America in the 1950s or '60s. He listened to their stories of how they met their American husbands, how and when they got married, and various anecdotes. The women interviewed were already middle-aged and busy raising their young or teenage children. Enari's photographs of the war brides and their husbands and children were subsequently published and exhibited in Japan where they were well-received.

Twenty years later in 1997 and 1998, Enari made three trips to California and stayed for a total of three months to visit as many of the war brides he had met 20 years earlier. He was able to meet 43 of them and was saddened to find that the others either died or moved away to an unknown address. He wanted to see how they were doing after 20 years and to hear the continuing story of their life in America. He photographed them again along with their families.

The book is a collection of then (1978-9) and now (1997-8) portraits of the 43 revisited war brides. The pictures include the husbands (if still alive) and their children and often grandchildren. There are also seven portraits taken in 1978-9 that do not have a "now" portrait because she had already died. As Enari states, the biggest difference between then and now were the children and grandchildren. The second generation has grown and progressed with their lives. By 1997-8, most of the war brides were grandmothers in their 60s or 70s.

Each picture is captioned with the name (in English) of the war bride, her city of residence, her year and place of birth, how she met her husband, when they were married, when they moved to America, the number of sons and daughters, her and her husband's past and present occupations, and when the husband retired or died (if applicable). The book also has separate essays that give more detail on the war brides' "human drama."

Each war bride has a different story. One woman living in Gardena married a black man against the wishes of her father whom she did not subsequently see for over 30 years. Another woman married five times. She had lost her previous husbands either by accidental death or divorce. Now she's happy with a husband 16 years her junior. A few husbands left home one day and never returned. Divorce was the final result. The result was the same with husbands who drank too much or had an illicit affair. When there was a divorce or an untimely death of the husband, the war bride had to raise and support the children herself. She usually worked at a menial job such as a waitress, house maid, or seamstress.

Most of the war brides still have a strong affection or affinity for Japan (with Japanese dolls and things decorating the house). But a few feel more distant from Japan as the years pass by and blood relatives die out. And all have made America their permanent home. It is where their children and grandchildren are. Some do admit that they have become too accustomed to the US and would not be able to return to Japan to live. It is a fact that they have lived in America much longer than in the Japan.

I was disappointed to find that none of the war brides in the book married a Japanese-American or even an Asian-American. The husbands featured are all white or black (12 of the 50 husbands are black). I wonder what the statistics were on the number of Japanese women marrying Japanese-Americans who were among the Americans in Japan during the Occupation and at the military bases. (Perhaps they looked too much like a normal Japanese and were not exotic enough for the women.) My question is, would the woman's parents have opposed the marriage even if the husband were Japanese-American (i.e., looked like a Japanese)? That's one story that's missing.

Another story that is missing is the husband's. Of course, the main theme of the photographs and book focuses on the Japanese war bride, but it takes two to make a couple and leaving out the husband's story makes it only half complete. What was it like to be married to a Japanese woman soon after WWII? What prejudice and struggles did he go through because she was Japanese? What did his parents and family think about her? And what about the children? What problems and struggles did they encounter? What do they think of their dual heritage?

Some of the children might consider themselves as Japanese-Americans. Where I come from (Hawaii), the term "Japanese-American" normally refers to Americans born to parents both having Japanese ancestry. It's the nisei, sansei, yonsei, etc., generations. Racially-mixed people born to a parent of Japanese ancestry and one non-Japanese parent are not considered to be Japanese-Americans. They are called part-Japanese or "hapa" (half). (Some people call them "double.")

In fact, one of my college professors at the University of Hawaii told the class that as an ethnic group, Japanese-Americans were fast becoming extinct because of intermarriage with other ethnic groups. Perhaps when there are too few "pure" Japanese-Americans left, they will start including part-Japanese people as Japanese-Americans. But it really depends on what these part-Japanese and part-American people consider themselves to be. If they call themselves "Japanese-Americans," I can accept that. But it may disregard the ethnic background of their fathers. What if the father is an American of Italian, African, or Chinese descent? Would the child still be "Japanese-American" in all cases? Or would it be Japanese-Italian, Japanese-African, or Japanese-Chinese? It can get really confusing. Perhaps we should just stick to plain, old "American" for everybody. That's what I considered myself to be while growing up in Hawaii, despite having Japanese parents.

Besides the common problems and struggles of any marriage, the inherent difficulties of international marriages have always existed and will continue to exist no matter who or what ethnic background the husband or wife is. Geographical distances between families, cultural differences, cultural acceptance and assimilation, homesickness, language barriers, and how to raise bilingual and bicultural children are major issues in most international marriages even today.

It's too bad that this book is not in English. Only the book's title and the names of the war brides are in English. If there's a book that should be in English, it's this book. For one thing, the American husbands and children pictured in the book should be able to read their complimentary copies of the book. And without English, the book can't really be sold in America, even to college students studying racial discrimination, Japanese-Americans, international marriages, or postwar Japanese history.

The photographer hopes that this book will help restore the honor of these women and to leave a record of just one small facet of Japan's Showa Period. (Reviewed by Philbert Ono)

1100-4

What's this? Book review of ENARI Tsuneo's photo book.

Impressions: The northeast part of China, known as Manchuria during the war, was ruled by Japan from 1932 to 1945. During these 13 years, many buildings were built by the Japanese and you will be astonished to find so many of them still standing today and still in use. The military headquarters, Yamato Hotel, prisons, schools, and the homes of former Japanese residents still exist even after 50 years. You would think the local government would destroy all reminders of this cruel and bitter occupation. But no. It seemed to be a great waste to destroy all these grandiose buildings which could be put to good use by a poor country like China.

Manchuria's Supreme Court building (the cover picture) is now a hospital. The state department building now houses a medical university. A former Shinto shrine (complete with torii gate) is a kindergarten. The former Higashi Honganji Buddhist temple is a warehouse for a traditional dance troupe. The book shows 131 photographs which are quite exhaustive. There are also many interior pictures. It seems like time has stood still in these places.

The photographer took the photos during four visits to northeastern China from 1989 to 1995. Before that he took portraits of Chinese war orphans left behind by their Japanese parents during the confusion after the war. It was during this project that he first visited Manchuria in 1981 and found out about all these Japanese-built buildings. This book won Enari the 37th Mainichi Art Award in 1995. (Reviewed by Philbert Ono)

1600-6