“Japanese War Brides” will debut at the Irving Archives and Museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate, in Irving, Texas, Dec. 14. It will remain on view through April 6, 2025, before continuing to tour museums and cultural organizations across the United States through 2028.
“Japanese War Brides” examines the lives of ordinary women living in extraordinary times, women who navigated the wide divide between the country of their birth and the country of their husbands. It was a divide of cultural, social and legal differences. The exhibition begins by examining how the lives of Japanese citizens and occupying American servicemen intertwined during the Allied Occupation of Japan between 1945 and 1952. It outlines the obstacles of U.S. laws banning Asian immigration and the push to change perceptions following WWII.
The exhibition highlights how these women learned to be mid-century American housewives while preserving their cultures. It is a story as varied as their circumstances from geography and the race of one’s husband, to religion, work and career military or civilian life.
Through touchscreen displays, visitors can explore a historical and cultural timeline highlighting significant dates relevant to Japanese war brides in both the U.S. and Japan. They can also hear personal accounts from Japanese women and their families that reflect on the themes of the bride schools, moving to the United States, marriage, parenting, identity and community.
Videos showcase segments from 1950s films that helped shape expectations on both sides of the world. Films produced by Allied forces screened throughout Japan during the occupation period promoted American sentiments and values. While in the U.S., films and other media played a pivotal role in creating new stereotypes of Japanese people and Japanese women in particular.
The exhibition draws upon the work of three daughters of Japanese war brides to better understand their mothers’ experiences. Through War Bride Experience Inc., Lucy Craft, Karen Kasmauski and Kathryn Tolbert collected oral histories of war brides and members of their families. “Japanese War Brides” features many of these voices that provide personal reflections on life in postwar Japan, their experience as new immigrants in the U.S. and their legacies.
“Japanese War Brides: Across a Wide Divide” is a collaboration between SITES, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and War Bride Experience Inc. The exhibition received federal support from the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. Additional funding was provided by the Sachiko Kuno Philanthropic Fund.
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