Fall Seven Times, Get Up Eight: The Japanese War Brides

Overview

Three women -- all firstborn daughters of Japanese war brides -- recall their mothers' lives in 1950s America. These were the brides young GIs brought home from an enemy nation. By at least one estimate, nearly 50,000 Japanese women crossed the Pacific as wives of American men between the end of WWII and the close of the 1950s... an unprecedented, heretofore unthinkable migration of Asian women to US shores and yet an event that has been largely overlooked. Living in mostly isolated communities scattered across the US, the women were left largely to their own devices as they tried to navigate a racially segregated American society. Drawing on personal anecdotes we paint a portrait of their saga that is in equal measure triumph, humor and sadness. We tell their stories both as journalists, and as the mixed-race children who experienced firsthand their dreams, struggles and aspirations.