Picture Bride

I heard about this movie, Picture Bride during my modern Japanese history class the other day.

It came up during a discussion about the early Japanese immigrants to the United States.

I’m no history buff, but it seems the story goes like this…

Back in the early 1900’s, the United States only allowed male Japanese to immigrate to the US, mostly to Hawaii and states on the west coast. The male-only condition was established because their stay in the US was meant to be only temporary, and for business purposes only. You don’t need a wife for a temporary stay, and having one along would only create the risk that the Japanese might create a family, and get settled in.

This caused all sorts of unspeakable problems.

Later, the law was changed to allow Japanese men who came to the US after being married in Japan to send for their wives to come join them in America. However, it was required that the men show a picture of their bride in order to be granted permission to bring them over.

Eventually, “organizations” (match-makers) appeared that would essentially traffic women from Japan to America for the purpose of getting married to a Japanese man who was already abroad.

In order to do this “legally”, they would present women in Japan with pictures of handsome looking men in exchange for their own picture. They would then use the pictures of the Japanese women in order to get them into America. Once they were abroad, they were introduced to their new husbands, who more often than not looked nothing like the prize specimen of whom they were promised in the picture.

Everything looks better on paper huh? The women were then forced into labor on arrival.

This movie is about one of those “photo brides”, and the trick husband she was introduced to.

I need to see this. Anyone here ever seen it? Was it any good?

There is a wikipedia entry on Picture Brides as well!

- Harvey