Picture Brides: Japanese Women in Canada (Ethnocultural Voices)

In the early twentieth century, many Asian women married men they met the first time at their weddings. The marriages were arranged by showing the prospective bride and groom photographs of each other. These women became known as picture brides.This is the story of five young Japanese women who came to Canada as picture brides in the 1920s. These strong-willed, 20-year-olds arrived determined "to work hard to make a lot of money". And, they did work hard - as domestics and as labourers on farms, in mines, and in lumber and fishing camps. None, however, ever became materially rich.Picture Brides is written in the oral tradition. The author, Dr. Tomoko Makabe, provides a two-chapter introduction and then lets Maki Fukushima, Hana Murata, Yasu Ishikawa, Tami Nakamura, and Miyo Hayashi speak for themselves.