Picture bride

[Joy Chao]

I wasn’t very clear about the “picture bride” until today after visiting the Japanese American National Museum. The practice started in the early 20^th century of immigrant workers in Hawaii and the west coast of the US. These workers selected their brides from their native countries through a matchmaker, who paired up couples of similar backgrounds by using only photographs. Women came to Hawaii and the US as the picture brides for various reasons; some to escape familial duties, some for economic reasons some came here to seek freedom. Some women even doing so because “it was a trend at that time so I just joined the crowd.” I felt this was an even more simplified version of matchmaking because all agreements were only based on the photographs. Per our docent, some brides went back to their native countries, but the majority of marriage did work out at the end. I think it must be a lot of hardship and homesickness initially and I wonder if these women felt they were there more as a workers than wives.