Interviews

1. Going back to Hawaii

2. 1920 labor strike

3. Picture brides and karifufu

4. Racial make-up of plantation camps

5. Clothes of plantation workers

6. Surviving after father's death

7. Washing for Filipino bachelors

8. Kids working hard

9. Bombing of Pearl Harbor

10. Helping soldiers

11. Brother leaves for war, survival

12. Okinawan discrimination

13. First day of school

14. Doing chores

15. Eating cold rice

Kawakami,Barbara

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

Picture brides and karifufu

Oh, there’s a funny story. Talk about picture brides and how at that time, many came as karifufu, which is “temporary spouse.” And, my mother, because she was sent back to Japan by her parents, and after she met my father, she wanted to come back to Hawaii to marry him. So, I understand that she came as a couple—she borrowed her younger sister’s fiancé—to come to Hawaii to marry my father. And that’s the karifufu. You see my book. It’s very interesting. They come as a temporary spouse with whoever they want to. And then, of course, they have to share the same cabin, too, you know. But, when they come here, they just separate and go their own way. They apply for divorce.

And for men, it was the stepping stone to go to California because once they step foot on Hawaii, it was easier to go to California. So, for them, it was nothing. And I think, like many, Mrs. Tanimoto also came as a karifufu. And she told me she couldn’t even remember the temporary husband’s name because as soon as they came here, they separated. He went on to the mainland, and she married the Mr. Tanimoto later. So, there were so many divorces. And someone, after seeing my picture bride thing, had written about the divorce rates being higher during that period. But, actually, it’s not a true kind of divorce.

brides immigration migration picture brides wives

Date: February 19, 2004

Location: Hawai'i, US

Interviewer: Lisa Itagaki, Krissy Kim

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum.

Interviewee Bio

Barbara Kawakami was born in 1921 in Okkogamura, Kumamoto, Japan, in a feudal farmhouse that had been her family’s home for more than 350 years. She was raised on the Oahu Sugar Plantation in Oahu, Hawai’i, and worked as a dressmaker and homemaker before earning her high school diploma, Bachelor of Science in Textile & Clothing, and Master of Arts in Asian Studies—after the age of 50.

In her senior year, she began to research the clothing that immigrants wore on the plantation for a term paper. Finding there was relatively little academic research in this area, Barbara embarked on a project to document and collect original plantation clothing as well as the stories behind the ingenuity of the makers. Over the course of fifteen years, Barbara recorded more than 250 interviews with aging Issei women and men and their Nisei children. She captured their lives, the struggles of immigration, and conditions working and living on the plantation. Importantly, she documented the stories behind the ingenuity of these Issei women as they slowly adapted their traditions to suit the needs of plantation life. Her knowledge of the Japanese language, having grown up on the plantation, and her extensive background as a noted dressmaker, helped many Issei women feel comfortable about sharing the untold stories of their lives as picture brides. From her extensive research, she published the first book on the topic, Japanese Immigrant Clothing in Hawai‘i 1885-1941 (University of Hawai‘i Press, 1993).

A noted storyteller, author, and historian, Barbara continues to travel to Japan as well as throughout the United States to give lectures regarding plantation life and clothing. She is widely recognized as the foremost authority on Japanese immigrant clothing and has served as a consultant to Hawaii Public Television, Waipahu Cultural Garden Park, Bishop Museum, the Japanese American National Museum, and to the movie production of Picture Bride. (February 19, 2004)