Blog 4: Picture Bride

The whole concept of Picture Brides was shown throughout Takaki. “The picture-bride system, or shashin kekkon was based on the established custom of arranged marriage, omiaikekkon. Marriage in Japanese society was not an individual matter but rather a family concern…”(Takaki 47). That shows that the Picture bride system was fairly common in their culture. But it also describes that it is a family concern not just an individual matter which I didn't see as much compared to the Chinese American films but in this film it also didn't show their parents at all in the film where as in the Chinese American films their families where a big part of the film. I thought the film did a good job of showing how hard it was to go back to Japan or someones homeland after getting to the United States. This is showed with Riyo and how she wanted to go back to Japan but realized how hard it was with only getting a paid a little and the ticket to get back costing around 200. Which makes sense why people ended up staying in America and not going back.

This film had both things that were similar but also different from the Chinese American Films. The thing that was featured in both was arranged marriage but they were done in completely different ways. In the Chinese American film “Eat a Bowl of Tea” the son went to China to meet the girl marry her and bring her to the United States. Where in “Picture Bride” the two received photos of each other and then the women was sent to the United States to meet and marry the guy in the picture. However in both films there parents and family help set up their son or daughter with the help of matchmakers. I felt there wasn't as much pressure to get married and start a family with the Japanese parents, compared to the films Eat a Bowl of Tea and Saving Face where there was a lot of pressure from the parents and even grandparents to get married and start a family. Another difference was in the Chinese American movies Eat a Bowl of Tea the wife did not work at all once she got to the States where in Picture Bride the wife started working in the fields right away.