Picture Bride

In the film, Riyo receives the clean slate she has been wishing for by becoming a picture bride and moving to Hawaii. The move did not go well at all though, as her husband, Matsuji, is much older than his picture indicated. Life there was also much harder than she expected, and she immediately wishes to return to Japan. The film relates to the mistreatment of picture brides, and Takaki’s description of “pidgin English”.

Although I was unable to find where this story was from, I recall reading a story in this course about how a girl came over to California as a picture bride, but ended up being sold into prostitution. Although Riyo did not experience nearly that level of exploitation, she was tricked and forced into marrying an older man. Many of the characters in the story seemed unhappy with their relationships. This could be because they do not know each other before marrying, but also could be because of the conditions of Hawaii and the strain that the exhausting labor puts on the individuals in the film.

In the movie, at one point the caucasion “boss” attempts to give orders to the workers. Although his English seems fine, the workers do not know what he means. Then, the Portuguese foreman explains to them again what he says, in pidgin English. The workers understand, and get to work. Takaki explains that pidgin English is “the terms used in everyday plantation life” and that it incorporates “Hawaiian, Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese and other elements” (167). Although this is a short scene in the film, it provides an insight on the diversity of these plantations and all the types of laborers the US was willing to employ to keep these plantations competitive.