ABSTRACT
Post-war Japan has seen a significant number of international marriages between Japanese women and members of the Allied Forces who occupied Japan upon the country’s defeat from the Second World War. So-called war brides, or sensō hanayome, moved to their husbands’ countries that are socially, culturally, and linguistically different from their own. While some of these women’s stories were told through memoirs, a large number of these stories are not known; some are even kept hidden from their immediate family members. This chapter provides a background of war bride migration, focusing on Okinawan women who married Filipino Third Country Nationals (TCNs) who were stationed on Okinawa as part of the Allied Forces. The necessity of utilizing a life-course approach in examining these women’s stories is highlighted as well.
