I first came across the term ‘picture bride’ in a book review of The Buddha in the Attic written by American author Julie Otsuka. The term sounds beautiful doesn’t it; as if describing the picture-perfect woman in the photograph: beautiful, coy, radiating youthful innocence. But alas, was I wrong!
The term picture bride refers to a match-making practice in the early 20th century, where immigrant workers, mainly Japanese and Korean working in the United States and Hawaii, sent a picture of themselves back to their native countries where a matchmaker would select a bride for them.
Handsome young men stared out of the photographs with dark eyes, smooth and unblemished skin, straight noses, some standing in front of houses with white picket fences and mowed lawns and some leaning against fancy cars.
A shy glance at the handsome youth in the picture, a nod of approval, her name entered into her husband’s family registry that consolidates her marriage, and travel documents in hand, she would sit on a boat and dream of her future husband and the life of blissful fulfillment waiting for her.
“On the boat we often wondered: Would we like them? Would we love them? Would we recognize them from the pictures when we first saw them on the dock?” – Excerpt from The Buddha in the Attic
Who stood waiting for these women on those alien shores? Handsome husbands in striking suits and gray frock coats or a bunch of men in knit caps and shabby black coats that bore no resemblance to the photographs which were taken twenty years ago?
“This is America, we would say to ourselves, there is no need to worry. And we would be wrong.” – Excerpt from The Buddha in the Attic
The Buddha in the Attic is a moving rendition of the personal experiences of Japanese picture brides. Julie Otsuka has a wonderful literary style that is half poetry, half narration. She incredibly captures images and emotions in short phrases and sparse descriptions- unfolding a series of scenes and telling a story in frozen moments.
Although I thought I’d tire of the prose, the book reads beautifully and I’d recommend it for a lazy day where you can read it at one good stretch.
Snapshot musings 