Japanese Brides and Canadian Lives

As part of their work with the Canadian armed forces in Japan, the five women will teach the brides “the Canadian attitude to life, etiquette, dress and humor” in preparation for life in Canada.— Image of young Japanese women with American GIs - Photo source, Stars and Stripes.com

Canadian Red Cross Women Head for Japan to Educate Brides of Canada Life 

VANCOUVER. — Five social workers of the Canadian Red Cross left Vancouver last week for Tokyo where they take on the task of educating 13 Japanese brides of Canadian servicemen who are expected to come to Canada soon. As part of their work with the Canadian armed forces in Japan, the five women will teach the brides “the Canadian attitude to life, etiquette, dress and humor” in preparation for life in Canada. 

Their visit to Japan for the next year is being undertaken to fill in the need for “something Canadian” as requested by Canadian troops in Korea. Knowing that Japan will consider Canadians the ambassadors of goodwill, one of them said: “None of us speaks Japanese yet. We have little need of it because most of our work will be with our own forces and with young brides and their Canadian husbands. But we will probably have a stab at it, anyway.” – Shin Nichibei, 1952  

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Learning American Etiquette

“Their first lecture drilled them in the rules of social intercourse —how to tip one’s hat “American fashion,” how to greet friends, followed by an explanation of the chaperone idea.”   Japanese immigrants in Hawaii, circa 1918
(Photo source http://www.misveteranshawaii.com/)

Japanese Boys in Hawaii Study American Etiquette 

(A.P.) Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, Aug. 12.—After the study of social conventions and American etiquette, a number of Japanese youths of Honolulu have formed classes under the direction of the Y. W. C. A. Their first lecture drilled them in the rules of social intercourse —how to tip one’s hat “American fashion,” how to greet friends, followed by an explanation of the chaperone idea. 

Other lectures will deal with table etiquette, business etiquette, social calls, writing of notes, home life and other topics. Classes in etiquette were originated a year ago by the Y. W. C. A., for Japanese girls who expressed a desire to become fully Americanized. – San Diego Union and Daily Bee, 1918

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia Etiquette Encyclopedia

Etiquette and Japan’s “Bride’s Schools”

In post-WWII Japan, the Red Cross ran popular “brides’ schools” to help ease with the transition from being young, Japanese women to GI brides, before marrying and moving away from their home country. The women were taught not only American etiquette, but Canadian, and any other etiquette, if needed. The Red Cross gave instruction on how to make beds, bake cakes, deal with American in-laws, how to wear makeup and the art of walking in high heels. According to writer, Kathryn Tolbert, the daughter of a Japanese bride and U.S. serviceman, her mother was one of many in Japan, who wanted something more from their lives after WWII. Said Tolbert, in a 2016 article, that after meeting her future husband on a streetcar, a relationship began: “She told him she worked at the PX. He started showing up there to talk to her and ask her out. She turned him down, but he kept asking. Japanese men, the war brides recount, rarely pressed their luck after being rebuffed. American men? Extremely persistent. These ardent Americans also brought presents the Japanese could not afford or had never seen before — chocolate, dresses from Sears Roebuck or Montgomery Ward and even Spam, a culinary oddity... American chivalry, the notion of ‘ladies first,’ also enchanted Japanese women. War brides almost universally say ‘he was such a gentleman’ to describe their American suitors.” 

Photo source, Stars and Stripes.com 

In-Law Problem and Table Etiquette 

Aired by Gl Wife 

TOKYO, Dec. 14—INS—Thirty months in the United States have given the Japanese wife of an American marine some new notions about mothers-in-law. “Don't be afraid of them.” she says. “Talk back to them.” That’s the advice of Mrs. Tatsuko Chambers after spending two-and-one-half years in Denver, Colorado, with her husband, Marine Sgt. Cleo M. Chambers. Mrs. Chambers told a group of Japanese girls married to American servicemen and attending the Yokosuka Brides’ School near Tokyo:

“In Japan a woman cannot talk back to her husband’s mother, even if the mother-in-law is wrong. But in America, the Japanese bride must learn not to be afraid to talk back to her mother-in-law.” Mrs. Chambers also offered the brides a tip on how not to go hungry at American dinner tables : “In Japan, it is considered polite to refuse an offer of food at the dining table at least once. If you refuse food when an American offers it, it won’t be offered again.” – Shin Nichibei, 1957

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

As Eastern Slurps Met Western Soup

Yukio Mishima (三島 由紀夫 Mishima Yukio) was the pen name of Kimitake Hiraoka , a Japanese author, poet, playwright, Japanese nationalist, and founder of the “Tatenokai,” or Shield Society. The Tatenokai was a private militia in Japan, which was dedicated to traditional Japanese values and veneration of the Emperor. It was founded and led by Mishima, considered one of the most influential Japanese authors of the 20th century. After WWII, “lamenting the rise of Coca-Cola in Japan, General Douglas McArthur, and the dimming glow of the Emperor's sun,” Mishima longed for the olden days of “bushido” –– a time when nationalism, honor and dignity seemed so effortlessly bound together. He committed suicide in 1970 after a failed attempt to overthrow the post-war, Japanese government.

Japan’s Top Novelist Frowns on Western Etiquette, Says Slurping of Soup Okay

An Atlanta Georgia ramen restaurant display to order one’s soup from 

TOKYO, Jan. 1 — Slurp your soup and prove you are no social sheep. So advises Yukio Mishima, one of Japan’s most popular postwar novelists. “Amidst a quiet first class restaurant,” Mishima admits, “it requires social courage.” The 33-year old author frowns on efforts-to cram Western table manners down Japanese throats. “Never to make noise when you have soup,” he argues, “is to force Western etiquette on the Japanese who have been used to noisily slurping soybean soup and tea since childhood.” And girls, he argues, are too easily influenced by books on superficial etiquette. 

He quotes a confession appearing in a women’s magazine: “The first time I went out with him to dine, my boy friend started sipping soup with the ‘z-z-zhu’ sound as if he were swallowing a bowl of noodles down his throat. Instantly I felt sick physiologically . . . since then I’ve had no affection for him.” Mishima says such confessions usually appear in women’s magazines under special subjects as “Delicacy of Love Psychology.” “This kind of women’s psychology has nothing to do with feminine delicacy but rather with vanity,” he says. “What is elegant is what is decided by the greater numbers of a society.” – Shin Nichibei, 1959

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

Japanese Etiquette News

 Pasadena's Gurinalda Hotel, ca. 1907 — "Pasadena’s Japantown was established in the early 1900’s... While some Japanese immigrants became more conversant in English, they often branched into related businesses, such as wholesale and retail produce, grocery stores, nurseries, and gardening. Also, many found work in domestic services as houseboys, laundry service, cafes, and boarding houses." From www.japantowns.org

Japanese Immigrant Starts Daily Paper to Instruct in Etiquette, Morals and Customs

Pasadena, CA. 1910 —A Japanese daily paper of four pages has been started in this city by Maurice Tanahi, an employee of Hotel Gurinalda and former student of the Congregational Japanese mission on South Marengo Avenue. 

Editor Tanahi is 20 years of age and has been in this country four years. He says he will endeavor to instruct his people in American etiquette, morals and customs. He declares that to win success the Japanese must lay aside Oriental customs. He says he will confine his editorials largely to educational development. — Los Angeles Herald, 1910

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Moderator and Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia