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GIs PROVE KIPLING WRONG—Problems Japanese Brides FaceAdjusting To American Societymi i ii ... /Madison—Dan Cupid and the American male have been busy since 1945 proving that Kipling was wrong when he wrote East is east, and west is west, and Jiever the twain shall meet.According to a conservative estimate of the numtK?r of marriages of Japanese {and some Korean) women tr American men since the Japanese occupation be-gan nine years ago, he has been wrong 13,000 times over.In the current issue of United Asia magazine, Prof. Martin Bronfenbrenner of the University of Wisconsin, himself the husband of a Japanese war bride and a resident of the orient for long periods, examines the problems these brides face in adjusting to Americarf life.What began in the fall of 1945 as a few surreptitious Madame Butterfly romances has expanded. after successive 'Soldiers’ Brides acts.' into a sizeable experiment in inter-cultural and inter-racial assimilation, he writes. Entirely unplanned and largely un-anticipated. it has become one of the most sizable of such experiments in the history of America. iBronfenbrenner points out that of the total “conservative underestimate of 13.000 marriages, about half are to Americans of Japanese ancestry lt;Nisei) involving no inter-racial problems; and that of the other half. 80 to 90 per cent are to Caucasians, and the remainder almost entirely to negroes. The great majority of these couples have already takenanese, a little more attractive by western standards, more likely to come from cities, where Americans have concentrated, and to have experience in travel outside Japan, in the English language, and in western culture, {On the other hand, despite precautions by the American authorities, there is heavy weighting of'the demimonde — barmaids, entertainers, danee-ha!J girls, and someoutright prostitutes,”)It is too early to judge the success or failure of these war marriages, Bronfenbrenner admits; but from his own studies, and from his wife’s regular reading of Japanese women’s magazines, he estimates that “from three-fifths to two-thirds seem rather less happy than they wouid have been had the American man married an American woman, and the Japanese woman a man of her own race and culture. This is not to imply that any unusually large proportion of these marriages are actually headed for divorce or desertion, but merely that they appear less than normally happy.”Contrary to Asian impressions, the principal reason for the high failure ratio is not a racial one, because it is almost as high when the American bridegroom is Nihoods, mixed-blood children in Japan are coming to be treated as pariahs and their mothers as prostitutes.“My wife and I will feel much happier about visiting Japan if our little boy's general appearance is oriental, while his appearance will make little if any difference in America, he declares.Although the failure-ratio of these mixed marriages will be high, Bronfenbrenner explains, there will be a substantia! percentage of successful adjustments.“And one may wonder, even for assimilations so successful in the mass and in the long run as that of European immigrants in 19tb century America, whether the proportion of individual successes in the first generation was ever much higher, he concludes.DreamEnds AsNightmarCamden, X. J.-CB-A five-day dream that his soldier son might still be alive was ended rodav forWalter Tartar. 64-year-old ship-sei. Bronfenbrenner explains. He * yard worker.lists these causes:1 -The extreme youth of many of the American bridegrooms, “probably the most important reason. If these men had stayed at home, parents and friends would have persuaded most ofup residence in America. (New hPm wHt « T u,legislation has made it more dif- thGm t0 Walt a few years beforeficult for recently married couples, for Japanese wives must now wait to come to the United States under the quota.)“This is probably the largest number of legal and recognized marriages between Caucasians and non-Caucasians ever to have occurred under American auspices in so brief a period of years, he continues.Before the war brides came, he points out, there had been practically no American-oriental cou-trmarriage.2~~The premium put on society on conformity, even when racial prejudice is absent. “The career of the ambitious Caucasian bridegroom may suffer if his wife is Japanese.3—American in-laws: A few with anti-oriental prejudice, but many more lull of resentment that “mom's boy was caught soTartar conceded early this morning as he went to bed that he had been a victim of a vicious hoax. He had received a telegram last Saturday with the words “Hello Pop. Will be home on Thursday. Dick. It was sent from New York city.His son, Pvt. Richard Tartar, 21, was reported by the army to have been killed in action in Korea 11 months ago. A sealed coffin and his personal papers arrived here last summer.With only a father’s hope, Tartar waited up past midnight before sadly shaking his head and^ ^w—^ ^ ^ ^young by the kind of Japanese felling a group of reporters and-„•» y.1 L _ l_ _ _ L i. 1 i i - _ T _ _ 1 . _ A I 1 * -*girl he brought home.4—The economic problem: Disillusionment with the “Greatftpies anywhere in the continental American Standard of Living. United States. Furthermore, be- In the American reservations in cause these immigrants have al- Japan, conditions are “better _ .t * T « r . _ . « ^ ^ . ...photographers who kept the vigil with him:“I won’t be satisfied until the one who did it goes to jail.”ready married Americans, they are being thrown directly and intimately into American society.than 90 to 95 per cent of what Americans enjoy at home. If the bride comes to “a slum, aPrevious immigrants usually con-1 shack, or trailer in America.* is gregated for a few- years or even ] it surprising if she is disappoint-generations in ghettos. Little j ed?”Italvs, Chinatowns or Little To- 5—Homesickness: For climate, kyos before making the great scenery', food, people to talk to;Basement WirHotbed For Sleap to American society.While disclaiming any knowledge of sociological technique, Bronfenbrenner is willing to hazard a few guesses about what the social scientists will find out later.“My substitute for expertise is I the fact of being a Japanese war bridegroom myself, and of having met and talked to 25 or 30sometimes on the part of the groom, who cannot leave Japan because he cannot get an equally good job at home: more often on the part of his wife.“But more important than these externals are simple differences in adaptability between people, which we cannot yet explain scientifically. Bronfenbrenner writes. “Some war bridesother war-married couples in ! adapt readily; others do not. America, Hawaii, and in Japan,” j “A great advantage for the war he says. {He spent three years I marriage is admittedly the highas Japanese language officer in the U. S. navy, and since joiningprobability that both the American man and the Japanese wom-the UW economics faculty in j an will achieve higher status in 1947 has twice been granted leave i the home than he would with an to assist the UN and the U. S. j American wife, or she with a army* in studies of Japanese eco-1 Japanese husband. ' nomic and tax policies.) ! Few of the children of theseThe bridegrooms, according to j war marriages are old enough Bronfenbrenner’s analysis, are a j yet for difficulties to have arisen, fairly representative sample so this problem is one for thefrom all over the United States, but with a record of previous experience in the Far East higherfuture, he writes.The fate of mixed-blood chil-than for Americans generally, and in age concentrated a little more highly under 25 and over 35 than U. S. bridegrooms as a whole. idren. however, will be better in(AP Newsfeatures)Some flowers that bloom in the spring call for a winter workout on the part of the home handyman—such as building a hotbed for starting seedings.A basement window facing south provides a fine location forsuch a miniature conservatory. The hotbed is designed to fit right into the window and to be nailed to the window frame. The basement window is kept open to provide warmth for the seedlings, while a new window is placed outside of the area way at an angle to capture the sun’s rays.An inexpensive thermometer,. fastened inside of this hotbed, will indicate any need of ventilation.It's eas? to frame this hotbed to the dimensions of your basement window by using 2 bv 4s and 2 by 2s supporting a “skin of tempered hardboard - 3/16th-inch thick. To form a seat for theAmerica than in Japan. Many hinged slanting window. 1 by IsJapanese, irrationally but not surprisingly, are transferring some of their anti-American re-are nailed around the frame. Hardboard wings and top are built to fit into the window open-The brides in general are a lit- j children and their mothers . . . tie taller than the average Jap-; Outside of their home neighbor-, , . ^---_ ” uvuil Ait jmu me winuuw open-in* ,n- ™Id drafts fromthe sides.Outside of the window well, the j
Newspaper Details
Stevens Point Daily Journal
Stevens Point, Wisconsin, US
Fri, Feb 19, 1954
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Wilmette P.
IL, USA 27 Apr 2023
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