Join us as Ayako Mizumura explores “Voices of Japanese ‘War Brides’ in Postwar Kansas,” a presentation and discussion where the community is invited to attend this free program. Sponsored by the Manhattan Library Association and made possible by a grant from Humanities Kansas.

Japanese women fled the devastation of a war-torn Japan after World War II to find challenges in a strange, new world. After marrying US military men and moving to the United States, these young women often faced challenges and hardships while others found opportunity and success. How did they adjust to a Western world and military culture? How did they maintain connection to their homes and families back in Japan? This talk will share the voices of Japanese women who triumphed amidst great struggle to find community, connection, and cultural identity in the place they viewed as the last destination of their lives— the Kansas prairie. Presented by Ayako Mizumura.

Ayako is the academic director of the University of Kansas’s Center for East Asian Studies, a role she’s held since 2013.