Imagine moving to an unknown land to marry someone you know only from a photograph and a brief description… that was what nearly 20,000 Japanese, Okinawan, and Korean women did between 1908 and 1924 when they immigrated to Hawai’i. These women were called picture brides. Many picture brides worked long hours in the cane fields. There they sang songs about work and the dilemmas of plantation life.  The songs, called Hole Hole Bushi, used old Japanese folk tunes mixing Hawaiian and Japanese words for dramatic lyrics.

Please join us at Lihue Public Library for a presentation of Picture Bride Stories and Hole Hole Bushi Songs on Wednesday, July 19, 2017, at 6:00 p.m. in the Children’s Room.