Motives of Picture Brides
There were many factors that influenced women to become picture brides. Some came from poor families, so they became picture brides for economic reasons. They thought that they would come upon economic prosperity in Hawaii and states, and could send back money to their families in Japan and Korea. Others did it out of obligation to their families. Because the marriages were often facilitated by parents, the daughters felt they could not go against their parents’ wishes. One former picture bride recounted her decision: “I had but remote ties with him yet because of the talks between our close parents and my parents' approval and encouragement, I decided upon our picture-bride marriage." Some women became picture brides in an attempt to escape familial duties. They thought that by leaving Japan or Korea they could get out of responsibilities such as filial piety that came along with traditional marriage. Some women thought that they would gain freedoms denied to them in Japan and Korea. A quote from a Korean picture bride named Mrs. K embodies the mindset of many picture brides traveling to Hawaii, “Hawaii’s a free place, everybody living well. Hawaii had freedom, so if you like talk, you can talk, if you like work, you can work.” With the influx of women becoming picture brides, some women followed the trend as the thing to do. As one Japanese picture bride, Motome Yoshimura, explained, “I wanted to come to the United States because everyone else was coming. So I joined the crowd.”
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