"Picture Bride" was a great film choice to juxtapose with Takaki. Takaki tended to gloss a little over the negativity of the Japanese picture brides--if only because their fate was relatively painless, in comparison to their Chinese prostitute counterparts.
However, as sympathetic as I feel towards Riyo, I can't help but get annoyed with her as well--at the beginning of the movie, especially. Then again, I suppose Riyo would have been an oddity: a city girl going over to work in the fields of Hawaii.
Additionally, the awkwardness/hatred Riyo feels for her new husband seems a bit unwarranted. Sure, he lied about his picture, but he seems to be trying his hardest to make her feel comfortable. She doesn't give him anything, even when he tries to be romantic. Asking an older Asian man, especially in that time period, to be romantic is asking a lot.
Then again, Riyo is supposed to be quite young--eighteen, I think? At eighteen, I think everyone is still a little immature. Combined with her romantic streak, I'm sure her husband was incredibly disappointing.
I wonder what the average age was for women who came over as picture brides?
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