March is Women’s History Month in Australia, and to celebrate, we’re hosting an online talk featuring Nikkei Australia members.
Join us as we explore the enduring legacy of Japanese war brides through the voices of three granddaughters.
In this online event, author Alli Parker, historian Anna Wilkinson, and artist Elysha Rei will share how their grandmothers’ experiences have inspired and shaped their creative and academic work.
Through personal storytelling and deep reflection, they will discuss themes of migration, identity, resilience, and intergenerational memory; offering new perspectives on the impact of war, love, and cultural displacement. This conversation honours the courage of women, and the ways women’s histories continue to influence us.
The moderator for this discussion is Yuki Kawakami.
Date: Thursday 20 March 2025
Time: 6:30pm-8pm AEST / 7:30pm-9pm AEDT
Online only via Zoom
This event will not be recorded as personal stories and family histories will feature in the conversation.
Please register to attend
For more information, feel free to contact us.
Speakers
Alli Parker is a Japanese-Australian author and screenwriter, who lives on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. Her bestselling debut novel, At the Foot of the Cherry Tree, is based on the true story of Australia’s first Japanese war bride, who is Alli’s grandmother. She has written episodes of Jack Irish, Secret Bridesmaids’ Business and Miss Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries. Her second novel, Until the Red Leaves Fall, exploring more of the history between Australia and Japan, will be released on 30 July 2025.
Anna Wilkinson (she/her) is a historian and PhD candidate at Deakin University. Her research focuses on the role of Asia in Australia and the lived experiences of Asian Australian diasporas. Anna’s doctoral thesis – examining the social and cultural histories of Asian Australian war bride marriages between 1945 and 1975 – was inspired by her own heritage as a granddaughter of a Japanese war bride.
Elysha Rei is a Japanese-Australian artist based in Brisbane, whose work explores the intersections of memory, identity, and belonging through the language of paper. She holds a BVA, MBA and is a PhD candidate at QUT, exploring how Nikkei Australian identity is archived through contemporary paper cutting arts practice. Elysha has created and exhibited work, curated exhibitions and managed cultural spaces over two decades in Australia and overseas. She is a granddaughter of a Japanese war bride, and inaugural Chair of Nikkei Australia.
Moderator/Chair:
Yuki Kawakami (she/her) is a creative producer, educator, and programs curator with a background in dance and performance. She is currently a Creative Learning programs producer at the Art Gallery of NSW and a PhD candidate in Curatorial Practice at Monash University, working on ‘Past Wrongs Future Choices’, an international project aimed to connect local and global stories of racialised uprooting, internment, and dispossession experienced by civilians of Japanese descent during the Second World War.
(Photo of Nobuko Sakuramoto/Cherry Parker, the first Japanese war bride to come to Australia, courtesy of Parker family archives)
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