Voices of Resilience: Granddaughters of Japanese War Brides

Join us for a special Women’s History Month event hosted by Nikkei Australia, as we explore the enduring legacy of Japanese war brides through the voices of their granddaughters.

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 is Yuki Kawakami.

Speaker bios:

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.

Anna Wilkinson (she/her) is a historian and PhD candidate at Deakin University. Her 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. 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. 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.

For more information about the speakers, please visit the Nikkei Australia website.

(Photo of Nobuko Sakuramoto/Cherry Parker, the first Japanese war bride to come to Australia in 1952, courtesy of Parker family archives)