She came by boat with her sister. The voyage from Japan had been long and hard. They had never traveled so long by boat before and Jae had struggled with terrible sea sickness. Now, the Hawaiian island of Oahu had been sighted at last and the sisters leaned over the prow of the ship watching the island emerge from the horizon. Sumiaye worried the black and white photo between her hands nervously. All she knew of her future husband was contained within this image. He would be waiting for her at the harbor. She looked over at Jae who was as pale as a ghost and so thin after the long journey.
"You take it sister," she said, handing over her photo to Jae. "Get off now and I will travel to the next island in your place."
Jae smiled weakly at her older sister with relief. The two girls solemnly exchanged husbands there on the prow of the ship and Jae disembarked first, using the worn photograph to locate her new husband among the crowd. Sumiaye traveled on to the next island, memorizing the new face on the picture in her hand. She was surprised when she disembarked. The man who greeted her was years older then the one in the photo but she said nothing. There was nothing she could say. She was well aware that her face did not match the photo he held, a photo of her younger sister. She would work hard labor in a sugar cane field, sleep on a red dirt floor, bear three girls, and leave them motherless after succumbing of tuberculosis when they were still young. Did she ever wonder what happened to her sister? How her life would have turned out to if they had not switched pictures there on the prow of the boat? My great grandmother was a Japanese picture bride. This is my family story.
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