Gendered World of Issei Women and Men in Japanese Hawai‘i, 1880s–1910s

Yukari Takai (History) examines the marriage and divorce practices among Japanese issei women and men in Hawai‘i from the 1880s to the 1910s. She focuses on three practices that are difficult to capture and previously little-studied: temporary marriage or karifūfu, wife sale and wife brokerage.

Through her research she seeks to shed further light on the mailability of marriage practices among issei women and men in Hawai‘i and the power and limitation of the Japanese state, in collaboration with the American state, to impose its gender ideals.