• American Studies
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.131-158
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• 2021

This paper examines how nation-specific history of Asian war brides affects different representations of war brides in Velina Hasu Houston's Tea (1984) and Julia Cho's The Architecture of Loss (2003). While war brides had long been excluded from American history, Japanese war brides were brought to public attention in the 1980s. Korean war brides, on the other hand, were kept out of sight until the 2000s. Focusing on how this time gap is related to ethnic difference, this paper analyzes dramaturgical differences between the two plays such as the presence/absence of war bride on stage or ethnic solidarity/familial reconciliation as the main device of war bride memorialization. Such differences, the paper suggests, stem from ethnic/historical differences between Korean and Japanese war brides. Through historical interpretations of the plays, this paper argues that America's military relationships with Korea and Japan were reproduced within the Asian-American families of each drama in ways that raise questions about pan-Asian identity.