Baaba’s Footsteps Three eras – Two women – One Struggle: 10 to 15 March 2020 near Waterloo

Baaba’s Footsteps, by British-Japanese playwright Susan Momoko Hingley, is a new play premiering at the Vault Festival 2020. Baaba’s Footsteps tells the story of two Japanese women from different eras who travel to San Francisco in search of a better life.  The protagonist’s present day story is woven together with the story of Japanese Picture Brides in the 1910s and the internment of people of Japanese ancestry in America during WWII. In a period where all eyes are on Japan as the Rugby World Cup and 2020 Tokyo Olympics take place, Baaba’s Footsteps offers a voice to generations of Japanese women looking to cement their place in the world.

Synopsis:
Tokyo 2020: Yu, 39, career-driven but recently dumped by her long term job, keeps beating her head against societal pressures to get married. Sick of the patriarchy and feeling powerless, she struggles to fit in in her own country. Can the answer to her self-doubt lie in following her great-grandmother Takako’s footsteps and travelling to San Francisco? Armed with an airplane ticket and Takako’s diary, Yu sets out to find herself.

San Francisco 1920: Takako,16, stares at the numerous men waiting on the dock. Armed with only a photo and a marriage certificate, she tries to recognize her new husband who she has never met, in a land she has never been. Facing down hostility and cultural differences, Takako, one of the many Japanese Picture Brides of the early 20th century, bravely sets out to create a home for herself in America. Lonely in a land that both welcomes and resents her, she finds solace in keeping a diary where she writes about her struggle. Can her diary help light the way for a great-granddaughter who she will never meet?

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Baaba's Footsteps