Kathryn's Bio

Kathryn Tolbert is a retired journalist and daughter of a Japanese war bride. She worked for The Washington Post for more than 25 years, as an editor, reporter and correspondent in Tokyo. For the past 10 years she has been telling the stories of women like her mother, through print, film and oral history. 

Kathryn is part of the curatorial team for the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition, Japanese War Brides: Across a Wide Divide that draws on her research and interviews. The exhibition opened in December 2024 at the Irving Archives and Community Museum in Texas and is currently at the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach, Florida. It will travel to museums around the country though mid-2028. 

Kathryn is currently collaborating with artist Kat Whitham on a graphic memoir to tell the little known history of this group of immigrant women. She grew up in Elmira, N.Y. and lives in Bethesda, Md.