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Marrying
a Japanese man
An
American woman's fascination for Japanese men;
By Mia Barrett
I am an
American woman living in Sweden who loves everything Japanese:
people, culture, and
food.
I double majored in Asian Studies (Japanese) and Anthropology (lots of
linguistics and culture topics) at Florida State University. At this time,
I am teaching English as a Native Language to children ages 6-14 who use
both English and Swedish at home. Soon I hope to become certified to teach
English as a Second Language (ESL). My ultimate dream is to go to Japan to
teach for many years. Until then, I will long for companionship of
Japanese people and roll sushi,
whenever I'm lonely. This is the only way that I can still satisfy
my desire to experience Japan. My biggest dream is still to go to
Japan anyway and teach English for many years. My dream will never die;
I'm sure of it.
How did I fall in love with a Japanese
man?
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 I became interested in Japanese people back in high school. I knew a
couple of Japanese exchange
students. No one would make
friends with them, since Japanese were perceived as quiet/shy, and
that they seemed to like being on their own. I had a feeling that they
would very much like to make
friends, so I tried it. I became quite close
to these lonely exchange students. They were very thankful and I felt very
fortunate.
Since then, I was very interested in Japan and Japanese, but didn't know
any Japanese people that stayed in the US. I wanted to study Japanese, but
thought that it was way to difficult for me. This was my thought at first,
that is, before I met my Japanese
boyfriend in college. |
My heart was stolen since the first moment I met Makoto. Everything about
him was so wonderful. I loved his
shy nature, his handsome looks, his
humor, his interests, practically everything! I even loved the fact that
he never had to wear deodorant and
never smelled bad. I loved how he would
surprise me with the little things in life! I never knew exactly what to
expect and I loved this aspect of being caught by surprise.
Getting ready to marry Makoto
We went through college supporting each other in every way. I
taught him A
LOT of English and he helped me with some Japanese and taught me
how to
make sushi (he was a sushi chef). I helped him get by in the Land of
Opportunity, and he gave me so much knowledge about
Japan, the culture,
language, society, food, a bit of everything. I felt as though I could
have lived in Japan and never grow tired of it. In fact, we planned on
marrying and living in Japan, at least for a little while. I know he was
serious because he took me to Japan one summer to meet his
family. He went
back to Japan the following summer to tell his family that we would be
getting married soon. When he came back to the US, he wouldn't talk to me
about what his family said to him about it all. I had a terrible feeling!
I helped him through his last year of Engineering school, so that he would
have the strength and emotional support he needed to do it. All the while
I was busy with my own studies.
Just before he graduated, I helped him
find job opportunities so that he
wouldn't
miss out on a great career. I begged him to go to a job fair in
San Francisco. He went and got a job offer instantly with Hitachi Telecom
in Japan. It was his dream job, exactly as he had wished for. I encouraged
him to take the job! He did and soon after returned to Japan. He told me
that I could follow him soon after and to not worry.
Continued:
How to have
a relationship with a Japanese man
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with a Japanese man
How to seduce a Japanese man
How
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