I think I've told story before and I certainly do not mind telling it again.
I moved to Tokyo Japan on August 16th 1990, I had planned to stay six months and study Aikido (a martial art) at the world headquarters dojo, then return home to Canada and carry on with my life.
I ended up getting an aparto about an 8 minute stumble from the dojo, which was good as I did the 6:30 AM class six days a week, also the 8:00 AM and usually the 3:00 PM class too. The aparto I lived in was a Yo-jo-han which means 4 1/2 mats, about 9' square with a small closet and a very small kitchen that was in the entrance, how small, well the entrance was about 2' square and the sink was abut 18" square with just enough room on one side for a hot plate. The toilet was down the hall, an old style squat type and there was no shower or bath. Where this building stood is right next to the building we live in now.
Much to my surprise most of the Aikido guys drink a LOT of booze, and being a junior member I was often tasked to go get the beer from the liquor shop. I noticed that the daughter of the liquor shop (my future wife) was very cute, but as I spoke little or no Japanese what chance did I have?
One day while in the L-shop I overheard her talking to this Australian gal in just about perfect English...
I was very busy, working two jobs and going to Aikido whenever I was not working or sleeping, and she too was very busy, but one day I got a letter from the city addressed to me, all in Japanese so I took it to her and asked for some help, she helped me with the letter, some tax thing I recall.
Well the building I was living in was going to be torn down and rebuilt, we all had to find new places to live, the old aparto was full of foreign Aikido people. I found a place quite far from the dojo, I'd have to catch the 5AM train to make the 6:30AM class
The funny thing is my future wife actually helped me move out of the neighbourhood and away from her
We were just friends, not dating. I lived at the new place for about six months, and it was killing me those early mornings, so I moved back closer to the dojo, but not near the L-shop. I had not seen Emiko for maybe six months. One day on the way home from work, I stopped at a 7-11 to buy some bread, and they were sold out, so I went out of my way to another 7-11 that I usually do not go to and bought my bread, when I came out of the store, there stopped at the light was Emiko and a mutual Aikido friend in the L-shop's little truck, the mutual friend was moving and Emiko being the ever helpful person was helping, I said "Hi" and offered to lend the two girls a hand. The aparto the mutual friend was moving into was the aparto that I have since renovated and documented right here on this site.
After the moving was done, I asked for Emiko's number and she gave it to me
Soon after that, the mutual friend had a house warming and I went and so did Emiko, not long after that we started dating, then got married, about a year later, Erika our first daughter was born.
We just celebrated 17 years, so we must be doing something right!
There you go, my story in a nutshell!