40 years love story

Thursday, 21 Sep. Stockholm


I visited my Mom’s friends. They are married couple in their 60s and both Japanese. The husband worked for Swedish Post for 40 years and now he is retired. The wife was my mom’s classmate from jr. high school. They met first time in their early 20’s when the husband went back home from Sweden for a vacation. The wife had got already engaged to another man at that time. He went back to Sweden soon. She married her fiancé and had a kid. Several years past, she got divorced. He met her every time he got back to Japan, then they started their long distance relationships between Japan and Sweden. It was like 30 or more years ago. There was no Internet, and overseas travel was not so popular like nowadays. It sounds quite tough. Especially, going to Sweden from Japan was quite rare. She was not able to move to Sweden because of her family and her own shop, and he did not try to move back to Japan. They were on and off, sometimes they didn’t get in touch for several years, they had a big fight a couple of times, but 3 years ago, finally they got married and she moved to Sweden. She was already in her 60s and had never lived abroad. The only language she speaks was Japanese.

How romantic that they kept their relationships over 40 years in that tough situation, I thought. It is so sweet they got together at last. The interesting thing is their personalities are totally opposite. The husband is quiet, intelligent, and sophisticated kind of guy, and the wife is chatty, loud, rough kind of person. I have no intention of speaking ill of her. She is kind, happy person and I like her a lot, but objectively she is that sort of person. During my stay of 2 days, they yelled at each other sometimes, but I saw they needed each other and cared of each other so much. That was clear. 40 years romance is alive. Well, of course. They are still newlyweds.

‘Well, what a fate’ She goes.
‘He had owned a dog which had had the same name of mine before I first met him. So we were fated I guess’

The wife had a small diner in Japan so she is a good cook. She fed me lots of good stuff and also the husband made me excellent pasta. Twice a week, they go to a fresh market with a backpack. It takes about over one hour by bus, but they need lots of veggies. They eat 9 kinds of veggies for breakfast every single morning.




The wife took me out to the lake nearby.
‘I don’t like living in Sweden. It is too cold for me, food is no good, and winter is too dark…’
She murmured a couple of times while I was there. Though, when we were walking through the forest, she told me earnestly;
‘The forest is not vivid right now, because it hasn’t been raining. It is so dry. But in spring, maybe in early May, the trees are so beautiful. It is so green. They become so alive suddenly after long cold winter, and it blows me away. She enjoys her life here certainly. I would like to see that beautiful season too.