When Rory met Takako

In July 1998 I moved from Melbourne, Australia to a small town in western Japan. Mimasaka is a rural town with an ageing population and few English speakers. Tiny jelly-mould mountains gaze down on the rivers and roads that hold the town together. Scruffy eagles constantly wheel and dive in the blue sky overhead. It was my job to teach English at the town’s junior high school.

Soon after arriving I began teaching a class of adults known as the Mimasaka English Club. Takako was a member of this club. She wrote a weekly dairy and gave it to me for correction and comment. I got to know her quite well through her dairy.

A dinner was organised by a mutual friend. A big boiling cauldren of good stuff cooked over a traditional sunken fireplace. Our friend pulled me aside and mentioned that Takako was ‘interested’ in me (Takako fiercly denies this version of events). I was certainly interested in her but at the time was unsure of how to date Japanese girls. We did however make a date to go for a drive in her car to a scenic spot nearby to view the autumn leaves. I invited her to my house for dinner (I am a wiicked cook) that night and I kissed her for the first time. That was November 1998.

Our relationship developed quickly from there. We spent time exploring the local area together in her car, watching videos, cooking for each other, sitting in my apartment talking about the differences between our worlds, etc. Mimasaka is a small town however and it was not possible for us to spend nights together. Takako was also a virgin and had every intention of staying one – much to my dismay.

One night during this time there was a big snowstorm. Takako had been working in her mother’s beauty shop during the day but the storm had caught her by surprise and she was forced to spend the night at the shop. Driving was impossible. She called me to tell of her situation. She said that unfortunately we could not meet that evening, as was our plan. I decided to ‘rescue’ her. I put on all my warmest clothes and trudged the three kilometres to her shop. The snow was thick and heavy and the streets were deserted. She got the fright of her life when I knocked on the door of the shop – I looked like the abominable snowman. We stayed awake most of the night talking and fooling around and I walked home again at about 6 in the morning. Thankfully, school was cancelled because of the snow the next day and I could sleep and dream of her.

In February 1999 Takako was due to go to Canada for a year to study English. This was upsetting for us but her plans had been in the pipeline for some time and could not be changed. What was more upsetting for us both was the discovery – just before her departure – that I was sick and had to leave Japan in a hurry to get treatment in Australia. This left us both pretty teary and upset.

I soon returned to Japan (cured) and we wrote to each other regularly via email and letter over the next year. Despite the distance our love grew stronger and in December 1999 I flew to Canada and spent about three weeks living with Takako in her rented apartment in downtown Vancouver. We spent Christmas together and watched the sunset on the last millennium from a deserted beach on Vancouver Island. It was very cold but we made a fire and managed to keep warm. We wandered the wind-swept beach and collected green-lipped mussells washed ashore by the winter swells. They tasted good – salty and juicy - cooked on the fire and slurped down hot. During this holiday we made love for the first time and I seriously began to think that I had met my life partner.

Takako returned to Japan in February 2000 and I renewed my teaching contract for a second and then a third year so that we could spend time together in Japan. Because we were not married, we could not spend our nights together in small-town rural Mimasaka. Consequently, we were to travel to many places in Japan and also to Korea in March 2000 so that we could spend ‘quality’ time together.

During my three years in Mimasaka, Takako remained a student – and I a teacher – at Mimasaka English Club.

Finally, in December 2000 we both travelled to Perth, Australia and stayed with my parents for Christmas. They, like me, fell in love with Takako. My friends dug that girl too.

In April 2001 I proposed to Takako on the top of a mountain (Ooyama) overlooking Mimasaka. She accepted. Her parents also approved. My Parents flew to Japan and we were married in a Shinto shrine on July 22, 2001.