Darling, Our Life Became a Bestseller!

Most couples are content to just live each day, go to work, feed the cat, raise kids and grow old together. So it is certainly unusual when a couple are featured in a book, and even stranger when it becomes a bestseller and sells over 1,000,000 copies!

Yet this is exactly what has happened with the extremely popular “Darling wa Gaikokujin” (“My Darling is a Foreigner”) series written and illustrated by talented manga artist Saori OGURI about her relationship with her husband Tony LASZLO. Together, the pair of books have been flying off bookshelves all over Japan as readers discover the interesting, quirky and downright funny side of an international relationship.

Modest hopes before book became bestseller
Tony, the ‘Darling’ in the series, first set foot in Japan in 1985 when he came to follow work pursuits. “I lecture at university and run an NGO, but am essentially a media person,” says the half Hungarian, half Italian Tokyo-based writer. Having written two plays and been involved in other artistic work, Tony has a lot in common with his creative mangaka (manga artist) wife.

“My prince is not here!”
“We first met when Saori auditioned for a staff position in a theatrical production I was organizing in 1995,” Tony says. “My first impressions were not so romantic. I just wanted to know whether she would be suitable for the job. It was all very businesslike,” he says with a smile. Saori’s first impressions of her future husband were “My prince is not here! He wasn’t displaying his private side — I
saw him as a leader,” she recalls.

The idea to write the books was born when Saori sat down with an editor and described some of the interesting aspects of her life with Tony. “The editor liked what she heard and suggested I make a book out of it,” Saori says.

When the couple talked with the publisher, they discussed an initial sales target of 50,000 copies. “I thought that perhaps other people in international marriages would buy the book and read it,” Saori says. To her delight, she was completely wrong. Japanese by the thousands have been buying her books, Tony has appeared on TV, and magazines have been clamoring to feature the couple. The first book, originally printed in December 2002, is now in its 28th reprint, and the second, released in March 2004, is in its 12th, a remarkable achievement for a story about an international relationship.

Tony has never read them cover-to-cover
While Saori has been taken aback by the books’ stunning success, she believes it is due to the fact that there is quite a lot in common between international and same-culture marriages. Tony on the other hand, believes their success is due to his wife’s creative talents and the way her personality shines through in every
page. “I think we are seeing a demand in society for information about lifestyles and relationships, and she happens to be meeting that demand,” Tony says.

Even though Tony is one of the co-stars in the book, he admits he has never read them cover-to-cover. “Before the books were published, I wanted to give Saori a freer rein in her work. I didn’t want my comments to lead her to make changes to any parts of her books,” he says. “And I didn’t read them after they were published so as to limit any influence they might have on my way of living.”

Do people recognize them in the street? “If I walk around alone, no one approaches me,” Saori says, “but if we walk around together, people will often come up and say they have read the books. It is very different from the past.”

Does Saori have any plans to write another book? “The publisher is suggesting we do, but I need to ask Tony if it is OK,” she says with a smile.

“Darling wa Gaikokujin” books 1 and 2 are published by Media Factory, Inc. Both books are written in Japanese. Book 2 has hiragana printed beside all kanji.