International Marriage
International Marriage
Passions run high when they talk about Fashion
When Jennifer LIM, an Australian, first touched down in Japan in 2000 to work as a JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) Coordinator for International Relations, she had no idea just how important “international relations” would become in her own life.
Jennifer first met Hidetaka Lee FUKUZAKI, who was brought up in Tokyo by his Japanese father and Chinese-Malaysian mother, when they were introduced by some Japanese friends in the dormitory kitchens when Jennifer was a student at the Australian National University in Canberra in 1996.
However, Hidetaka had already been checking out the woman who would later become his wife. “I noticed Jennifer from a distance at a party before I was later introduced to her,” he says. “Actually, I think that it was my room that she fell in love with, not me. I had decorated it with ‘ukiyoe’ prints and antiques from Japan and Tibet. I had no idea that she was a keen fan of Asian antiques.”
Regardless of the interior decorations, the couple’s romance kicked off when they had their first date at a library to see some Japanese history videos. As she wanted to impress Hidetaka, Jennifer says “I think I did a good job of pretending to understand them!” Later, they went to the Botanical Gardens, where she tried unsuccessfully to test his knowledge of Australian plants. “I would have been better off asking him about clothing brands!” she says with a chuckle.
Was it difficult for the couple to decide to live in Japan? “I had already planned to come to Japan anyway after graduating from university,” Jennifer says. “Hide was working as a sales assistant for famous Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake in Tokyo at the time we married.”
Most of the problems experienced by the couple are due to misunderstandings
or different expectations. “For example,” Hidetaka says, “I like to relax for a while after dinner, whereas Jennifer likes to wash up straight away. We try to compromise by washing up and putting things away together.”
And their blueprint for overcoming these problems? “We recently decided that we should not describe our arguments as ‘kenka,’ ” Jennifer explains. “We have opted for ‘chosei,’ which can be translated as ‘adjustment’ or ‘alignment.’ It’s a bit of a joke, but works pretty well.” Hidetaka says “Instead of simply fighting, nowadays we try to talk things over. We try to make each other feel as omfortable
as possible by deciding on certain ‘rules’ and the division of housework!” Whatever issues the couple has at home, they both work hard to put on their best show for the public — and are succeeding surprisingly well.
The well-dressed pair is behind LiMLEE, a unique Tokyo-based fashion design company combining various Asian elements with European tailoring techniques to produce sophisticated career wear for women. Not only has LiMLEE stamped its mark as the highlight of their relationship, the business is also making waves in the fashion world, especially after Hidetaka successfully launched his first fashion collection in New York in late 2004 and their recent opening of a boutique in Tokyo’s exclusive Aoyama district.
“We work extremely closely on the business, which is both rewarding and somewhat stressful at times,” Jennifer says. Regarding the lowlights, she says, “As artistic types, we do tend to have lots of opinions about everything, which often leads to heated debates! Most of our arguments, though, tend to be caused by misunderstandings; some of them linguistic and some cultural.”
Hidetaka says the best aspect about being in an international marriage is the unique nature of the relationship itself. “I am not sure that couples of the same ethnic background necessarily understand each other better than those of different nationalities,” he says. “You might say that because mixed couples have language and cultural differences, they try harder to understand each other. For this reason, I think that the love that such couples develop is unique.”
