International Marriage
International Marriage
Country Couple bringing Taste of Nashville to Tokyo
Country music originated in America’s South and has been brought to the world stage thanks to famous country singers such as Hank WILLIAMS, Vince GILL, Garth BROOKS, and Shania TWAIN. One of the most active proponents of the genre in Tokyo is Charley SCHUTZ, who along with his Japanese wife Yuzen, is working hard to bring some ‘country’ to the city.
Hailing from Arkansas, U.S.A., Charley first set foot in Japan in 1955. An avid country music fan with an ambition to imprint the style in the Tokyo music scene, Charley opened a country coffee shop called ‘Charley’s’ in Tokyo’s Kokubunji city in 2002. Now, the couple serve up a platter of live country music along with an appetizing menu of homemade American food — including pecan pie — straight from the oven.
The couple first met at her dinner show in 1999. Yuzen at the time was a professional jazz singer who had performed all over Japan. “She was having a dinner show at a hotel in Shinjuku and a mutual friend had told us about each other,” Charley recounts. She introduced herself and they got chatting at a country live house later that same evening. The couple began their relationship only a few days later and married in 2000.
The talented couple has performed at hotel and wedding hall dinner shows, festivals and other special events. At their live house, they don their cowboy hats and sing whenever they have customers who want to listen. Charley and his hand-made meat potpies have also appeared on “Meringue no Kimochi” on Nihon TV with wellknown program host ISHIZUKA Hidehiko.
Most international couples face similar key issues, however this couple are from a different mold than most. “I feel the difference between a man and a woman is greater than the difference between a Japanese and an American,” Charley says. Having lived in Japan for 42 years, he is quite used to the country’s intricacies so he doesn’t really feel that he and his wife are very different as far as culture is concerned.
Yuzen says the highlights of their relationship have been that she can come in touch with his history, culture, music, friends, and food. “Also, living with an American is a different world; it’s like I’m living in a dream or a drama.” Whenever
problems occur, she pictures her future goal, “so even if there is a problem, I don’t let small things get big. Even when our opinions differ, I first think about making our dream come true.”
Charley has noticed a key change in peoples’ attitude towards international couples. “Japanese have become more accepting of more international marriages in general. Years ago I would walk down the street with a Japanese woman and Japanese would look at me and then just glare at her, but I don’t see that anymore. Now, the young girls look at me and sometimes even take my picture especially when I’m wearing my cowboy hat,’ he says with a laugh.
