Western Woman - Japanese Farmer Marriage Possible?

Liz & Kazuhiro

After TSURUTA Kazuhiro finished high school, he embarked on a young farming trainees program that took him to California to work on a farm - speaking English - for a year. On his return, he continued practicing his newfound language skills and entered the school where Liz, a New Zealander, was teaching. It was 1997. "Kazuhiro asked me out and at the time he was a student so I told him I couldn't date a student," Liz recalls. "He quit the school and we started going out." They married in 2001 and now live in Gunma prefecture. It is rare that a western woman marries a Japanese farmer.

"Although we are farmers in Japan we don't live on the farm. In our case we have a variety of different land types, such as an enormous vegetable plot, several fields and barns, and we breed some stock, for selling on to others," Liz explains about their daily life.

"In terms of our roles, basically Kazuhiro manages and works on the farm every single day of the year, he helps his mother with planting and harvesting the small rice crop we have, and he also has two full-time staff who work on the farm with him. I do not work on the farm at all; initially I was employed full-time in the ESL teaching field which was a better use of my skills, and now I am a full time mum to our daughter and soon to be second child."

While many international couples face big issues with parents, this was not the case for Liz and Kazuhiro. Since Kazuhiro is a farmer, he has much in common with Liz's father who has considerable farming experience in New Zealand. "My father's ideas are new and different to what is standard practice in Japan, so it gives Kazuhiro a new perspective and sometimes he can implement changes which incorporate some of our techniques." says Liz.

One of the topics for the couple has been trips to New Zealand. "We have talked extensively about the difficulty of balancing regular trips home with our financial situation," Liz says. "Many people here seem to think that my going home to see my family is somehow a lucky holiday, and they tell me how envious we are. While I love the time in NZ, it is normal life for me there, not 5-star hotel with room service! Going to NZ is not a holiday but a necessity for my mental health and also a need I have to be with the people I love."

As with most international couples, living together involves making some often uncomfortable compromises. "Although there are many wonderful things I love about living in Japan, I am not in love with all things Japanese," Liz explains. "For example, I don't really like or eat Japanese food. The compromise for Kazuhiro is that at home we don't eat traditional Japanese food, and there is no seafood cooked in our house, ever!"

Kazuhiro comments about international relationships by saying, "It was a coincidence that we, two people who have similar values, met each other and married. So nationality and age have nothing to do with it. I think couple can enjoy more if you know less about your partner. As Japan is a closed society, I want my grandchildren and great-grandchildren to say 'My grandfather was great!"