Yukiko Ariga, 39, a Tokyo native, visited Jamaica, where her friend was living, twice on holiday because she loved reggae music. Eventually, she decided that she wanted to do something different in her life, so she went to live and work in the Caribbean nation in 1998.
She worked as a secretary at Jamaica UCC Blue Mountain Coffee Co., where she met her future husband, Gregory Arnold, from St. Andrew, who was a sales manager there.
On the first day at her new job, the first phone call she received was coincidentally from Gregory. They met face to face for the first time on Yukiko's birthday, and worked together on a team arranging the visit to Jamaica of the president of the Japanese parent company. They became closer, started dating and got married after 1½ years.