Hiroshi Kato, 40, born in Sendai and raised in Kawasaki, met his wife Ying — from Harbin in northeast China — in Tokyo in fall 2007.
Ying, 32, who followed her older sister to Japan in 2001, was working as a secretary at a software development company. Hiroshi worked for a firm that sent engineers to work at Ying's company. He was in charge of taking the engineers to the office, and Ying was the contact person there.
Hiroshi, who quickly took to Ying, went out with her for yakiniku (barbecue) near Shinjuku, and they started dating.