Jamie Paquin and Nozomi Mihara, who jointly own an all-Canadian wine shop that opened in Tokyo last year, met by chance at a cafe six years ago.

They were sitting next to each other — Nozomi studying English and Jamie Japanese — and started chatting. After several exchanges of language lessons, they started dating, and got married in 2010.

Nozomi, born in Kanagawa Prefecture and raised in Fukuoka, had no interest in foreign countries until she went to study in the United States for a year in 2004. She never thought she would marry a foreigner, either.