Joerg Schnackenberg, 51, from Germany, and his wife, Teruka, 59, met in Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, in 1995. Joerg, a biochemist who came to Japan right after finishing his Ph.D. at a German university, had been working at a private marine technology institute in Kamaishi for three years. Teruka, a nihonga (traditional Japanese painting) artist from Tokyo, was living in the coastal city with her husband and three children.

The three met at a jazz bar where Japanese and non-Japanese residents mingled. Teruka and her husband quickly became friends with Joerg, but after a while Teruka divorced her husband.

She and Joerg ended up reuniting in Tokyo and began dating.