Though it boasts one of the highest living standards in the world and a crime rate that is low compared to other developed countries, many of its citizens believe that Japan is a very difficult place to live for non-Japanese. The most commonly held reason for this belief is that the language and social customs are too difficult for outsiders to cope with.
But as is the case with most expatriate communities, the majority of resident aliens in Japan readily assimilate while retaining a great deal of their native habits in everyday life. That, in fact, is the theme of the new TV Tokyo series "Okusama wa Gaikokujin (The Wife is a Foreigner)" on Tuesday at 8 p.m.
As the title states, the series is about non-Japanese women who marry Japanese men. It's easy to understand why it limits its coverage of so-called international marriages to only one of the two possible combinations.