Information-technology engineer Rodion Moiseev was alone when he traveled from Moscow to England at the age of 14 to attend high school, and he believes those early experiences in a new land made him open to foreign cultures. It may well be one of the reasons for his interest in Japanese culture, particularly the cuisine.
Moiseev met Shino Narumi, a young Japanese woman studying Russian, in 2003 when the two were looking for language-exchange partners on the Internet: It was a match made in cyberspace. The two plan to get married in a traditional Shinto-style ceremony in April at Kanda Myojin Shrine in Tokyo. They are both 24.
Narumi, a native of Tokyo who today works as a professional Russian interpreter, said she has dreamed of wearing a pure-white wedding kimono. And Moiseev wants to show his parents, who will come all the way from Moscow, a Japanese-style ceremony.