Alexander Bright and Akiko Yamada first met at Cambridge University in 1999, when Bright was a graduate student majoring in materials science and Yamada, then a high school teacher, was taking a year off to study education in England.

They married in 2003 and have a 2-month-old daughter, Akane. Bright, a British citizen, recently decided to speak to her mainly in English. "I want her to learn to speak English well," he says.

The family lives in Warabi, Saitama Prefecture. Bright works for the Japanese branch of an American company that sells electron microscopes and other high-tech equipment.