Annette and Ken Uematsu met in 1981 while attending a party for people in Japan learning German. They started dating, moved in together and decided to marry.
Ken, however, encountered fierce opposition from his parents, who didn't want him to have a foreign wife. Hoping to win them over, Annette started sending his parents greeting cards written in Japanese.
Annette's mother was also against them getting hitched, because she did not like her daughter living so far from Germany.