Though so-called international marriages continue to become more commonplace in Japan, the authorities still treat them as glaring exceptions that call for special treatment. If you're not a Japanese national and you want to make sure you can stay in Japan in the event you divorce your Japanese spouse, you'd better have a permanent resident visa. If you're pregnant and the father is Japanese, you must either marry him or make sure he legally acknowledges the baby before its born, otherwise you and the baby might find yourselves on the next plane home.

TV Tokyo's "Sunday Big Variety" (Dec. 1, 7 p.m.) doesn't delve into these legal nuances as it visits half a dozen foreign women who married Japanese men and are now living in Japan. However, it does explore the special problems that these women face in being accepted by their communities and in-laws.

Among the foreign wives profiled is a 33-year-old woman from the Solomon Islands who met her Japanese husband when he was an overseas volunteer in the South Seas 12 years ago. Both sets of parents disapproved of the union, though his folks have softened a bit since the couple's son was born. They now live in Nakano Ward, Tokyo, where she runs an English conversation school and teaches Samoan dance.