Elsewhere in the world, mixed marriages are no big deal. In Japan, however, the kokusai kekkon (international marriage) is still an issue tinged with exoticism and other-worldliness. Witness the enormous success of manga series "Daalin wa Gaikokujin" (My Darling is a Foreigner), and you'll see the point.
The author, a woman who professes she had never thought she would marry a non-Japanese, fell in love with, and subsequently married, an American. The subsequent karuchaa shokku (culture shock) prompted her to create the books based on the couple's daily life. For her, little details of her husband's behavior assumed enormous significance, and the difference in how he viewed life in general and Japanese life in particular was one me kara uroko (scales dropping from one's eyes) event after another.
But, at the same time, the sheer joy and discovery that's a big part of kokusai kekkon comes to the fore, and the manga is being hailed in jyoseishi (women's magazines) as both a heart-warming love story and a kind of instructional manual for those preparing to take the kokusai kekkon plunge themselves.