Pop culture has given us many marriage archetypes. At one extreme, there was "Thin Man" Nick Charles and his wife Nora, who epitomized a partnership based on privileged cynicism: witty, alcoholic, rich and inseparable. At the opposite end are "The Honeymooners," Ralph and Alice Kramden: the short-tempered, blue-collar blockhead and his harridan wife, who, though constantly fighting, couldn't live without each other.

In Japan, there's Mayo and Kaiya Kawasaki. Though their celebrity status places them near the Charleses in terms of privilege, in temperament they're closer to the Kramdens. However, a more convenient pop-culture comparison would be Ricky and Lucy Ricardo.

But in reverse. On "I Love Lucy" it was Desi Arnaz who played the linguistically challenged spouse, while in the Kawasakis' case it's the American wife, Kaiya (given name Caroline), who takes on the funny foreigner role. Cuban Ricky, constantly dumbfounded by Lucy's habit of screwing up, didn't have the English to describe his feelings. Similarly, Kaiya, flummoxed by her husband's penchant for conducting sexual dalliances in broad daylight, rants before the TV cameras in broken Japanese like a squawking bird.