What Is Love?

In the fourth year of my studies in America, I met my current husband at a university in San Diego. When we were thinking about marriage, we knew we would have a hard time, especially in dealing with my parents because my boyfriend was an American with blue eyes…. In an effort of getting approval from my parents, my boyfriend and I visited my parents’ home in Japan.

We spent a Japanese New Year together under one roof, although we didn’t have a common language. My parents and my boyfriend were overly friendly to each other, but there seemed be some awkwardness in their behaviors. My parents had installed a special type of kotatsu (table with a built-in heater) for him who was not good at seiza (a traditional Japanese sitting posture—sitting on your heels). I remember my grandmother looked comical when she was relaxing in that tall kotatsu. My father, who used to be a PE teacher, was curious about my boyfriend’s athletic ability. He checked my boyfriend’s ability to ski, to walk on takeuma (bamboo stilts), and even to fly a kite.

Our stay came to a climax the day before we would fly back to the US. It was an ultimate series of Q&A sessions with help from me as interpreter.
Father: “Ai towa nani?”
Interpreter: “What is LOVE?”
Boyfriend: “???...∆∆∆%#¤@.”
He didn’t come straight to the point, so I made up something: “Suppose the ship that your daughter and I are on board sinks, and we are thrown into freezing winter water. If I see a piece of wood board floating on the water that only one person could get on, I would push your daughter up onto the board and then remain in the water. For me, love is like this.”

Satisfied, my father approved our marriage.

We left Japan, hoping that we would never have an ugly fight for a “piece of wood board” in the future.

Rescued by Titanic