Valentine’s Day, 2012.
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Ema (prayers/wishes) at Kasuga Taisha, Nara. 2008.
I’ve written at some length about love in Japan. Personal stuff. Really personal stuff. Links to those tales, and excerpts from them, are below. A couple years ago I also posted a piece on Valentine’s Day in Japan, customs and such, here. Enjoy. And Happy Valentine’s Day.
“So I clung to my fidelity and tried to resist my temptation to make moo eyes at Etsuko, to stay polite and kind and distant, no matter what my inner voice’s inner voice was telling me to do. Besides, I thought, the way Etsuko seemed to be looking at me could be, was probably, all in my head, a matter of imaginative caprice, wishful thinking. Moreover, Rene and I continued to stay tethered together, no matter how tenuously . . . .”
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“I asked her why she was crying so hard. She told me that it was because she knew, she just knew, that I had decided to return to Japan to live and that I had made her dinner and sat her down in order to break the news to her and to break up with her, that I was trying to let her down easy, or something like that. We married seven months later . . .”
. . .
LetsJapan 
Just discovered your blog few minutes ago trying to find a good explanation of the natsukashii concept, and just found myself wandering around through your posts. Awesome job! you’re making me want to go back to Japan so bad, I really enjoyed my few months there.
Best from France.
P.S : on your picture, there is a lovely french message on the right saying : “32 years together, and still having that long to go. To come here with you is a real enchantment (ravishment?/delightfull?).” not sure I managed to translate the cuteness of the sentence though :X
Thanks so much, Benoit! So good to e-see you and to know you enjoyed the site. Galleries, Stories and other stuff, too. And thanks *very* much for the translation, too!
R.