Late one autumn afternoon in 2023, amidst a rush at the metro station, Thu panicked when her phone died, leaving her unable to look up the train to Shiga.
Wandering in circles with no one to ask, she finally took a gamble and stopped a man in a vest, mistaking him for a station employee.
Shota, then 32, was an engineer who had just finished work and was also preparing to board a train home. Seeing the petite girl struggling in the crowd, he guided her and carefully wrote down his phone number in case she needed further help.
A thank-you call from the ethnic Muong girl from Hoa Binh Province after she arrived home safely sparked off a text exchange, leading to their first date.
Shota and Dieu Thu at a spring festival in Japan in 2025. Photo by Ak |
Shota treated her to Vietnamese food and coffee, listening as she recounted her journey as a 19-year-old to Japan to work and support her family.
Shota recalls his first impression of his wife-to-be: “She chirped like a little bird, always smiling even when telling stories about the hard days catching crabs and snails to sell. I admired that optimism.”
As for Thu, she was moved by the sincerity of the Japanese man, who had lived a closed-off life for over 10 years following his parents’ divorce.
When Thu asked about the average Japanese income, he did not hesitate to open his payslip and show it to her.
Although his income was not high, Shota’s straightforwardness, a trait rarely seen in the reserved Japanese, meant she “trusted” him immediately.
At subsequent meetings he did not say much and instead quietly listened to the little girl talk about everything.
After just one meeting he remembered she did not like spicy food and knew what dishes to order for her. He seemed to know exactly when she was tired or happy inside by just looking at her.
He did not wait for special occasions to buy her flowers. Though not wealthy, he always chose the best tickets whenever they went out. After five months of meeting each other, he took Thu home to meet his mother.
But cultural barriers and personality differences made Thu, 27 then, afraid of having expectations. She recalls: “He did not text me every day or say flowery words. I used to think I would return to my country soon, and so didn’t get my hopes up.”
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Shota and Dieu Thu near Lake Biwako in 2024. Photo by Aki |
However, an incident in the summer of 2024 changed everything.
Work pressure left Thu exhausted, and she often passed out at work and suffered nosebleeds. But her manager did not pay heed and continued to pressure and scold her.
When she was hospitalized, Shota, usually a man of few words, contacted labor protection organizations to report her manager’s conduct, forcing the company to apologize and safeguarding her rights.
She realized that behind his quiet exterior was a kind, sincere heart. “If he had not stood up to protect me, I probably would have been fired without receiving any benefits,” she says.
Worried that something might happen to her since she was living alone, he asked his father for permission to bring her home.
But she refused the offer, and Shota went to her place every day after his shift ended at midnight with food and medicines, and cared for her. He completely won her over when he said one day: “I can eat bean sprouts for a whole month to save money to take care of you.”
Shota’s parents advised them to think about marriage. Not wanting to miss out on a good man, in June 2024 she brought him home to Vietnam to meet her family.
Four months later they completed the marriage registration. Thu recounts: “There was no proposal or diamond ring. Everything was simple, but full of trust and love.” But their marriage has not always been rosy.
After the wedding she fell into a psychological crisis due to environmental pressures and homesickness, lost weight and suffered from chronic insomnia.
Shota took two months off work to take her to various hospitals, but no physical cause was found. He says: “I even had to help her bathe and wash her hair. Seeing my wife so haggard, I understood she had endured too much.”
At the peak of the crisis, Shota decided to quit his job entirely and take his wife back to Hoa Binh to live with her parents and “heal.”
The warm days of the 2025 Lunar New Year in the traditional Muong stilt house helped Thu gradually rediscover her smile.
In spring they returned to Japan. Thu chose a lighter job at a kimono rental shop in Osaka. In the evenings Shota helps her learn Japanese. “If I hadn’t gotten lost that afternoon and he hadn’t stepped out at the right moment, perhaps I wouldn’t have this happiness,” she says watching her husband busily preparing dinner.
For her, the Japanese man’s sincerity was the most precious “ticket” she found at the train station that time.
Shota and Dieu Thu’s joyful moments while taking in Japan’s scenery
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