The long-running variety show "Shinkonsan Irasshai!" (ABC TV/TV Asahi, Sundays at 12:55 p.m.) hosted by Takashi Fujii and Sakura Inoue will feature a couple who are planning to start their married life in Ugo Town, Akita Prefecture, an area that receives heavy snowfall.
Ugo Town is an hour's drive from Akita Airport. Every January, the "Bride's Road" is held, where newlyweds ride in a horse-drawn carriage and travel down the 12km snow-covered virgin road for six hours. The town's residents are all very welcoming to the newlyweds, who have come to this town with a declining birthrate and an aging population.
The newlyweds' home that we visited the day after the "Bride's Procession" was a huge 70-year-old house. The husband, who moved here from Kanagawa three years ago, lives there with his grandfather. In other words, although the couple got married last year, the wife, who works as a care worker in Kanagawa, has been living separately until April. In fact, the day before the interview was the first time the wife had stayed overnight in the house.
The husband moved to the area to take over his grandfather's farm, but when they met for the first time in nine years, they talked in a "smoking area." It turns out that around that time, his wife had become addicted to "shisha" (water pipe), and that's when he started smoking cigarettes.
From then on, they started exchanging messages on LINE every day. They got along so well that they would talk for 6-7 hours on the phone. He had no inkling that they would start dating, but things progressed quickly when the wife invited him to a recommended "shisha bar" in Tokyo. Then, just one month after their long-distance relationship between Akita and Kanagawa began, the wife made another approach.
After eight months of dating, he proposed to her at the shisha bar where they had their first date, and even wrote a marriage registration. When he reported the news to his grandfather's classmate, he decided to hold a wedding filled with the enthusiasm and kindness of the town.
However, my wife seems to be anxious about our new life in a heavy snow area, and is struggling with shoveling snow and chopping firewood for the first time. However, I was very surprised by the delicious "breakfast" that is a traditional Akita dish. I will introduce you to the "delicious breakfast" that is sure to make you want to eat more.
