Akiko and Christopher first met in the fall of 1995, as freshmen at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Christopher was the first pledge at Epsilon Theta Fraternity, a co-ed living group, and Akiko almost became the 14th and final pledge. However, she decided to live on campus (something about everyone sleeping in one room!), remaining a "friend of the house."

Life went on, and Christopher, a diligent student of Japanese language since high school, went on a three-month summer internship to Japan following his junior year. Upon his return, he had the opportunity to show his photos to Akiko, and from there, their friendship quickly grew. Under the subtle guise of language study, Christopher and Akiko would meet at the MIT coffeehouse to have conversations in Japanese, which usually lasted all of five minutes before lapsing into English...

As time went by, they grew fonder and fonder of each other. They rented movies to watch together in MIT classrooms. Akiko showed him the nooks and crannies of Boston. Christopher took photos of her around campus. Spring was in the air, and love had blossomed! Only one thing stood in the way -- graduation! Akiko was going to finish on time, whereas Christopher was dawdling! Commencement came (guest speakers were "Click and Clack"), Akiko's dorm room was packed into the Toyota Previa, and Christopher presented Akiko with an old violin case of presents and poems for her long drive home to Ann Arbor.

Akiko started medical school at the University of Michigan that July. Christopher, desperately missing her after a whole summer apart, proposed during a September visit. Amazingly, she eventually said yes! A family friend found a job opportunity for Christopher in the area, and he quickly was offered a position with the company he's stayed at ever since. Christopher followed Akiko to the midwest in February of 2000, and one long engagement later, the rest, they say, is history...