Imagine finding out that your spouse is 25 years older than you thought. Now imagine finding out the day before your wedding. That’s what happened to 29-year-old Yoshitaka on the day before his wedding in 2013, when he discovered his bride-to-be, Aki, was actually 54. Aki was running a Japanese-style bar when she met Yoshitaka and discovered they had a lot in common. Both had gone through failed marriages and both were raising children alone. Yoshitaka said he could tell Aki was a bit older than him, but never guessed she was a quarter of a century older. Her cheerful nature and smooth skin didn’t betray her age, so she was able to keep her secret for 7 years, right up until the day before their wedding. In early 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was getting ready to ravage the world, Aki and Yoshitaka decided to get married. Realizing that she could get infected herself and that Yoshitaka would need to know her real age so as not to confuse doctors or first responders, Aki decided to tell him she was 25 years older than him. She didn’t know how he would react but feared he would be furious that she had lied to him for so long. She couldn’t have been more wrong. “I don’t mind your real age at all, it doesn’t matter,” Yoshitaka told his bride-to-be. “What matters is why you didn’t tell me earlier so you wouldn’t have to worry for so long.” Now, after having been married for 11 years, Yoshitaka, now 40, and his wife Aki, now 65, couldn’t be happier.
