A surprising revelation emerged the night before a man from Japan was set to marry his long-time girlfriend.
Yoshitaka, 40, discovered that there was a 25-year age gap between him and his girlfriend, Aki, the evening before their wedding.
Until that moment, he had believed their age difference was only 15 years!
The pair first met at a Japanese-style bar that Aki owned. At the time, the two were divorced and Yoshitaka was immediately drawn to Aki’s mature charm. A week after their initial encounter, he returned to the bar to speak with her again, sparking a deep connection between the two.
“After talking with her, I found that we both had experienced failed marriages, were raising children alone, and we also shared many common interests,” Yoshitaka said of Aki, who is actually 65 years old.
Their shared experiences and interests quickly made them fall in love with each other, and the couple soon became inseparable. For seven years, Yoshitaka had no reason to question the age difference he believed existed between them. Aki’s youthful appearance, maintained through excellent skincare and good health, kept her secret well-hidden, and Yoshitaka never suspected that she might be older than she had claimed.
Though Aki maintained this secret, she was not entirely at ease. She feared that revealing her true age might cause Yoshitaka to leave her, so she attempted to drop subtle hints. For example, she would leave her passport and insurance card out in the open, hoping Yoshitaka would notice and discover her real age on his own. However, Yoshitaka never caught on, instead gently reminding Aki to keep her important documents safe.
Their relationship deepened, and they made a decision to take the next step by getting married, Aki realized she couldn’t continue hiding the truth. On the night before their wedding, she finally gathered the courage to confess her true age to Yoshitaka.
She was relieved to see Yoshitaka unfazed by the revelation. “I don’t mind your real age at all, it doesn’t matter,” he reassured her. “What matters is why you didn’t tell me earlier so you wouldn’t have to worry for so long.”
After getting married, Aki and Yoshitaka decided to embark on a new adventure together. They quit their jobs, bought a campervan, and began traveling around Japan. They also started a new business, Airtel, an air conditioner cleaning service, and have shared their journey with their 18,000 YouTube subscribers, offering a glimpse into their lives and their unique love story.
Aki’s decision to hide her age was influenced by societal prejudices in Japan, where relationships in which the woman is significantly older than the man are often frowned upon. “Older men can proudly show off how young and beautiful their wives are, but many women who are older than their husbands often hesitate to reveal their relationships to others,” Aki explained, according to the South China Morning Post.
This kind of prejudice isn’t limited to Japan. In Western societies, terms like “cougar” and “toyboy” often carry negative connotations, portraying older women as predatory or objectifying younger men.
Aki hopes that instead of judging women who date younger men, people will learn to “accept various forms of couples” and recognize that love can flourish regardless of age differences.
