Chris Infotainment

Duong secretly admired a Japanese colleague at his hospital, but it took him two years to confess his love because he was afraid she would report him for harassment. In 2019, Hoang Khanh Duong, then 31, a native of Thai Binh, went to Aichi, Japan to work as a nursing intern. With limited Japanese proficiency, he struggled to navigate and settle into life in the foreign land. His romance began in 2020 when he went to submit a job application at a local hospital. While waiting for the elevator, he saw a nurse drop a stack of documents, and he immediately bent down to pick them up for her. "Be careful, don't drop them again," he said in his still-awkward Japanese. The girl smiled and thanked him. The moment their eyes met, the young man felt as if they "had known each other from a past life". He kept thinking about her big, round eyes for many days afterwards. Duong and his girlfriend during their trip to Vietnam in spring 2025. Photo courtesy of Duong Her ...

Nhu Y never imagined that offering a glass of orange juice to a stranger at a conference would lead to a transnational love story and the challenge of navigating a culture as traditional as her own. In March 2024, at the Vietshrimp Aquaculture International Conference in Ca Mau, Nhu Y’s booth was next to Abhishek Khandelwal’s. She noticed this foreign man so engrossed in his work that he hadn’t even taken time to drink water. With a kind gesture, she offered him a glass of orange juice. Their meeting was brief, as both were occupied with their professional responsibilities. However, over the next three months, regular text messages gradually brought them closer together. "No one said 'I love you,' but we both felt like we were leaning toward each other," Nhu Y, 31, from Hau Giang, recalls. Nhu Y and Abhishek Khandelwal. Photo courtesy of the couple Despite their growing connection, there seemed to be a cultural barrier. Khandelwal, 30, hails from Patna in norther...