Why Does Love Hurt? This Is What the Story of Lucy and George in “A Room with a View” Tells Us

PDF version. As I described in my previous article, modern cultures motivate us to live and love authentically. This entails being genuine and forthright with oneself and others. This also entails accepting accountability for your errors. Such an authenticity can … Continue reading

Authentic Love Is Challenging and Can Hurt

PDF version. Modern life gives us much more freedom to be authentic in our lives, relationships, and love. The freedom to be authentic with yourself is great. However, it is also challenging; the feeling of authenticity can hurt. What Authenticity … Continue reading

Attitudes toward Cleanliness and Wastefulness in Bicultural Marriages in Japan

PDF version. Couples in bicultural marriages face numerous challenges when trying to sustain love. Some practical issues, such as attitudes toward cleanliness and wastefulness, can play a very important role in bicultural marriages in Japan. In one of my previous … Continue reading

How Sensitivity and Humility Work in Bicultural Marriages in Japan

PDF version. Intercultural partners encounter numerous challenges when attempting to find and maintain love in a bicultural marriage. For example, culturally specific attitudes towards sensitivity and humility are crucial in bicultural marriages in Japan. In one of the previous articles, … Continue reading

Can Touch and Intimacy Sustain Love in Bicultural Marriages in Japan?

PDF version. In bicultural marriages, intercultural partners face numerous obstacles when trying to establish and maintain love. For example, culturally specific attitudes towards touch and intimacy are important to sustain love in bicultural marriages in Japan. I went over the … Continue reading

How Online Dating Changed Cross-Cultural Love and Relationships

The last several decades have witnessed the emergence and extensive development of dating websites. This progress greatly changed the way partners meet, love, and how their relationships evolve. How Dating Websites Emerged and Expanded It may look surprising that the … Continue reading

How Assertion and Hesitation Help Sustain Love in Bicultural Marriages in Japan

Intercultural partners experience many challenges in building and sustaining love in bicultural marriages. In the previous article, we reviewed the key problems that Japanese and American partners encounter in their bicultural marriages. We explored those cases of third-culture marriage in … Continue reading

How Japanese and Americans Sustain Love in Bicultural Marriages in Japan

Intercultural lovers experience many challenges in attempts to build bicultural marriages. In this article, we consider the key issues that arise in the dozens of bicultural marriages we have known through observation of interactions and interviews in Japan. We clarify … Continue reading

Love and Loving in Middle-Class Pakistan

The article by Ammara Maqsood, Associate Professor in Social Anthropology at University College London, tells us the modern story of love in Pakistan and how modern urban women manage their desire for love in Pakistan. Traditional marriages in Pakistan are … Continue reading

“Friends with Benefits”: Single Men and Women in Relationships

Throughout the last couple of centuries, traditional ideals of romantic love have suggested people find their soul mate, marry the loved one, have children, and live happily ever after. The cultural beliefs in love marriages have long shaped people’s dreams … Continue reading