Posted on: Sunday, January 9, 2005
Accountants' law class adds up to love
By Tanya Bricking Leach
Advertiser Staff Writer
After a string of relationships in college that went nowhere, Yvette Nozaki resigned herself to the life of a single woman.
Stefanie Riedel Photography Then, "Law for Accountants" changed her life.
She had graduated from Indiana University and came home to O'ahu, where she was enrolled at the University of Hawai'i to earn her master's degree in accounting. She ended up in the law class sitting next to Andrew Matsumoto, who was getting his master's in business administration.
"She seemed just really nice," Matsumoto remembers. "Smart. Intelligent when she spoke in class. Pretty."
They would talk when they saw each other in class, but Matsumoto was calculating how he could see her more. He asked to exchange phone numbers on the premise that they could talk about a class project. He'd offer to give her rides because she didn't have a car. And as the semester wound to a close, he was working up the courage to ask to see her again.
Have you and your sweetheart exchanged and kept love letters over the years? Maybe you have a drawer or shoe box full of them.
Pull them out and tell us why they mean so much to you.
We're searching for stories behind love letters for a Valentine's Day feature.
To share your letters and your story, write to relationships writer Tanya Bricking Leach at tleach@honoluluadvertiser.com or call 525-8026 by Jan. 31. So on Dec. 22, 2000, they officially began their courtship.
Matsumoto, from Mililani, taught her to fish, golf and explore places on the island she had never seen growing up in town.
"He took me to the west side," said Nozaki, who had barely been past the airport. "He took me to football games."
Nozaki found she could relax around him, and when they both found jobs in accounting, he understood the stresses of her job. They're both career-oriented, and Matsumoto said their interests and values clicked.
He also liked her openness to new experiences and appreciated that she'd cook for him and want to see him even after he had been fishing all day.
She liked that he'd do little things for her, like bring her flowers.
So, after dating for 2 1/2 years, Nozaki had a feeling he was going to propose. They already had looked at rings. Nozaki agonized about when the moment would come. But finally one day, Matsumoto took her to Kahala Beach, one of their favorite beaches, and asked her to marry him. They planned and paid for their own wedding on Dec. 18, with a ceremony at Nu'uanu Congregational Church and a reception at the Halekulani hotel.
"For a person who thought I would never get married," the bride said, "it was just an amazing experience."
Nozaki, 28, is an accountant for Louis Vuitton. Matsumoto, also 28, is an auditor for PricewaterhouseCoopers.
They plan to honeymoon in Italy this spring.
Tanya Bricking Leach writes about relationships. If you'd like her to tell your love story, write to tleach@honoluluadvertiser.com, call 525-8026 or mail your photo and details to Love Stories, Tanya Bricking Leach, The Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802.
"I used to watch all those wedding shows," she said. "I thought there was no one out there for me. I was always a pessimist and thought I would never get married."
Yvette Nozaki and Andrew Matsumoto met in a University of Hawai'i-Manoa law class for accountants. Nozaki thought she was destined to be single until she met Matsumoto.
Unbeknownst to him, she began wondering whether she would ever see him again after the class ended, and she knew she wanted to.
Love letters wanted
