During his stay in Japan, Bart Miller became close with one certain Japanese family, making friends with a person who happened to be cousins with Sakura. Through this cousin, Bart and Sakura met for the first time in Sakura's hometown of Nagoya, Japan. They began spending more and more time with one another and the two fell in love. When it was time for Bart Miller to head back to America, Hanson explains "my dad [Bart] asked if [Sakura] wanted to come to America, and she said yes". Sakura only came to America with Bart. She left all of her friends and family in Nagoya behind.