Ah, I'd heard a few things about the problems Merv and Narumi had. But I didn't hear about the option for them to marry. My God, that's a tough set of options particularly if you aren't romantic with each other. I thought that Mervin was willing to give up his Canadian citizenship after he and Narumi had invested 5 years together and had won a bronze medal at 2012 Worlds with the Olympics on the horizon in two years. But apparently a lot more obstacles were involved. I felt sorry for Narumi because maybe she saw no other option in the cards but to split with Mervin and try with a Japanese partner. And nothing worked out for her. I believe she tried with two different partners (one of them Kihara) before retiring.I read somewhere that for Mervin there was a citizenship option to marry Narumi and decline his Canadian citizenship which was even more tough choice than for Yuko. So far the only foreign skater who got Japanese citizenship is Tim Koleto who is married to Misato Komatsubara.
I didn't realize that Koleto is married to Misato and that's why he was able to gain Japanese citizenship.