The happiest man in the world

When I was a schoolboy, my mother told me a funny story that she said was popular in other countries.
“The happiest man in the world would be married to a Japanese woman, live in an English house, have Chinese food everyday and get the salary of an American.
But if these situations should shift, so that he would be married to an American woman, live in a Japanese house, have English food everyday and get the salary of a Chinese, he certainly must be the unhappiest man in the world.”
In fact this small story seemed like a foreign joke to me, because the Japanese are usually not very good at such clever jokes.
I asked my foreign friend once if that joke was told in her country or not. She answered that she hadn’t heard that joke in Brazil, however, English houses looked charming to her, Chinese food was certainly delicious, and she wished to get the same level of salary as Americans, but had no opinion about Japanese woman, because she wasn’t one.
About the latter part, she only said that she certainly didn’t want get a Chinese salary and had heard that Japanese houses were just like rabbit hutches.
Now, I am not certain if the joke above is told in some foreign countries or not. Besides, I’m certain that the joke above is not applicable today.
( June ’04. Malandro )