The Nonsense that is the Japanese Language

Today in my Japanese textbook, there was a short explanation why there are so many different names for family members. I chocked it all up to the fact that this language has about 3 other languages hidden below the spectrum of what the average non-native speaker could ever understand. But what caught my eye today referred to the reason why husbands and wives refer to each other as "おとうさん/otousan " and "おかあさん/okaasan" meaning father and mother, respectively.

The reason that the book gives is so that their children grow up knowing what to call their parents in public. The other, more frighteningly awkward reason is that because Japanese people feel embarrassed when they are called by or call other people by their first name. This also explains why one calls the principal Family Name - こうちょうせんせい(kouchyousensei). But this brings up a strange problem. Once you are married to someone, the awkwardness of calling someone by their first name is still there...and seeing as both partners would have the same family name, it would be rather silly to call that person by an honorific like -san or -sama. As a result, the loving couple is likely to call each other mother and father. Wow.