2 weeks ago my good friend Scott and his long-time girlfriend Makiko had a traditional Japanese wedding ceremony, in a hotel up in Niigata. I say ‘had a ceremony’ rather than ‘got married’ because of course- as things are done here in Japan- you get married first in secret at a local ward office, just by signing some papers. Then, when its too late for the parents to protest, you notify them that they’ll need to pay for the ceremony.
Hay-ah! How do you like that, parents?
I went up with some friends on the Shinkansen to attend. I’m on the left in the picture below, alongside Scott and Makiko.
Click ‘Read more…’ below for the full video and details.
I rode the Shinkansen with Can. Mike and wife Kumi from Ueno station, meeting up with Scott’s old friend Glenn in Niigata. Glenn came all the way from New Zealand for the ceremony.
I’ve seen a Japanese wedding before- Can. Mike’s wedding, at which I also gave a speech. At Scott’s wedding me and Mike made a speech together- which thanks to our attempts to play to both an English-speaking and Japanese-speaking crowd at the same time ended up as a bit of a mess, but in a good-natured and humorous way.
After the ceremony and party we went to the onsen, and at an izakaya had hot-wasabi-sauce-eating competitions. It’s all on the video, which you can check out here:
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