Japan Trip May, 2001: The Wedding

After the long, uncomfortable plane ride to Tokyo, Naoto and I had a day to recover before we had to be a Nakaya's wedding. Nakaya is Naoto's oldest friend; they've played together since kindergarten. I don't think I could even tell you the name of the place I went to kindergarten, let alone the kids I played with!

Anyway, Nakaya came to our wedding in Cleveland, and Naoto keeps in touch with him, as well as a few other guy friends from middle school and high school. Take a look at them here below. Two of them are fathers. Can you detect somthing subtly different about what Naoto is wearing? (can you say "americanized"?)

The wedding was held in a hotel that specializes in weddings. We were on the second floor; where the "Christian Chapel" was. The "Shinto Shrine" was on the first floor. I was a little dissappointed we didn't get to see a Shinto Ceremony. We all waited around until the bride and groom arrived- together. Then things started to roll along quite quickly and efficiently (they had to, there were three other couples scheduled to be married that day.) The Hotel staff managed the whole affair like a well-oiled machine.

After an annoucement, all of the guests were shown in to the chapel. It was very cute, with stain glassed windows and everything. The ceremony was in Japanese, of course, down to the hymns sung from handouts passed out discretely before hand by hotel ushers. I think I was the only one who knew the tune.

The best part of the whole wedding, as far as I was concerned, was the six-person choir. After the bride processed into the chapel, they slid in sideways from the door at the front as a group, already berobed and music memorized. Without any discernible cue, they began to sing "Ave Maria" in latin. It was utterly surreal. After the song was over, they slid out again without so much as a rustle. One wonders if they did a quick change and popped down to the Shinto Shrine to sing a few lines of the Lotus Sutra.

After the ceremony, we waited on the steps and threw roses on the happy couple. Then we dutifully filed into the reception hall where five plates of Japanese formal cuisine awaited us. One plate was sushi, another was strange squash paste dumpling, and the others I hesitate to recall. After a half hour or so, while I made polite conversation with two of Nakaya's aunts, the bride and groom appeared in new outfits, able to be seen on the left. Long, long, boring, and dull speeches followed after that. Included in the dazzling selection of speakers was Nakaya's boss, the bride's boss, and some others I didn't quite place.

After a few more courses, Naoto got up to speak. By then, all his buddies at the table had gone through about five bottles (big bottles) of beer and had graduated to the sake. Naoto was so nervous he stopped eating and drinking everything about ten minutes before he went on. He was quite a hit as he retold the humorous adventures of Nakaya from Kindergarten through adult life. He ended with a very sweet and sentimental bit that made me want to kiss him.

I think the wedding was a success, and I enjoyed myself a little, too. Naoto went off to a second party afterwards, and I was shepherded home by one of Naoto's friend. Apparently Naoto didn't trust me to ride home on the subway by myself. Despite having lived in Japan for more than two years and riding the subway frequently by myself, Naoto didn't believe that I could be pregnant and not get lost. Oh well, it all turned out fine in the end. Naoto's parents very solicitously met me at the station and made sure I got home all right.

The next day Naoto, Naoto's friend, and I went on a trip to Kawagoe. This little town is interesting to me because of its specialty food, a creepy folksong, and some funky statues.

On to Kawagoe