Weddings!!!

Aki and Asuka with their cake

It has been a very exciting weekend for me here in Tsu!  Congratulations to my friends Aki and Asuka who just got married on Saturday!  They actually got married for either the second or third time on Saturday, but this was the first time I had seen their wedding.  I don't entirely understand what the actual situation was, but I believe Aki was so happy to be getting married that he simply planned four different ceremonies and couldn't decide which he liked best, then decided, "what the hell, I'll just do all four!"  I think they legally got married a while ago, and have now been indulging their friends with ceremonies.  Anyway, The ceremony I saw was no less fantastic for being the third.  As far as the ceremony goes, it was all in Japanese so I can only report on what I saw and what my friends were able to translate for me.  The ceremony was held at a little place in Yokkaichi.  By little, I mean that it had a sort of sanctuary where the actual service was held, a cocktail lounge for drinks before the wedding, and a really beautiful banquet hall where we were entertained and very, very well fed.

Asuka and Aki holding their freshly
signed wedding document

Asuka's dress was beautiful!

The actual service was surprisingly short, and I didn't really have the best view of the proceedings because Sarah and I watched from the balcony to give the family members and much closer friends of the couple a chance to actually sit down to enjoy the event, but it was very nice.  Aki and Asuka hired a really nice string duo or trio (I can't remember exactly how many people) and they played quite a few pieces I recognized, and topped it off with the traditional Bridal procession song.  The action of the wedding was mostly limited to the signing of the wedding papers by the bride, groom and two witnesses.  In a brief side-note, Aki had actually asked Sarah and I to serve as his witnesses in case his two friends from the states couldn't make it.  I was happy for Aki that his friends were able to come, but I was really disappointed when they did.  

The 'Gaijin' Table!  Everything about
this place was beautiful from the
knives to the napkins.

The highlight of the ceremony for Sarah was the discovery that there were two babies in attendance.  We found one of them on the stairs to the balcony and spent a very enjoyable 15 minutes entertaining him with some spontaneous peek-a-boo.  It was glorious.  Japanese babies are adorable.  I almost had to physically restrain Sarah so that she didn't try to steal him!  


After the sanctuary's service, about half of the audience was called away, leaving the rest of us to mill about, wondering what we were waiting for and why the bride and groom apparently liked the other half of the guests better.  (Actually it wasn't that bad.  This was the time when Sarah and I found the baby!)  After about 10 minutes or so, we found out that we were waiting to get our turn taking a group picture with the wedding couple.  This was the first part of the weeding that seemed different from an American wedding.  Has anyone ever seen a wedding where  the bride and groom took group pictures with everyone who attended their wedding?  I haven't.  However, it was pretty cool and I hope that the tradition moves to the other side of the Pacific.  Hopefully, we will get a copy of the photo, because in the name of saving time, the only cameras used were those of the professional photographers.  After the photo op, we moved into the reception hall.  

I never feel bigger than when I stand
next to Japanese people.  Also, Sarah
must have missed the memo
about the colors for the night.

Thankfully, there were a few native English speakers at this wedding, and Aki was kind enough to group us all together for dinner.  One of the guests was former OBC teacher Stuart Gregory, who taught at OBC about 5 years ago.  It was really fun to get his perspective on the school and to gossip about our older students and their bad habits or funny stories.  The other foreigners in attendance were some of Aki's friends.  One of them was a teacher at Tulane University about 22 years ago when a young man by the name of Brett Favre was taking night classes in communication while playing QB at Southern Miss.  It really is a small world.

The band for the evening

The reception was fantastic.  Diner was at least 4 courses:  Sashimi, soup, some delicious beef, and cake, with as much wine, beer and other drinks as you could order in Japanese.  The presentation of all the food was amazing.  I shudder to think what the couple spent on food for the wedding, but it must have been ridiculous.  There was also some pretty interesting entertainment.  The surprise of the night was a puppet show to the tune of the 'Sound of Music' soundtrack.  Aki and Asuka also serenaded us with 'Edelweiss' that started out in English but switched to Japanese after the first verse.  There were also a few performers, including one man who played at least three different instruments over the course of the evening.  He started on something like a shamisen that only had two strings and was played with a bow, then moved to the actual shamisen, then he pulled out a beautiful accordion and played some Japanese polka-inspired tunes.  

The happy couple!

After the reception came another tradition that I sincerely hope makes the jump across the Pacific.  The after after party!  We took a bus to a bar in Yokkaichi called the Bar Mar Italiano, where Asuka tossed bouquet and we were treated to some more delicious food and drink. There were a few speeches, with Aki's father's standing out particularly in my memory.  Aki's dad is hilarious, with a tendency to forget that people might eventually want to do something besides listen to him talk.  I couldn't understand very much of what he said, but since the crowd kept on laughing, I will assume that it was a pretty funny speech.  Aki seemed happy anyway.  We ate, drank and played BINGO to our stomachs', livers', and hearts' content.  All in all, it was a pretty fantastic evening.  Congrats to Aki and Asuka as they prepare for their fourth and final wedding ceremony in Hawaii!