Good evening all,

Last weekend I went to a former co-worker and good friend`s wedding in Hakone, near where I used to live in Gotemba. It was a super day and the great weather helped to make it feel just that little bit more special. The wedding ceremony itself was held in a small wedding chapel on the grounds of a hotel - a quaint little building with only enough space for about sixty people - and lasted for about twenty-five minutes. The couple chose a Western-style wedding so the bride wore a really simple but beautiful white dress and was walked down the aisle by her father. It was all very touching.

The service itself went off without a hitch - no missing rings, no mistakes etc - and we sung a couple of easy to sing Japanese songs. I could kind of make out what the priest was talking about although I couldn`t make out the details, but as I knew the format of what was to come it was pretty easy to guess what stage they were at - and especially when the bride and groom in turn said "Hai, chikaimsu" (Yes, I promise) it all made perfect sense.

After a longish (but no where near as I have experienced in England) photo session the newlyweds were whisked off in a limousine to the Italian restaurant where we were to have the wedding lunch. I had actually been to the restaurant about two years before and I can tell you it is VERY nice. First we were `treated` (well maybe not the right word - please read the next paragraph!) to a champagne and finger buffet reception, followed by a four of five course meal (which included some absolutely divine tasting beef) - actually I lost count of the number of courses! - lots of (too much in my case) wine and beer, and to finish, the wedding cake itself which was a delicious cream and fruit concoction, but fantastically delicious. There was also a four piece band playing well-known songs and a compere who guided the proceedings. Professionals at work I thought!

It is not the custom to buy a wedding gift for the married couple as it is in England. Instead, we have to give money - there is no fixed amount but the amount usually depends on the relationship you have with the married couple - and we must place the money inside a special envelope and present it upon arrival at the wedding reception. In England, couples usually receive lots of gifts, usually for the house in which they will live after marriage, which kind of helps them to start their lives together, unless they are already living together and have everything they need - in which case they can just get a new set of everything from pans to bathroom towels!!! However, they usually have to fork out a lot of money (actually, it usually comes from the parents) to pay for the wedding.

In Japan, on the other hand, the money that is received from the guests is used to pay for the cost of the wedding so therefore I guess that`s why maybe you can have more lavishness or entertainment etc - but at the end of the day you are kind of paying for it, although I don`t think many people actually think that. To be honest, I enjoyed myself so much I would have happily paid what I gave as a gift as the price for day`s entertainment. Its pretty interesting to see the culture at work and the actual reception was intesting - usually the father of the groom speaks a few words at the end of the lunch (which he did), but there is no best man (therefore no speech) and no speech by the father of the bride, which form my experience of English weddings are usually fun to listen to. Anyway, they are now enjoying their honeymoon in Barcelona and Paris!

After the wedding lunch reception we had a couple of hours off and moved back across to Gotemba for the evening`s entertainment. Usually this consists of a party (given the name "ni ji kai" or "second party") to which other friends who didn`t go (and some who did go) to the wedding ceremony can attend and usually family don`t attend (although I need to check this!). A few weeks ago I had been asked with a Japanese friend of mine to organise this party so I willingly obliged and then set about making some games to play. To be honest, I have never played games at a wedding party so I was bit lost but after checking the internet and a couple of books I got some ideas and we ended up having a great time. The second party was only two hours so the time went really quickly.

Anyway, I got them to do a multiple choice quiz about the married couple which went down well as I had asked some quite personal and secretive questions which seemed to create much conversation and discussion. This was followed by a game where a man and a woman couple had to blow up a balloon and then burst by squeezing the balloon between their two bodies (front, back, side, anything OK!) without using their hands - it was really funny to see some of the position people got into to burst them - and I felt really sorry for the couple who didn`t blow it up enough so it was extremely difficult to burst!

Next up was a game where first the groom had to find his wife`s nose from a group of five while wearing a blindfold- with one being his wife, three other wome female guests and one being his MALE friend from college - he was put in for a joke!) - it was interesting that the two he narrowed it down to were his wife and the guy, but he chose correctly and avoided having to drink down a half litre of beer in one as punishment. Hi wife wasn`t so lucky - she had to find her husband`s right ear and included in the group was her sister. I can`t remember well, but she chose the wrong guy, but maybe she secretly wanted to down the beer and show off!

The final game I played was a game where couples had to eat squares of chocolate from paper plates using extemely long cooking chopsticks. I had got this idea from a TV show I saw last yeasr so I thought it would be a cool and fun game to try to play. The catch was that the block of six squares first had to be broken into six and then each square eaten one at a time, with each person holding one chop stick each and using teamwork to pick up and lift the pieces of chocolate into either of their mouths. Really funny to watch and probably extremely fun to do. Anyway, as I hadn`t clarified the rules properly, one team just picked up the whole block and the guy managed to nibble it bit by bit as it fell into his mouth - I thought it was cool as that was the most logical way to do it, however much it seemed against the rules! Anyway, it was so much fun.

In amongst all this game-playing, we had lots to drink and eat, although to be honest I had eaten and drunk so much earlier in the day that I used this time to sober up ready for the next party - yes you read correctly - next party! Basically the culture is that some people from the second party will go onto another place with the married couple for more drinks/food but without the formality of the second party. We actually managed to make it to five parties (although the last one was one hour of karaoke!) and we finally rolled out around 2.15am. A pretty long day (considering I had woken up at 5.30 to catch the bus) but a really fun and memorable one. I am already looking forward to my next weding invtiation!

If you want to see some of the photos please cut and paste the following link into your browser:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=n75v5t6.ap1eucy&Uy=-9zlvji&Upost_signin=BrowsePhotos.jsp%3FshowSlide%3Dtrue&Ux=1

To see the photos you will need to create an account with email and password - it takes about two minutes - if you have a problem viewing them let me know please. Any comments on how great I look will be very much appreciated!

I will write again soon with a couple of funny stories - until next time then!

Kevin