Jinja and Shoga: Life in the Land of the Rising Sun

   Today is 2 years since we had our fun-filled wedding ceremony in Atami. I'd say that today is our wedding anniversary, but it's actually not, at least not in the technical sense. I've likely mentioned before that, here in Japan, the day you turn in your paperwork to the government office is the day that you're officially married. There's absolutely no requirement for a judge or priest, minister, or rabbi to sign off on the papers, so having a religious ceremony in order to formalize the wedding is completely optional.
 Of course, most couples do go ahead and have some sort of ceremony, be it Shinto, Buddist, or 'Western-style'. I would say Christian, but a lot of the time, the 'priest' who performs the ceremony is actually a jerk-for-hire, just some white guy willing to dress up in priest's clothing (is there a name for priest's clothing? I'm not Catholic) and reside over a wedding ceremony. He of course makes a good amount of money for impersonating a member of the cloth, and apparently most of the couples don't care too much or don't know if he's the real thing or not.
  For our ceremony, I insisted on having a real Christian minister, and thankfully the man contracted by the hotel where our ceremony was held was an ordained minister who used to have a small church in Atami. He'd since retired and was doing weddings only on occasion. If I remember correctly, he was from the Netherlands. He was a really kind, warm man, although I spent probably about 95% of my time during the ceremony praying that he wouldn't keel over and die in front of us, he seemed that fragile!
  Our wedding day was seriously one of the best days I've ever had. It was just a day of joy and celebration, and it made the fact that Yuki and I were married finally seem 'official' (we'd done the paperwork a few months before).   

 Some highlights that I remember:
  --Losing my brother before the ceremony began. He was supposed to escort me down the aisle, so we couldn't exactly start without him. How in the world does a 6-foot-tall foreigner get lost?? He goes and sits in the lobby, waiting patiently for someone to tell him where to go, while hotel crew frantically search all over and call each other on walkie-talkies, that's how. 
 --While waiting somewhat anxiously outside the chapel doors to hear if Andrew had been found, we watched in amazement as Yuki's brother scurried past us with a grin. At least my brother being lost meant that Takuma wasn't late!

                        Walking down the aisle with my long-lost brother 

 --Tripping over my 8 layers of wedding dress while attempting to climb some stairs during the recessional...and managing to make it appear to be Yuki's fault. Hehe.

                               The infamous stumble

 -- How happy Unagi Obachan was during lunch. =)
 --The difficulty we had cutting the cake!! I think all the flowers got in the way, but it felt like they stuck a brick in there or something. At least it tasted good!

                         The cake made of brick

 --Kato's songs for us (thanks again, #2!)
  --Taking pictures outside in the hotel gardens overlooking the ocean

                              In the gardens 

 --Changing from my breath-restricting wedding dress into an even tighter yukata for dinner

           Pouring sake at dinner 

 --Sneaking away to pound motchi (soft rice cakes) with Yuki and a bunch of kids at the hotel
 --The Ni Ji Kai (second party)
 --Ping pong with slippers instead of paddles
 --The next morning at breakfast, Andrew stumbled in and said 'I got lost and slept on a couch in the hall last night. Around 5 am, some guy, I think it was your dad, came and woke me up and sent me back to my room'.
Yuki (in all seriousness): 'Was he speaking in Japanese??'  Hahahaha
(Thanks again, otousan---for everything!!!)


   I still can't believe that 2 years has gone by so quickly--or that Yuki and I have been married for about 2 and 1/2 years now. And, while this technically isn't our anniversary, I'll use any chance I can get to celebrate my marriage to such a wonderful man. So, cheers!