Why get married in Japan #5. Unexpected and joyful the rain of happy energy as we boarded Singapore Airlines for our wedding flight to Narita Airport. Effervescence spilling into each step. Once we landed, I continued saying to anyone who would listen: "We're getting married in Japan!" Common was a questioning look: "Why?" Looking into their eyes I'd wonder: do they want the short answer or the long answer? Almost always I chose the short option, and wait a millisecond or two for an example to come to mind.
Why indeed. Our destination wedding in Japan incurred a level of complexity not for the faint of heart. Why complicate things when you can go to Las Vegas? Slam bam, it's over and done with!
Example #5, so subtle it didn't surface for a month and a week after our wedding. Our friend Matthew Ma explained it this way when he said the phoenixes (symbols lost in the mists of antiquity) on the top of your wedding certificate "symbolize that birds gather when something good is about to unfold." This often echoed on our wedding journey, the many good things that unexpectedly unfolded along our way, like the pleasure of signing our names in Japanese for the first time on our Shinjuku City Hall wedding documents. Think about it... When has it ever happened, joy, from singing your name.
Xie xie. Domo arigato gozaimashita. どうもありがとうございました
Thank you Matthew.
At our reception, Jim Reed said: "I've been to all of Toby's weddings!" When we stopped laughing I realized, he wasn't kidding. True it was. He was speaking of my third (and last) wedding. But this one was designed on a remarkably divergent and most dependable foundation. I've come to learn that the more I put into the wedding, the greater and more profound would be it's impact on my mindscape. Thinking of all the weddings I've ever attended, including all of my own, I see now that the groom was basically along for the ride, with the bride, her mother and her friends planning and executing 99.9% of the details. Recently, I've been hearing the word: bridezilla, which I assume is a reflection of the accumulated over-the-top stress stuffed into the journey.
Now, I was in a foreign and unfamiliar territory. I'd never planned a wedding, and this made for me, all the difference. More to come.
