Japanese Wedding

Running head: A TRADITIONAL JAPANESE WEDDING

A Traditional Japanese Wedding

A Traditional Japanese Wedding

While stationed in Japan I have had the opportunity to attend a traditional Japanese wedding ceremony and reception. Japanese weddings are special events that are usually reserved for only family members and a few close friends. The weddings are usually held during the spring or fall time frame in Japan. The fact that I received an invitation from a coworker made me feel both honored and excited to have the opportunity to attend. As the wedding day quickly approached, I began to realize that I had a number of questions running through my head that I needed to find out the answers to like: What should I wear? What should I give for a gift? And what will the wedding be like?

I began my search online to see what I should wear to the wedding. There was far too much information to decipher through so I determined it would just be better to ask my coworker, the groom, what was custom for women to wear to a traditional Japanese wedding. I was beginning to wonder if I would have to purchase a kimono for myself for the wedding. He told me to just choose an outfit similar to one that I would wear as a guest at a traditional American wedding. This made my life a great deal easier and saved me some money because kimonos can cost 400 dollars or more to rent. Next, I had to figure out what to give the bride and groom as a gift. I asked around and found that it is tradition and expected for the guest to give the couple a monetary gift. The amount depends on the relationship the person has with the couple and from what region of Japan the couple were raised in. Unless the amount is indicated on the invitation, the average is around 30,000 yen or 250 dollars per guest. It is important that the money is presented in a special envelope called Shugi-bukuro and that your name is written on the front of the envelope (Mishima, n.d, para. 5).

Finally the day of the wedding was here and it was time to head off to the ceremony. As I arrived at the hotel where the ceremony was being held I was escorted to my assigned seat. The whole area was decorated like one would expect in a traditional American wedding, but with many bright colors such as gold and red. The bride and groom had provided gifts for each guest that attended and mine was waiting for me when I was seated. Not long after I was sat down the lights were dimmed and the bride and groom entered the room with a spotlight on them. They were both dressed in traditional wedding kimonos, long, wide-sleeved decorative robes secured with a sash (Geosign Technologies Inc., n.d., para. 3). The bride had her hair styled in a traditional Japanese hair style called bunkin-takashimada and adorned with beautiful gold combs and accessories called kanzashi (JapaneseKimono.com, n.d., para. 3). After the couple entered the room a Shinto priest conducted a ceremony to bless the bride and the groom and the couple exchanged vows to each other. It gave me chills to listen to my coworker recite his speech to the parents