Japanese Weddings Often Very Western

I could not help but write in regard to some inaccuracies in the article titled “Something Old, Something New” in the Jan. 3 edition.

Your article said the woman would have been “married by a monk in a shrine” in Japan. In fact, people get married by priests and ministers in Japan just as in any other country, whether they are Christian or not. “Monks” don’t conduct marriage services for anyone. And couples don’t commonly get married at shrines these days.

The marriage business is a major industry in Japan and people can have any type of wedding they want--Buddhist, Christian or whatever. Most couples get married at wedding halls which are more like extravagant wedding “palaces.” No expense is spared for the couple to have either a Buddhist or Western wedding and some couples have both. The reception is a formal party with often hundreds of guests, and during this time the bride might go through a number of costume changes, from a white wedding dress to a kimono or vice versa with a final change to be street attire to wear on the honeymoon.

There are a fair amount of Catholic and Protestant congregations in the major cities and Buddhists often rent a Christian church (including the minister) just so the bride can have a totally Western wedding. And yes, these do include flowers, white gown, veil and cake.

I just wanted to set the record straight since your writer seemed to want to make the reader feel sorry for the woman from Japan who could not get the Western style wedding of her dreams in Japan, when such is not the case.

ALTON ROGERS

Port Hueneme