Wedding Chapel.
Image by kc7fys
As elsewhere in the world, in Japan customs are borrowed and imitated, often to unintended avante-garde or ironic effect.
Such is the Japanese package wedding. Wedding chapels dot the countryside–replete with faux Christian symbolism, semi-phony hymnody, and ersatz Christian ministers. Respectfully performed and enjoyed in total formality–the foreign observer immediately is struck by the fake-ness of the entire experience. My impression was nearly exactly like my impression of Disney Sea: stuff that looked real, sounded real, and felt sorta-kinda real–but the knowledge that it was utterly contrived ruined it for me.
Having come from a church background in the US, the idea of Christian symbols being used in a strictly non-religious enterprise, scripture readings, sacred music, and Christian rituals being strictly artifice–it’s not easy for me to wrap my mind around that.
Japanese weddings. Watch this space–more to come.
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