The main reason for my trip to Japan was to attend my dear friend, Ayaka’s, wedding.
I met Ayaka 4 years ago when I first moved to Kashiwa through our mutual friend, Steph. Ayaka was just about to leave for a year abroad in Canada and I had just moved into town so I assumed we wouldn’t get a chance to become good friends. But as fate would have it, she would return after a year and we would pick back up as if no time had passed! We would meet up every month or so, enjoying a homemade dinner at her parent’s house, experiencing the spiciest ramen in Tokyo (NAKAMOTO) , talking about our favorite fashion brands, or in search of new good beer spots!
FUN FACT: we were on TV once together…HAHAAA!! Ayaka is one of those people that walks around with a certain vibrancy and friendliness that attracts random people- tv show recruiters, restaurant people, etc…so this moment did not even surprise me HAHA. We were at her favorite beer spot HITCH X KAKERU when a TV program was filming and it just so happed that they actually used the clip of us saying “かんぱ〜い” Cheers! and we got on air. How random and funny is that!??
As you can see, we grew close over the years and one day when we took a trip to Enoshima, Ayaka let Steph and I know that she had met someone very special!! We freaked out and knew this guy must be the real deal. Sure enough - he was legit. Not only was he a researcher at Tokyo University (the Harvard of Japan), but he also spent 6 years living in California so was therefore fluent in English. WOW! We were like, “where’d you find this guy!??” (through mutual friends, of course)
Lucky for us, we got to hang out with Ayaka and her then boyfriend/now husband, Daichi, quite a few times. We soon learned that they were a powercouple…one a pharmasist, one a researcher, both bilingual, both so kind, cool, curious and hilarious.
Fast forward another year or so…and BOOM! I had the honor of attending their wedding at the stunning PALACE HOTEL TOKYO.
UHMMM…HELLO GORGEOUS BRIDE, GORGEOUS DAY, GORGEOUS VENUE…!!!!
Now let me just mention how incredible Japanese weddings are. I have been to a lot of wedding in my short 27 years of life…and nothing can compare to the organization, execution and formality of a Japanese wedding. Which is a direct reflection of Japanese culture. So thorough. So well planned. And so modest!!
The food was insane. Fanciest i’ve ever experienced. And the service was top notch. When they delivered the plate of Foie gras (definitely had to look up the spelling on that) to me, it tipped over and the server immediately retracted the plate and said she would get me a new one. HAHA. What? It’s fine! But nope…they had to do everything perfectly or not at all.
Maybe the most memorable part of the whole day was the dress change that happened during the reception. Ayaka was escorted out by her brothers and returned in a stunning grey-blue number. This dress change situation is common in Japan and yet something i’ve never really seen in an American wedding. At least not to this cinderella level!
Moral of the story…Japanese weddings are incredible. And I felt lucky to attend a dear friend’s wedding right in the heart of Tokyo. Which leads me to the title of this post. I sent a photo to my good friend Karin and she said, “Please get married here” to which I replied…” dude right?!”
One can dream!!!!