The Wedding Day.

The Shimada's advised us to go to bed early as we were to get up at 0200 and leave the house by 0300, but for one reason or another, Stan and I were unable to fall asleep. Instead, he stayed up surfing the net while I was watching some bizarre Japanese music show on television. There wasn't much on the tele past midnight.

Stan and I made up for the lack of sleep by taking long naps in the back seats while Mickey drove with Mikoto in the passenger seat. Natsuko lead the way to Nagano with Mr. and Mrs. Shimada in a separate vehicle.

During our six-hour journey from Tokyo to Nagano, we made several pit stops at 7-Eleven to fuel up on tarako onigiris, cold café lattés, and other assortments of convenient goods. Daylight slowly broke out from the horizon while our path through the countryside lead us to the misty alps. The many hairpin turns through the light fog and mist reminded me of the chicanes in Chilliwack.

The wedding of Mr. Mutsuhito Kubota and Ms. Yoko Shimada was held at the well appointed wedding chapel called The Mielparque in the traditional western style. The chapel was within a larger modern building which housed several chapels and drawing rooms under one roof. The large foyer with a grand staircase echoed the sounds of other wedding celebrations happening at the same time.

There were several unique qualities to this wedding such as the formal kimono worn by my auntie Hisako. The mothers of both the bride and groom wore kimonos while the fathers wore tuxedos. The cherry blossom tea which was served to everyone just before the curtain which divided the two families in a single room apart was also very traditionally Japanese. Just as we were drinking our sakura tea, a familiar national anthem was heard from the foyer. Is was in fact, "O'Canada", and a sense of pride overcame me. But for what reason someone decided to play "O'Canada" I may never know.

Cameras came out when Yoko in her beautiful wedding dress walked into the room. When the curtains went up, the formalities began with the fathers of both the bride and groom handed their offspring's to one another. Moving along into the chapel, I was surprised to see a caucasian priest doing the blessings, speaking in both Japanese and in English. Though I think the priest did his best in speaking Japanese, he spoke in a very heavy accent and much of his words were incomprehensible.

I stuffed myself with enough food to feed a whole family at the banquet which followed and also drank a little too much Asahi beer to make me feel a little ill but still jolly nevertheless. I was caught up in all the cheer, music, and laughter in the room full of friends and families to keep track of how much I had to drink, but when I started feeling really tired, I knew it was time to leave my cup filled.

After Natsuko's piano duet with a trumpeter, Mr. Okubo and I in a semi-drunk state kept walking over to Natsuko's table filling her cup with Asahi beer, making sure her cup was never empty, and congratulating her on her wonderful performance. I think everyone but the underaged Meichan had plenty to drink.


I found myself passed out in a bathroom stall shortly after having desert. I don't know how long I was out for, but it was long enough for Mickey and Stan to be concerned about my absence from the table. It was by their calling of my name that I woke from my hallucinating dream and realised that I was still squatting between the TOTO electronic toilet and the door of my stall. I came out, made a re-appearance in the dining room, and promptly walked back into the bathroom stall when I felt a stomach upset coming on. I will spare you readers the details of what followed soon after.

Natsuko was super drunk by the time I made my third appearance back in the dining room. I was feeling much better by then and got a kick out of Natsuko's beat red face and her jibberish about how she wasn't much of a cook, but was good in doing the laundry and cleaning rooms. She kept telling everyone this repeatedly and insisted that she wasn't drunk. She definitely was and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to record this rare sight so out came my camera in video mode. =)


She was walking like a drunk and kept stumbling about by the time the night was finally over. Mr. Okubo and I had to support her when we were walking to our hotel which was, fortunately, within walking distance from the chapel on the other side of the Nagano train station. Meichan, Yuko, and Mr. and Mrs. Shimada had a great laugh at the expense of Natchan's drunken state.

Arriving at the Sunroute Hotel, little Mei wanted to sleep in my suite with me. Taking her in, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.