Of Japanese Weddings and Such...

If there is anything I should learn from blogging, it should be these very few things: No one likes it when I bitch about stupid shit, and no one likes me when I do it at 1 in the fucking morning. So, I will try to keep away from that and wish everyone who stops by a nice time here.

This morning, I wanted to  start sharing some of the stories I have from my one time in Japan before I go back for permanent. Hopefully. The first one I decided on is weddings.

No, I  didn't get married, but  I happened to be an uninvited guest that attended a few. I was always in the wrong place at the wrong time for these poor people. In one case, the one in Gion, the bride actually thought the whole thing funny. The groom, on the other hand, seemed sick and unhappy. I don't know if my presence there changed any of that but....  By the way, thats the bride in the picture above.

I crashed, lets say, 2 Shinto weddings, both in Kyoto. I also happened to be a "guest" at a Western style catholic wedding in Hirosaka, in Kanazawa, at the church infront of which there is a very large likeness of Jesus, which makes us say that Yes, Jesus is here, and he is in Hirosaka. Boy, were we weird.  It actually all started after the broken leg, when I fell off the bus at Kourinbou 1, which happened to be right infront of said church. In my falling, I happened to hurt my leg a little more, screaming "Fucknuggets" as loud as a could. I then looked up and saw 2 Japanese women, their children in strollers infront of them, and Jesus behind them. I stood up, brushed my shoulders off, and gave the "Yo" with the little wave, before we departed and I broke into giggles. Only in Japan. I also happened to meet Jesus in the luggage claim area in JFK International in NYC, but that was creepy and another story for another time.

Weddings then.  Never got to see a Shinto wedding at  Ōyama Jinja, but I did happen to emotionally scar a little girl at the Shichi-Go-San Festival for asking to take her picture, and disturb a bunch of high ranking business officials making donations to the Shrine during the Hyakumangoku Festival. Boy, I make friends where ever I go!

It doesn't bother me that I was present for the special time in these people's lives. At the one in the main shrine in Gion, it is a very very famous tourist attraction, so it's natural whitey and everyone else would be there. The other one in Kyoto was at Heian Jingu, another famous spot, and every Japanese person and their brother was there, including a drunk dude (at it was 9 AM) who insisted on taking my picture for me. It is a nice picture, if it wasn't on so much of an angle. His wife promptly apologized. Only in Japan.

This one, though, I wasn't allowed near. The nice people at the shrine blocked the area off. Which was nice of them, but a pain in the butt for me to get pictures. XP 

I guess thats all for now, since class will be starting. More stories later from the Far East told by a person in Buffalo, NY... no where near the far east.

X