I had the honor and privilege of being invited to Koji and Nahoko's Wedding. Koji and I work together and a few of my other co-workers joined as well. It is nice to get out of the office and spend time socially with some of my co-workers. You can spend so much time with someone in the office but after just a few hours outside of the office you learn more about them than you did after months in the office. Japanese weddings today area an interesting blend of eastern and western traditions.

Today's configuration: Leica M6-J, Summilux 35mm f/1.4, Elmar 50mm f/2.8, and a Noctilux 50mm f/0.95 shot on Kodak Portra 160 and 400 film.

Meet Junichi...

There was a Christian church service. I am not sure if they are Christian or not but it is pretty popular in Japan to have a western style Christian wedding even if you are not. The place the wedding was held was an 'all in one' with a Chapel and a Dinning Room upstairs for the reception. The production quality of the wedding was pretty amazing.

The place was beautiful, the service was flawlessly executed and the food was fantastic.

Nahoko looked stunning walking into the church... Just absolutely beautiful. It reminded me a bit of my own wedding.

Happy wedding watchers...

I thought the forehead kiss was very sweet...

The bouquet toss is done right after the ceremony...

Koji's proud father... mission accomplished!

I thought this was a nice touch... they hand wrote notes for everyone and left it on their champaign glass.

Meet Masakatsu...

Meet Reiko...

Meet Nagisa...

Meet Yasushi...

I'm glad they were all there. I needed some support. I was asked to give the opening speech...in Japanese! I tend to agree to big challenges without thinking all the way through them sometimes as I know with focus and effort I can accomplish anything. Public speaking is difficult but doing it in another language is a completely different league. My lovely wife Mayumi helped me with drafting the speech and then I studied a ton the week prior to make sure I was prepared. If a YouTube video surfaces...I'll be sure to post a link to it.

Yesterday was a great day for me to practice my Japanese as just about everyone there didn't speak English. I assume. Actually with most people I just started speaking in Japanese unless they approached me and spoke in English.

Here are the notes I wrote for myself for the speech.

こうじさん、なほこさん、そして　ごりょうけの　みなさま、ほんじつ　は　まことに　おめでとうございます！

こうじさん、なほこさん、きょうの　この　たいせつなひは、いっしょう　わすれないでしょう。

私は、じぶんの　けっこんしきのことを、いつも　わすれません。

きょうは、私が　じぶんの　けっこんしきで　おそわった、たいせつな　おはなしを　したいと　おもいます。

こうじさん、あなたが　かいしゃで　ながい　いちにちを　おえ　て、うちに　かえると、おくさまが　あなたに、

ながーくて　こまかい　はなしを　するかも　しれません。

そして、あなたは、そのはなしに　あまり　きょうみ　が　ないかも　しれません。

でも、けっこんしたら、もう　せんたくしは　ない　の　です。

そこで、とくべつな　Skillが　ひつよう　になります。。。

それが、「アクティブ　リスニング」です。　すごい　べんりです！

おくさまの、ながーーーい　はなしの　なかで、こうじーさんは、べつの　ことを　かんがえる　かもしれません。

でも、おくさまの　はなしの　あいだには、「あいづち」を　じょうずに　うつこと　が　ひつよう　です。

たとえば、「へえ、そうなのー」「なるほどねー」そですかー　Is that so?。。。などです。

Active Listening は、おくさまを　しあわせにする、たいせつな　skill なの　です。

-pause-

それでは、これから、おふたりに　えいごの　れっすんを　します。

みなさま　も　いしょ　に　がんばりましょう！

こうじさん、けっこん　せいかつに　たいせつな　ことばです、ぜひ　おぼえてください。

１ばん　えいごで「じんせい」は、なんと　いいますか？

２ばん　えいごで「おくさま」は、なんと　いいますか？

３ばん　えいごで「しあわせ」は、なんと　いいますか？

この　みっつの　ことばは、けっこんした　あなたに、いちばん　たいせつな　ことばです。

「Happy Wife, Happy Life.」

こうじさん、あなたの　おくさま　が　しあわせ　だと、あなたの　じんせい　が　しあわせになります。おぼえて　いて　ください。。。

こうじさん、Repeat after me ください。

「Happy wife, happy life.」

それでは　すべての　だんせいのかた　いっしょに　いいましょう。Repeat after me ください。

「Happy wife, happy life.」

こうじさん, なほこさん　ほんじつは、ほんとう　に　おめでとうございました。

Giving a speech at a wedding is incredibly hard to do but doing it in a language that is not your native language is incredibly difficult. I really thought I would going to throw up the few minutes before. My heart was pounding. I know soon I would have 150 people looking at my as I try to fumble my way through this speech.

Koji being a good groom. A small, well served, piece of cake...

Nahoko has a huge piece of cake for Koji...

Koji is a very funny guy...

There were lots of speeches!

...and cameras. I think I had 3 cameras with me.

I really like how this picture came out. I love shooting film as it has such a great quality to the final product and I love giving people prints. I made a bunch of different sized prints of this shot for Koji and his lovely new wife... as well as prints of all of the images of the day. See the side benefit of inviting me to your wedding...?

The middle guy is very funny... There is a TV commercial in Japan with a very similar sound to the theme of my speech 'Happy Wife, Happy Life' and he was singing the song:

"Happy Home, Happy Life, TA-MA Home..."