I skipped Christmas this year and flew out to Japan for Mirei and Shinobu's wedding. They opted for a traditional Japanese wedding, which is rather uncommon these days.
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This was my hotel room in the Meitetsu hotel, Hamamatsu. This is the same hotel where the wedding would take place.
It was small by American standards, but large by capsule hotel standards.
Actually, it had everything I needed so it was plenty-big. I'm not sure why anyone needs a huge room. Of course, the rooms for families are larger.
Just don't smoke in my damned room. Period.
The day-after-Christmas. Those decorations have gotta go! The Japanese have a lot of New Year's decorations they have to put up so it kind of makes sense I guess, but it certainly seems rushed from an American perspective.
The first person I recognized at the reception lobby was Mirei's mother, wearing this kimono. Luckily I was able to understand her. The wedding was taking place on the fifth floor, above this one, so I was supposed to be up there in a few minutes.
She mostly smiles, so it's kind of a bummer that I didn't get any good pictures of her--she looked perfect in kimono.
Mirei's childhood friend, Yuko. We met in 1996. Yuko's awesome.
And here's Mirei in her traditional wedding dress. One of my favorite pictures from the trip.
Shinobu and Mirei. I'd pimp that outfit Shinobu's wearing on a daily basis.
Fumi and Reiko were there to greet guests.
Shinobu's friends were there to greet also. Guests weren't to enter the reception hall just yet, but they started arriving before the wedding ceremony began.
Upstairs, Mirei was hanging around with her family. Those are her aunts and cousins, along with Kazuki, her brother.
Hisako and her kids. They came out from Torrance. We met for breakfast that morning--they were my American link and they're good people--I'm sure I'll see them again in LA.
So, after the wedding ceremony, we were waiting for the reception to start.
