Fake priests in demand in Japan

[dArKeR]

As a soprano sings "Ave Maria," a Japanese couple march down the center aisle of a hotel chapel, past white trumpet lilies, to the altar where a US "pastor" stands, gold cross gleaming on white robes.

"Before God and these witnesses, I pronounce you husband and wife," intones Damon Mackey, a California native who took a two-day course to perform weddings on weekends, supplementing his income as an English teacher and part-time actor.

In Japan, where a love affair with Western "white weddings" is leading to a collapse in Shinto ceremonies, a new figure is taking over the altar: the gaijin, or foreign, "pastor."

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2005/07/09/2003262800

This is really a sad report, sad for the Japanese. Give up your heritage for what?

[DemBones DemBones]

1. Blame it on soap opera and Princess Di. . .

"Of course, words are important, but in a ceremony it is more about the whole image," Masahiko Sakamoto, 25, said after watching Kenyon Nelson, a retired businessman from Missouri, perform a wedding at a hotel bridal fair. "And a foreigner fits better into a Western wedding than a Japanese person would."

"Maki Oyama, his fiancee, said firmly that she wanted a white dress, a foreign pastor and a hotel chapel wedding. She added, "In soap operas you have more examples of white weddings than of Shinto ones."

"The passion for Western-style weddings was first fueled in the 1980s by the televised weddings of Prince Charles and Lady Diana and of the Japanese pop star Momoe Yamaguchi. Since 1996, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the number of Christian weddings has nearly doubled while the number of Shinto weddings has plunged by two-thirds."

"Western weddings revolve around love and elevate the bride to a princess, Japanese say. In a tradition-bound Shinto wedding, where the bride is encased in a wig and a kimono, the ceremony often seems to be more about the merger of two families."


Western wedding dresses probably come cheaper than Japanese wedding kimono, too, but it is sad. Wedding kimono are gorgeous but the brides are obviously preferring the Western styles. I wonder if a Shinto ceremony would permit Western attire? Anyway, I hope it's a fad, like young Japanese women bleaching their hair.

[starroute]

2. The Japanese heritage *is* to assimilate anything cool

I wouldn't worry about the Japanese too much. They've been on their islands for 30,000 years, and during that time they've successfully assimilated everything the rest of the world has thrown at them and turned it into something Japanese. My anime-loving son assures me that in Japan, Christianity is seen as an exotic foreign cult, full of magic and ritual -- about the same way Westerners see Hinduism. Just one more fad.