Yuki Yamazaki and Risa, both 34, held their wedding reception at the Harajuku Togokinenkan hall in Harajuku, in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward, on May 9. As the bride and groom, clad in ceremonial kimono, raised their glasses, 27 guests joined them with a "Cheers!"
However, there were only seven people actually in the large hall, including the couple and their parents. The remaining 22 relatives attended the party via the video conferencing tool Zoom.
Three oju multi-tiered boxes, the same as what was served at the hall, were delivered in advance to the guests who attended the event at home. The boxes, filled with colorful washoku dishes, sweets and flowers, drew admiring comments from the guests as they opened the lid.
The wedding ceremony at Togo Shrine and the reception were both broadcast live on YouTube, and messages such as "Congratulations!" and "Beautiful" were given by about 60 friends who watched online.
The couple was delighted with how their wedding turned out.
They said they were happy they could chat with their friends on Zoom while enjoying the same food together. They said it made them feel as though they were actually together.
The wedding cost them about 1.3 million yen, or about 40% of the cost of the original plan to invite about 60 guests.
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has prompted wedding planners to search for new styles of ceremonies, devising various ways of adopting online services and reducing human-to-human contact.
The couple used an online wedding plan the Harajuku Togokinenkan hall began offering in May. Several couples held online weddings in June after the coronavirus-related state of emergency was lifted, according to the hall's operator, Tojitsu in Tokyo.
"We'd like to establish it as a new style of holding a wedding so guests can attend them from remote locations," said a company official in charge of the plan.
-- Guidelines
In May, the Bridal Institutional Association, which has wedding hall operators and hotels as its members, and some other organizations drew up guidelines on how to handle ceremonies and receptions amid the spread of the virus. The guidelines include having operators create enough space between seats and avoid using large plates for food to be shared among many people.
Marriage Planner, an Osaka-based company that handles wedding ceremonies at the Osaka City Central Public Hall, already introduced in March a wedding plan that complies with the guidelines.
Under the plan, seats in the reception hall are to be spread out one meter apart, while those across from each other will be at least two meters apart. Guests are required to wear masks, except when they eat or take photographs.
To reduce how often reception attendees come into contact with waiters, several dishes are served on a single plate for each guest. The reception staff also keep an eyes on attendees to ensure they do not hug or shout.
-- Simpler wedding
Japanese weddings have changed with the times.
Weddings in the pre-war era were usually held at a family house with relatives in attendance, according to literary critic Minako Saito.
In the 1960s during the high economic growth period, Shinto-style wedding ceremonies with workplace bosses and colleagues as guests became the prevailing style, and then showy receptions and Christian ceremonies became popular.
Following the burst of the bubble economy, more and more people began to choose holding ceremonies overseas or not hold one at all due to the declining bond of local communities and the trend toward nuclear families.
"In recent years, due to the fallen birthrate and aging population, people find it more of a burden to get together in a large group," Saito said. "This virus crisis may accelerate the drive to adopt new styles, such as online distributed ceremonies, and to simplify the ceremonies."
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