My partner and I had a wonderful trip to Japan in 2019 and are now planning to elope there. I have a good idea of what is required for the legal marriage side of things, but tips on photographer and possibly an “officiant” in the Okinawa area are appreciated.
We did not get much time to explore Kyoto and Osaka last time, and there are some things we missed out on in Tokyo that we want to revisit. We want to end the trip with a relaxed beach ceremony/exchange of vows and 1 week honeymoon in Okinawa/Ishigaki.
As far as potential activities/sites to see, we saw a lot of the main temples, shrines, museums, etc last time and want to branch out a bit into more niche things. I’m interested in traditional arts and crafts, like weaving, pottery, kimono, etc and am hoping to sign up for interactive workshops. My partner is more of a nerdy gamer type, but not a full-blown weeb. Anything with animals, gardens, nature interest us too.
An unfulfilled wish of mine for every trip we’ve ever done is horseback riding, but budget or logistics usually doesn’t allow it as an option. Probably won’t happen for this trip either but I’m just throwing it out there in case someone has a recommendation.
Ideally we are aiming for a 3 week trip from Saturday Sept. 24, 2022 to Sunday October 15, 2022, but dates are of course dependent on the covid situation. I appreciate any feedback on budget, length of stays, any holidays that might affect plans, ideas for activities, etc.
**20 nights:**
* Tokyo 3 nights
* Osaka 3 nights
* Kyoto 6 nights
* Okinawa/Ishigaki 7 nights
* Tokyo 1 night
**$11,240 CAD budget for 2 people:**
* $3100 for international and domestic flights ($2650+$450)
* $2000 for hotels ($100/night)
* $840 for transport ($20/person/day)
* $2100 for food ($50/person/day)
* $220 for marriage paperwork and translation
* $1000 for photographer
* $2000 for extras/activities/shopping
**Schedule:**
Sept. 24 – fly YWG to YVR to Tokyo, 16 hours. Land in Tokyo late afternoon Sept. 25.
Sun Sept. 25 to Wed. Sept. 28 – 3 nights in Tokyo
* Marriage stuff? Depends on appointments available at either Tokyo embassy or Osaka consulate.
* Garment district
* More Kantaro sweets
* Sushi train
* Yayoiken, breakfast place from last time
* Kimono hazuki (antique kimono shop?)
* Karaoke
Wed. Sept. 28 – bullet train or flight to Osaka, $200-300
Wed. Sept. 28 to Sat. Oct. 1 – 3 nights in Osaka
* Marriage stuff?
* Kokoroya, kimono shop in Kohama arcade
* Workshops/crafts
* Antique flea markets, farmer’s market, thrift stores (Billy Matsunaga went to antique market in Fukuoka at Hakosaki Shrine, which is sadly not on our route)
Sat. Oct.1 to Fri. Oct. 7 – 6 nights in Kyoto
* Look for workshops/crafts
* Maiko spotting, maaaaaaybe a dinner with one if we can increase the budget significantly
* Electric bike rental
* Antique flea market, farmer’s market, thrift stores
* Side trip to a ryokan?
Fri. Oct. 7 – train to Osaka airport, fly to Okinawa/Ishigaki, $225
Fri. Oct. 7 to Fri. Oct. 14 – 7 nights in Okinawa/Ishigaki
* Short beach ceremony, photos
* Mineya loom weaving workshop
* Sango zome workshop (coral fabric dyeing)
* Snorkeling
* Scooter rental
* Wagyu yakiniku?
* Canoeing in mangrove jungle
* Okinawa Churaumi aquarium
* Shopping and Tsuboya pottery street in Okinawa
* Pineapple park? Seems childish but fun
Fri. Oct. 14 – fly Okinawa/Ishigaki to Tokyo, $225
Fr. Oct. 14 to Sat. Oct. 15 – 1 night in Tokyo
Saturday, Oct. 15 – fly Tokyo to YVR to YWG, 16 hours. Land in YWG late afternoon Oct. 15
Sunday, Oct. 16 – rest day before back to work.
5 comments
Hi I lived in Okinawa for a few years and happy to add a bit of ideas for that part of the itinerary. Will you have a car during your visit?
I doubt that it is worth getting officially married in Japan. You will have to deal with bunch of paperwork in Japanese and for foreigners you need a paper from the embassy to say you are not married in your country. Then you should check what are the requirements for your wedding to be recognized where you live, that can be more of a pain than to marry where you live.
Also, you get officially married at the city hall, anything at the ceremony and related to the “officiant” will just be for the show, it have no legal value. That is why you can get married in some amusement park (like Hello Kitty themed at Sanryo Puroland). On top of that, if you want a Christian wedding, it would likely be in front a a fake priest.
In my opinion, unless you marry a Japanese person or live in Japan, don’t even bother with being officially married there. As for the ceremony, it’s up to you, I imagine it could be quite unique to have a shinto wedding ceremony. Without doing a full wedding ceremony, you could absolutely get pictures in wedding Kimono, this is something that can be done, I’ve seen place offering it, including the Kimono rental.
I agree with the others, doing the paper work for a marriage in Japan will be more time than it’s worth. By all means have the ceremony, but do the paper work at city hall or somewhere at home after you get back.
Someone recommend Shinto but those are usually really formal affairs at shrines, not a chill beach wedding. Most western style weddings are sold as packages in Japan by wedding venues / hotels and they expect you to have guests, meals, etc. They usually start at like 15k USD, and the priest is usually going to be an English teacher doing a side hustle on the weekend. They will have been instructed to lie about it when asked.
Assuming you want to try and do it yourself (Kimono / dress rental, find a priest / chaplain from the base there, local photographer) may or may not be possible depending on if you have any connections / can find a business / people willing to do it for you. At least there are a lot of Americans on the island.
Either way I wouldn’t recommend the main island of Okinawa for a week without a car. The public transport there is fairly limited. You do have the option to do bus tours, get a driver for the day, rely upon shuttle buses but things are pretty spread out all over the place and not having your own transport will really limit where you can go and what you can do. I’ve never been to any of the smaller islands, but I imagine their public transport isn’t great either. Any way do a lot of research on where you want to go and how you’ll get there before booking anything.
Probably the most important advice I can give you is not to leave the trip down there to the very end of your trip. October is in the middle of Typhoon season (June through the end of Nov.) and flights can be canceled / delayed at any time. You will want to leave enough time to re-book your flights both to and from in case a Typhoon pops up or changes course. This could also complicate a beach wedding ceremony / etc. while you are there.
The last time I went to Okinawa was in October and if I had booked my flight to leave one day later I would have been stuck there another 2 -3 days. Anyways, good luck and congrats on your engagement.
I just got engaged and we briefly considered eloping in Japan: The original idea was that we would go skiing with some family friends who are Japanese, and who also happen to own one of the bigger Shinto shrines in their region, so we figured at some point we could just casually be like “hey Haruto, you’re a priest right? Can you marry us?”
But it turns out that religious marriages and legal ones don’t overlap in Japan, so it would require a lot of paperwork and visits to government offices, and might not even be possible as tourists. Most people who “elope” in Japan actually get legally married back home, and have a ceremony or honeymoon in Japan. But as we are not Shinto and don’t have any particular interest in having a Shinto ceremony beyond being friends with a priest, this option does not appeal to us.
So yeah, if Japan reopens to tourist, we’ll probably go skiing, but it’ll just be a normal trip :
Okinawa Pineapple Park does have its childish allure with its robotic Jurassic thrill bit what I love most is the craftily created canopy of jungle that beautifully drapes in lushness of the ananas/pineapple fashion. Great photo op. Nice tastings and shop too, perfect for the Oki -classic souvenir.