Wedding CelebrantMost Japanese are not Christian, and those non-Christians, often want to have a "Christian style" wedding. My wife and I had one in Oiso conducted by a real Irish Catholic priest. He was very willing to conduct our non-Christian wedding ceremony in his church. This is not a criticism, this is just a fact. I was open about the fact that my wife and I were not Christian at that time. My wife had studied about Christianity but if anything she is and was more of a Shintoist (Japan`s native) religion. My wife quipped yesterday: "None of the people who get married in churches in Japan are Christian." While personally I think this is an exaggeration, it does highlight the fact that as a percentage of population, there are very few Christians in Japan. Probably most real churches here have to conduct non-Christian weddings just to survive.Many Pastors or Priests are probably more than happy to accept your money, to conduct your wedding in Japan. Though I do not have proof of this, just my own experience in Oiso. I am now a mix of Christian, Buddhist and Taoism. Some would say I`m a Tennist. I love tennis! I think in all religions there is a lot of truth and great advice for living, plus they are much more similar than many who are serious about one particular religion would care to admit. On Becoming a Wedding Celebrant The agency you deal with will probably want to insure that you are a Christian. Circumstances surrounding wedding celebrant work have become more strict, presumably because of pressure from churches in Japan. Yet in the opening paragraph above, I reveal that one of these same churches was willing to conduct a non-Christian wedding right in the church. The key word here is survival, and I think the wedding celebrant work that common people do, is a threat to the survival of some of the churches in Japan. That is the main reason that some churches have objected--it is encroaching on their economic turf. Some church officials have argued that WC work infringes on the Christian religion itself, however as you can see from the first paragraph of this article, some of the certified priests do as well. Again I don`t mean to criticize but it is like the pot calling the kettle black. We are all just trying to survive. At a Chapel Wedding The couples themselves are not Christian so it really is not aChristian wedding. Bob (a pseudonym) thought he wanted to pick up some extra part-time work, so he interviewed with an agency in Tokyo.He went through a meeting and went through a "conversion," process. The pastor wanted to be satisfied that he wasa Christian before going on to teach him how to conduct the "weddings." Bob eventually give up as he lacked confidence inhis Japanese ability. You see the ceremonies tend to beconducted half in English (to lend a foreign feel), and half in Japanese. Ralph worked for a year for one of the wedding business companies. He had gone to church in North America so didn`t have to be "converted." (For the conversion they put you in a small room, with you furthest from the door, they physically make it difficult to get past them to the door and the Pastor goes through his routine to convert you.) Ralph said that he made anywhere from 70,000-120,000 Yen per month. The company I worked for: "...are competent, and the staff that you would work with at the chapels are very nice." Ralph gave it all up to have his weekends free again. That isone drawback of the job, it is mostly on weekends. If you dotwo weddings on one day there is one in the morning and one in the afternoon, so you will need to kill time somewhere near thechapel. So two weddings on Saturday and two on Sunday really takes your weekend away. Peter has been a celebrant for a few years. He really enjoys the work. "I kind of miss having weekends free, but otherwise,my experience has been pretty positive." You can tell the company which days you want to work and which you don`t. The good news for older caucasian men in Japan is that these companies love to hire you. Japan is such an age conscious society, that as we age, it becomes more difficult to secure work. These companies rarely seem to hire women or people of African or Indian decent. Why not? The Japanese "image" of a celebrant is of an older, whiteman. Unfortunately Japan is still one of the developed nations without laws against racial discrimination. Surprising though this is; as Japanese seem to be particularly sensitive to discrimination against them based on race. Indeed, being a celebrant can be a fairly lucrative part-time position in Japan if you can master the Japanese necessary.
More on being a celebrant in Japan.
Daniel Dan worked as a wedding celebrant for a few years in Japan and talks about it, in depth at his blog. Read Dan`s Blog From Wedding Celebrant to Japan Religion From Wedding Celebrant to Japan Living (home) |
