Takasheets(The diary during the first stay in the USA from 1979 to 1981)
11 Oct. 1980
A wedding in the USA
Although Earl advised me what style of clothing was appropriate for a wedding, I still could not decide what to wear. So I wore a black suit and a tie. At the wedding place I found many people dressed. Earl too! He looked like a famous actor, Bogie.
The ceremony took about a half hour. The priest was a woman. She gave us a long speech which was all difficult to understand for me. The feeling which the ceremony gave me was a little bit relaxed. It might be due to the fact that it was held outside the church.
After the ceremony I met Earl’s mother. She mentioned an interesting method for learning foreign language conversation. It can be called “shouting loudly”. It is meaningful and reasonable to compare my pronunciation is different from that of native Americans and to memorize real pronunciations.
The reception: During the reception, which was held at a restaurant, the attendants enjoyed talking, dancing. Eating and drinking. Me, too. The most impressive thing was the behavior of the bride’s father, Earl. He drank a lot and danced often. It seemed to me that he enjoyed this reception fully, which is not a wrong thing. However in Japan, a bride’s parent, especially her father, is usually calm during the ceremony and the reception. Tears sometimes appear in his eyes. I think that Earl acted crazy so that his sadness would not be noticed by others and tried to be a good possible host. I noticed that the bride’s mother had tears in her eyes.
The other interesting things were the bouquet throwing by the bride and the garter throwing by the bridegroom.