Japanese-Brazilians in Japan

I went to my friend Shino's wedding on Saturday! You may remember her from certain pirate hijinks or the goth photo shoot. This picture is clearly terrible, but she looked super gorgeous. The gown's strapless and cost a fortune to rent. I suggested she buy and then sell on eBay so she could make a profit (the rental cost as much as buying a pricey gown in the US), but I don't think she bought this one. She later changed to a beautiful, gold-undertoned raspberry kimono. I think she said that her man's family had to give her family an extravagant monetary gift--which was used to make the fabric for the kimono. Maybe not, though. All I know for sure is that her mom made the kimono. Sadly I have no pictures of it! Nor do I have any photos of the final costume change of maroon prom dress. Bummer. Her Husband seems very cool, though. And he's an only child, too. So you see, it goes to show! Their wedding was great. It was lovely and the food was tasty and although we didn't get to mingle at all with anyone (I wanted to talk to her sister and meet her mom and cool grandpa) it was quite entertaining. There was an all-you-can-eat cake bar for an hour or so. Not that you could eat more than one little cake since there was so much food. It must have been $100 a plate, I would think, based on prices I've seen in brochures for other places. The hotel the party was at is really nice and well-known for their tasty buffet. I stayed there before, actually! On my office's dime. The emperor was in town so all the more affordable hotels were booked. Oh, and the reception was entertaining because the kids from their schools made videos wishing them happiness and there were a couple other videos to watch. During the Congratulations! Talent Show portion of the party her sister played the shamisen and sang a shimauta (that's island song, people) and then their 4 other siblings joined in then the whole family got up and danced Amami-style (it's just like on tv!). The grandpa was hilarious. He was so happy and genki. And maybe should be on tv. I was forced to stand on stage with the staff/teachers from the school Shino and I both work at--they did a spoof of a popular comedian's bit (the Zannen! / Seppuku! guy. But no Seppuku!s). Then they sang some song I've never heard before and I lipsynched. And it's all on video.