Wedding Anniversary

Michiyo and I had our Japanese wedding ceremony four years ago on November 20th, 2004. Our plane flight home was on that day, but a few days before that, we enjoyed some anniversary memories. We stopped by the restaurant where our ceremony took place, called Kiraku. Michiyo's sister, Masae, still works there part time, and the staff was excited to see us and the new family addition.

Sakae-san and his wife, Sayumi-san, are the owners of this family business. Sakae-san (left) was the Master of Ceremonies for our Japanese Wedding Ceremony, and did a phenomenal job of staying reverent while keeping things moving along. He threw in plenty of jokes, too, keeping the mood light and enjoyable. About 90% of the content was incomprehensible to me at the time. I told him about my own successful foray in the American wedding industry, and after I explained that I am a reception DJ in St. Louis, I told him, "You were my inspiration." Not entirely an exaggeration. He broke into a HUGE smile, stuck his hand out to shake mine, and said, "Thank you!" They spoke highly of our wedding ceremony four years ago and how much they enjoyed it. I wish I could say this was the room where we were married, but this room is brand new--they renovated a supply room, expanded a little, and debuted this spectacular room four days before we visited them.

We went up to "our" room, which looked quite sparse without any decorations. We posed on the same spot where we were married in 2004, before Hiroki was but a gleam in our eye!

Speaking of four years ago, have you heard about the pink bike lock? At the top of Mount Kinpo, which overlooks Kumamoto, and from which you can see Nagasaki, I proposed to Michiyo and used a pink lock on the railing to seal the deal. (That's the short version--I'm proud of the whole story, feel free to check it out here.) We took Hiroki to see the weather-beaten and discolored--but still solid--bike lock.

What a beautiful day it was, and what a tremendous four years it has been!