So two things of major note happened today...First of all, BAB July went to print, and by all accounts so far, successfully so. We had some initial pdf hairiness and freaky-freaky boxes (to use the technical term), but the proofs came back looking good, so, should all go to plan, we'll have a large quantity of magazines dropping into the office late next week :)

I left work right at 6 today (it's been a long week!) and headed up to Mejiro--haven't been to Peter's office in ages, so I saw the huge new TVs in the meeting room (pretty sweet), and Peter and I played some electronic darts on Aki's board...it's a really good one and we were having a good time (especially me, as I was just barely ahead!) when the cab driver showed up and we headed home...

Hitomi arrived back to ours at around 10ish, and we had some popcorn hanging out in the living room, and then....big event number two happened--Hitomi and Peter got married! Omedetou!

Basically, July 7 is tanabata, which is a romantic holiday here in Japan, something to do with star-crossed lovers, and since it is 070707 this year, they decided it would be a good day to get married. We were planning on heading to the kuyakusho (city hall) at about 1 tomorrow, but when they went to get their paperwork checked over, the woman said it was likely to be busy during the day, so they pushed it up to just after midnight, as did several other couples-it was busy at the 24-hour marriage hanko-ing cubby hole down in the basement!

Before the marriage bit, we went to ZEST across the street for a nice dinner, and I gave them the wedding present that Mom, Grampa, and I got-- a hand carved Haida box, carved napkin rings, and a penny which has been cut in half, but the way it is cut in half is a design with two four leaf clovers that fit together, so they each get a half.

After dinner, at about 10 past midnight, we wandered across the street to the kuyakusho where we were somewhat suprised to see that after we descended into the slightly grotty basement, there was already a line! As far as we can guess, they were the fourth Shibuya-ku couple to be married on the 7th, and theirs was processed at 12:30! The little guy in the room was hilarious, with ancient furniture, a sink from many many years ago randomly behind his desk, and off to the side, a tatmi room, sliding doors shut, with a TV blaring--you could see the flickering screen through the doors. The place is 24-hours, and we're sure, that with very few exceptions, you really don't get too much work in there at 2am, except for a day like today!

Anyway, we were in and out pretty quickly, stopping only to be shocked and entertained by the girl's shirt that said "F*ck you, you bo-- sh#t head", but with nothing remotely censored out. SUCH a hilarious shirt to wear for a wedding! We decided we needed a photo, and Hitomi went back in with me (they were queing up) to say that I was writing a story about weddings on tanabata for a magazine in canada, and that i wanted a photo...it was great!

Came home, did a quick family portrait, and less than three hours after we left the house, all the excitement is over! There's lots of pictures here and a few below...

xox
D
wandering down to get hitched
looking a little bit concerned at ZEST
but genki in the family pic after the fact
the entrance with the lovely gomi and old brick
in the queue...