Last February, Fumie's friend Ma-chan (at left, above) came to Kyoto for the wedding reception of one of her coworkers. The wedding itself was held in the Heian Shrine, and likely limited to only the most immediate family — it's the reception later on that Ma-chan and other friends would attend.

So, while her friend was at the private ceremony, Ma-chan walked around the public areas of the shrine with Fumie and Anthony, with me and my still-new D200 trailing behind. I posted this picture of the lanterns that evening, but it wasn't until today, 10 months later, that I really went through the pictures in any detail.

I finally got around to going over the pictures because tomorrow, it's Ma-chan's turn to get married. Fumie, Anthony, and I will attend (in Kobe, about 1.5 hours by car), and I wanted to bring CDs of the pictures for her and her now-married-for-10-months friend.

Having gone though them, I found a few that are nice, so I'll post them today. All from February 18th, 2006.

In the picture on the left, the big stone sign behind Ma-chan and Fumie says “Heian Shrine.” The entrance building is further behind them, while the main gate of the shrine is well back behind me.

More pictures are at my photo site.

Tomorrow it will be Ma-chan's turn.

I've only been to two weddings in Japan: a co-worker's in 1990, and my own in 1998. I won't be taking my camera to this one, as I will be taking my four-year-old, and there's no way I could handle them both for the duration (Fumie will often be busy with things helping her friend).

Anthony will reprise his role as a ring bearer, as he did three months ago when my brother got married.

It should be fun.