Museum Wedding
Meiji Mura’s “Museum Wedding” display in St. John’s Church (Inuyama, Japan — formerly in Kyoto)
Christian churches aren’t common in Japan. Those that exist tend to be tiny boxes or rented spaces. Recently, however, getting married in a fancy Christian church has become fashionable. In addition, people are willing to spend far more on weddings than on other goods and services. Therefore, (fake) Christian chapels have sprung up with the intent of hosting weddings, not church services.
Today’s photo comes from a real church, but a church that hasn’t been used for its original purpose in many decades. St. John’s Church was built in 1907 and designed by James McDonald Gardiner, an American Anglican church missionary who spent much of his life in Meiji Era Japan. The church was relocated from Kyoto’s Kawaramachi Street to Meiji Mura in 1963.
Now, if you have enough money, you can get married there.