Can i have a legal wedding in Japan?

Hi,

My Fiance and I travelled to Japan two years ago and fell in love with the country. Ever since then we have been itching to get back there and we were hoping to have our wedding in Kyoto or Osaka. I cannot find much information for these two cities however Okinawa seems to have alot to choose from. We are both Australian so my question is, Can it be done ? And is it Legal?

http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+97631

You can have a ceremony in Japan, but please think if getting the legal part done in Japan makes sense for you at all :)

I am not sure about Japan, but in many countries a legal marriage in that country means that it will be subject to the laws of that country, not the laws of the country you are a citizen of. This might make a big difference when it come to all sorts of things, like children, inheritance etc.

You can HAVE a wedding ceremony in a Japanese temple or shrine, as this is not a legal marriage, only a religious one.

As people have said above, Japan is a bit different than a lot of other countries in that any kind of ceremony has nothing to do with legally being married here. You can certainly have a ceremony, but since you need to visit a city hall with a lot of documents translated into Japanese to legally register a marriage here, it probably isn't really a practical thing to do.

Japan is a bit different than a lot of other countries in that any kind of ceremony has nothing to do with legally being married here.

Different? I thought it is the norm that - at least in Western countries - the wedding ceremony has nothing to do with the legal part of getting married.

Uji, where I am from (small English-speaking country) there must be a wedding ceremony performed to a more or less standard format by someone qualified to do so (minister of a church, registered wedding celebrant, or a Justice of the Peace), and once the ceremony is finished and the couple and witnesses have signed the documents, you are legally married. There is no need to visit an office before or after the ceremony as far as I know as it's all done at the same time and processed by the JP etc.

Quite different to Japan where my spouse and I married in September of 08 by going to the ward office on our way to work and didn't have a ceremony until the June of the following year when family members were able to attend!

I am pretty sure this is the case in most other English-speaking countries, but am not at all sure about European countries. Is the ceremony completely irrelevant to being legally married in your home country?

In France only a marriage at a City hall is legal. One doesn't have to have a religious marriage afterwards.

Many French couples will have the civic marriage first then go to a church the same day, but some families, for example wealthy middle class families or upper class aristocratic ones, will have the church wedding anytime from a week later to a month or 2 later, usually in a different town too.

It is a bit tricky for foreigners as to have a marriage at city hall they must have lived in France for a short while (and not just a few days days or 2 weeks either),then there is the problem of being married under the French law.

Religious ceremonies are less of a problem as they aren't legally binding, but one can't pop in a church in France and ask for a ceremony then and there. It takes some serious planning. Christian priests usually take marriage seriously and like to make sure the couple also take the ceremony and the religion somewhat seriously.

In Japan they are more relaxed, as one can have a Christian-like ceremony in a hotel chapel celebrated by a fake-priest that will go through the movie-like ceremony in English or some other western language.

I would be surprised if there were any first-world countries that didn't allow people to get married at the city hall without a ceremony.

Japanese Embassy in Japan has quite a bit of info about marrying in Japan. Obviously it's tailored for the UK in some ways, but I guess the majority of it applies to non-Japanese nationals across the board.

http://ukinjapan.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for-british-nationals/living-in-ja...

As far as I can tell a civil marriage in the Province of British Columbia in Canada doesn't take place in a city hall. Definitely not in Vancouver city hall!

It is done by a marriage commissioner (private citizens that aren't civil servants) paid by the couple being married, according to a fees schedule set by the Provincial government.
Some of the commissioners volunteer their home, though it likely is only for a small party. Other people do it in a park..

Toronto and other towns in Ontario do have weddings at their city hall.

Uji, where I am from (small English-speaking country) there must be a wedding ceremony performed to a more or less standard format by someone qualified to do so (minister of a church, registered wedding celebrant, or a Justice of the Peace), and once the ceremony is finished and the couple and witnesses have signed the documents, you are legally married. There is no need to visit an office before or after the ceremony as far as I know as it's all done at the same time and processed by the JP etc.

Jukensei,

Actually the system you describe (which incidentally is how it is done in the US as well) is more or less the same as Japan. The only difference is that in many countries it is customary to sign the legal documents immediately following the ceremony, while in Japan is is more customary to sign the legal paperwork before the ceremony (although some people choose to do it the other way around).

I would be surprised if there were any first-world countries that didn't allow people to get married at the city hall without a ceremony.

You could further generalize this to say that most developed countries allow civil ceremonies (i.e. non-religious weddings, can simply be signing papers). The location doesn't necessarily have to take place at city hall.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_ceremony

one can't pop in a church in France and ask for a ceremony then and there. It takes some serious planning.

"Faux Religious" weddings in Japan also can't be done on a whim. Most places are booked out several months in advance especially during the wedding seasons. By the way, not all of these are fake. Some wedding venues actually use their chapel for church services and employ real ministers. Its not very common though, and kinda feels like a side business ;)

But to echo AK, yes it is legally possible, but I would recommend that non-residents do the legal aspects in their home country and then arrange to have the ceremony here. Unless of course, you enjoy spending a few days running around the Tokyo visiting the Australian embassy, ward/city office, and dealing with the bureaucracies in Japanese ;)