Engagement Party

Last weekend Chihiro and I had our engagment party which was pretty big, being more like a wedding because many people won't be able to make it to Australia later this year when we get married. Two of Chihiro's friends hosted the party dressed in traditional clothes (one of them borrowed my kendo gi and hakama!) I bought my first ever suit for the occassion, and Chihiro looked absolutely stunning in a flowery blue dress. The party was a completely new experience for me. We were the centre of attention, making our debut like royalty and being seated together at a small table on the stage! I gave a speech in Japanese, and apart from being a bit nervous I think I pulled it off! Organised entertainment included wonderful singing and piano performances by two of Chihiro's friends, a funny retelling of how we got together, a game where each table had to create a greeting message for us from specific words pulled out of a bucket and then whisper it to the person next to them to send it back to us, a game of bingo (using software I made to call the numbers!) where the first prize was a trip to disneyland, and... The most popular performance was given by Chihiro's two younger sisters who did a comedy song/dance act mimicing a famouse comedy duo, but replacing some of the lyrics with stuff about us! Chihiro's father gave a speech, and had even made a printout about us with photos and a map of Australia! Time passed far too quickly, and soon we had to leave to make way for the next party at the venue, but before we left Chihiro made a nice speech thanking everyone. We're hoping many people will be able to visit us in Australia. Before leaving we had some quick photo sessions, but that wasn't the end! We went with the younger people off to the next party, and when that finished 3 hours later we had a third party!