*Click on the image for a clearer version.
© 2008 Japanese Christian-style Weddings Blog
This diagram shows the transformation from the 'original' (Stage 1) Euro-American model to the Japanese (Stage 2) version. The form has become secularized to some degree but a resemblance to the 'archetype' is still in evidence. It shows the inversion of importance in the sacred and the secular factors which define wedding celebration.
Over the period of about thirty years (since 1975), the Japanese wedding industry appropriated, took ownership of and started exporting this cultural product. It is expected that the Japanese export into other Asian countries (Stage 3) will have less religious markers but will still be recognizable as a Christian cultural form.
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Asian countries are not the only ones to be receiving Wedding Celebrations which have been filtered through Japan:
[This ad was featured on an on-line recruitment website (Work In Japan Jobsearch April 2008) which will likely expire when the job is filled so the link does not appear here.]
A Japanese wedding company is looking for a branch manager at Las Vegas.
The phrase "selling sand to the Arabs" might be fitting here. It is inconceivable that these events, emanating from a Japanese company, could aptly be dubbed Western-style when they are being marketed in the USA.
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Having been filtered through Japan; to what extent can this Japanese export be described as Western-style?
What features have changed in say the Chinese version?
How does the true Church in China regard this boom in Christian-style weddings?
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