Sharing my experience working as a wedding priest in Japan

[@GoNorthJapan]

This was kind of a departure from my standard content. But I thought people would find this interesting as well. Next video probably be back in the mountains!

[@Crimsontears83]

Lol a friend of mine offered me this job too!!! He asked if I wanted to be a priest for Japanese weddings here in Aomori. I felt it was kinda sketch so I refused. 😂

[@michanoku]

It can be good money if it's a side gig! Maybe not as a main job. But yes. Many priests will get paid off the books in cash without any contracts. It's wild.

[@7sage469]

I think commentary on your past experiences and what not are so rich and interesting. I hope you keep making more of this content! I'm from Canada and I would love to visit Japan someday but ticket prices are really expensive so content like yours are a way I feel like I am connecting with the place I want to go (especially the ones with stories)!

[@ehlersdanlosandi]

I love these little "extra" videos! Would you ever consider doing a video on dating and marriage in Japan? I find it fascinating how other cultures date as well as their marriage dynamics. I'd love to hear your own stories of dating as a foreigner if that's something you'd ever want to share!

[@KillerTacos54]

This is something I never would’ve expected, but I thoroughly enjoyed this video! You are such a natural storyteller, thank you for sharing!

[@GoNorthJapan]

So glad that you enjoyed it! Wasn't sure if this would be too random for the channel..

[@visit_shizukuishi]

Ah brings back memories hearing you recite it. Exaclty the same speach in Okinawa also. Except those guys are often doing 5 a day back to back at the chapels where I used to work.

[@GoNorthJapan]

Right, I imagine weddings are so common there that it's a full-time job!

[@MSP106]

I"m appalled you have sub-500k subs. I'm here and tuned in! A well deserved sub my friend.

[@MSP106]

If it helps, I was searching google about different weddings and you popped up!

[@GoNorthJapan]

Hey wow! That's random! Welcome! Hope you like the other non-wedding content!

[@violah287]

Thank you, Quinlan. Nice insights one doesn't hear a lot about.

[@GoNorthJapan]

Thank you sooo much!!! I really appreciate that!

[@xenawarriorhousewife2115]

Loved this story . Quinlan a man of many talents 😅

[@GoNorthJapan]

Ahaha, a guy that's done a lot of different jobs. I also did a bit of voice acting for a while as an animated TV character for a season of a local show.

[@ChaiLatte13]

I'd love more videos like this. Whatever you find interesting and want to share!

[@GoNorthJapan]

Thanks so much! Appreciated!

[@etherdog]

Good chuckles, Quinlan!

[@GoNorthJapan]

Glad you liked it!

[@WenziMan]

This was very very interesting! Thanks for sharing!

[@satanmitdengeilenbarthaaren]

Looking at your face tells me you had quite some fun with that kind of acting 😊 My cousin merried recently in our little 5000 soul hometown near the dutch border. It was a beautiful classic catholic wedding in an old, wonderful church from the 16th, 17th century, lovely 😊

[@GoNorthJapan]

That sounds like a lovely wedding!

[@chrstopherblighton-sande2981]

I really enjoyed this video as it gives a glimpse into something which I feel is quite uniquely Japanese. It's quite difficult to imagine a similar thing being possible here in the UK for example - say hiring someone of an Indian background to pretend to be a Hindu priest and conduct a wedding for say a couple who love Bollywood movies, in a pretend Hindu temple. I'm fascinated by Japanese religion (as it happens I do 'practice' Shinto myself) so anytime your content touches on the religious aspects of Japanese life I always enjoy it immensely. I absoutely loved the bit where you described standing under a divine spotlight in the church with feathers raining down on you, what a creative and fun idea that was. Love it. Also, and doing my very best to not sound creepy (forgive me if I failed) the couples whose weddings you officiated get the added bonus of a very easy on the eye priest in their wedding photos 🙂

[@GoNorthJapan]

So glad that you enjoyed this video! And thanks!

[@michaelsmith7193]

This was absolutely delightful and fascinating! Who could have guessed? But what I especially liked is that your genuine concern and sensitivity for the couples, their assembled families and friends, and for the symbolic importance of their commitment came through clearly and with compassion. On a more playful note - having presided at so many weddings, can you now captain a cruise ship?

[@GoNorthJapan]

Ahahaha, I wouldn't want to be on a cruise ship that I was captaining!

[@svicciarelli]

Fascinating. Thanks for sharing.

[@GoNorthJapan]

Glad you thought it was interesting!

[@jeffreylebowski3216]

That's fantastic, Quinlan! Thanks! 👍

[@seebastian5834]

I met an expat translator in Matsue who got stuck in the train to Izumo with me, when he was headed to officiate a wedding - much to my luck, because he took me along when he had his dad pick him up by car. I always wondered how he got *that* job, but TIL that apparently, cosplaying priests is one more of the jobs available to westerners in Japan.

[@GoNorthJapan]

it is indeed!

[@erinnstreeter]

I always enjoy your stories, Quinlan. Thanks for sharing!

[@GoNorthJapan]

So glad to hear that!

[@Nynke_K]

Wow, you really have done a lot of different things 😆. I can definitely see the charm of the movie wedding - I grew up in a non-English-speaking country in Europe and I still find the phrase 'to have and to hold' touching because I've identified with so many characters getting married with that phrase, and the fact that I want to get married in a princessy white dress probably has more to do with movie magic than with the handful of actual weddings I've witnessed! But still, it was a little weird coming across wedding venues in Japanese hotels (including one in Morioka!) that are full of European religious visuals, like stained glass windows - it just felt conspicuously fake and new, whereas I've grown up around the real deal (ironically, many churches here have been decommissioned and converted into housing or commercial buildings, but there's always a sense of religious intent that I'm aware of even if I'm now agnostic!). Question: what was the initial formula at the start of the Japanese-language part of the ceremony you read, just after 11:00? I don't think it was included in the subtitles but it sounded impressive!

[@GoNorthJapan]

Interesting! I'd love to see those repurposed churches. That's got to be beautiful. Did you mean the phrase at 11:12? That was just saying that I will conduct the wedding vows.

[@Nynke_K]

@@GoNorthJapan that was the one! For the most famous public repurposed churches in my country, google Jopenkerk Haarlem and Dominicanen bookshop. They are pretty and I should probably visit them too!

[@hollish196]

Thank you for sharing this wonderful story, Great video!

[@GoNorthJapan]

So glad to hear that you liked it!

[@manfredmarschik]

Thanks!

[@GoNorthJapan]

Thank you so much!! Appreciated!!

[@10000kmstockholm]

Wow fascinating! Wedding industry must be huge there

[@cypriennezed5640]

OK this is so cool... bringing the drama, as always 😆

[@GoNorthJapan]

Ahahaha, maybe a bit.

[@abdulm2609]

Really interesting video. Glad you made it. Hope you make more on other topics of you would like to

[@GoNorthJapan]

So glad that you enjoyed it! Thanks!

[@SusanJERitta]

Very interesting topic - thanks for sharing! When I was in college one of my professors was one of the first discoverers and translators of the Nag Hammadi library - did you get to study Coptic at all in your degree?

[@GoNorthJapan]

oooooh! Wow! That's fantastic! I remember when that first came to public attention! I immediately bought a copy of the "other" Bible and read the Gospel of Thomas. Great stuff! I didn't study that for my degree, but just read up because I was interested! I did have some courses in millennial Christian sects in the 1800s and other modern American religions.

[@Grahamcracker6366]

Thanks for sharing! I found it interesting.

[@GoNorthJapan]

Thanks for watching! So glad it was interesting to you!

[@aresgalamatis7022]

@7:00 Being a priest requires only middle/high-school theatre experience, well said... even by implication ;)

[@Prathik1989]

this was really interesting! thank you!

[@GoNorthJapan]

Glad you liked it!

[@bacon5453]

This was interesting

[@ehlersdanlosandi]

I absolutely loved this video! I've always been fascinated by religion and learning about how other people go about their lives in respect to religion. I grew up sort of catholic, but am agnostic now. My dad is catholic (the go to church only on Christmas and Easter kind), and my mom is pagan (she took classes to become catholic), they divorced when I was a baby. I definitely think similar spiritual beliefs is important in a marriage! My husband and I paid for a close friend to get certified to marry us in a non-religious outdoors ceremony where the groomsmen wore kilts. It was beautiful and perfect for us. We honeymooned in Tokyo 😊

[@GoNorthJapan]

That sounds like a fantastic wedding! That's really interesting that your mom is pagan! My mom is Catholic, but she seemed to flirt with Wicca a bit when she was younger. I found a book on Wicca on the bookshelf at home when I was 12, and reading that really focused my interest on religion and spiritual practices at a young age.

[@ehlersdanlosandi]

@GoNorthJapan I bet that was an eye opener as a 12 year old without a huge internet presence at the time!It's really amazing how different religions are, yet so similar at the same time.

[@GoNorthJapan]

@@ehlersdanlosandi Yeah, definitely! This would have been around 1988-89, so no internet AT ALL.

[@ehlersdanlosandi]

@GoNorthJapan if my math is mathing, that makes you in your late 40's?! I can see you as maybe an early 40 aomething who stays active and wears sunscreen to cheat father time, but sheesh! It must be the onsen water then.

[@GoNorthJapan]

@@ehlersdanlosandi yeah I'm 47...

[@JJerseyGirl]

TAKASHii from Japan sent me over😁

[@GoNorthJapan]

Welcome!!

[@Bedxgamer]

Actually that was very interesting

[@GoNorthJapan]

Glad you thought so!

[@elochiao]

Hi, So is this a hint that you are going to celebrate Chris and Sharla's wedding?😊 Thank you for the interesting video.

[@GoNorthJapan]

Ahahaha, that's unlikely! Glad you liked the video!

[@michanoku]

Nice video! Considering I'm one of the priests mentioned in your story, this whole explanation, especially the script, stirred a lot of dormant memories. Haha. Did you get in just by watching other priests? I got to watch a few, but they actually had me do a couple trial runs before giving me the okay for actual weddings. And yes, since I've worked at that chapel with the feather shower for a while, I can confirm. It's super cheesey 😂 The feathers would often get stuck in people's hair or faces. But it looked pretty cool on pictures! What a wild time that was, huh?

[@GoNorthJapan]

Yeah, no try-outs for me. I only watched one wedding, then I was thrust on stage! Ahahaha, yeah, the feathers... Meeting you and Sam were the best thing that came out of doing weddings back then.

[@michanoku]

Aw, thanks, the feeling is mutual! Also, love how they just threw you into the pool.

[@cp_honey]

How interesting! The whole topic of course, and also what you studied long before. You must have heard such interesting things. Who would have guessed the immense market all those movies would create. I'm sure you contributed to many beautiful memories. Yep, it happened, pronouncing my friend's family name wrong.. 😅 And I can't hold back about a priest's speech at a funeral, who mixed up joining a _band_ with joining a _gang_ 🤦‍♀😂

[@GoNorthJapan]

Oh no! That's a big difference!

[@cp_honey]

@@GoNorthJapan Indeed! I should add that we're not in an English speaking country and have no frequent associations with the word 'gang', so it was way easier to mix up. It sounded more awkward than criminal. What a farewell. 😅

[@martinsawh125]

I've done weddings as minister in Japan for 15years im not religious but it has been a good source of income in the hay hay day id make 27000Y a wedding, but but most places paid 15,000 a wedding since covid it has dropped off with many places closing down since, but some places have recovered somewhat

[@michanoku]

I believe that most we ever got paid up here was 10000 per wedding. Definitely a perk of having so many people and companies between the chapel and the priests.

[@GoNorthJapan]

Damn, that's a great wage!

[@CelticUchuu]

Interesting story.

[@GoNorthJapan]

Glad you thought so!

[@Epscillion]

That is a fascinating story, thanks for sharing! One thing I have wondered about is the symbolism of the lotus flower in Japanese culture and if it has religious or spiritual significance? It's my favorite flower and I know it has connections to Buddhism. I rarely see lotus flowers on things like kimono or accessories despite Japan having a deep love of flowers. Is the lotus considered sacred and only used for Buddhist objects like incense holders and altars? Thank you in advance!

[@GoNorthJapan]

The Lotus is indeed an important Buddhist symbol. It's a beautiful pure blossom that has emerged from the dirty murky waters of the material world, desire, attachment, etc. This symbolism originates in India, and continues into Japan. We eat lotus roots here quite a lot! (But that's just a sidenote...)

[@CB-sx8xh]

I went to a friend's wedding in a chapel in Las Vegas and the "service" was conducted by an Elvis impersonator 😊

[@GoNorthJapan]

I've heard about those!

[@Slewenski]

time for a few more vids :D I can already see the karens freak out about fake priests doing weddings lol I think it is a wonderful oppertunity to dabble into a bit of acting and having an impact on people's lifes because those volks will never forget you :) I'm sure you did great lol you have such a calm voice it's perfect for this kinda thing I'd imagine.

[@GoNorthJapan]

Ahahaha, there was no harm done, and yeah it was interesting and rather nice.

[@ChaiLatte13]

Wow this is fascinating. I bet you were really good at that job. I love that you said a mid sized town of 300k people. My town has ~6,000 people in it. lol I got married by a 'generic' chaplain that I hired because I didn't want to deal with going through a real church here. Most churches require classes, membership and all sorts of things nowadays. I grew up Catholic too and my uncle was a priest. haha

[@GoNorthJapan]

Ahahaha, yeah mid-sized is maybe relative. Yup, I remember about the classes and such for getting married. My mom got remarried to my step-dad, and she had to get an annulment, then go through all kinds of counseling and classes and what-not so she could get married in a Catholic church to make my grandparents happy.

[@ehlersdanlosandi]

I was thinking the same thing! My town has 2,800 people. But I suppose when a country has literally the biggest city in the world, it's all relative!

[@HomesteadJapan]

I've been in Japan the better part of a decade and been to two of these chapel weddings. The first was only a Japanese officiator in Japanese. The second was a guy, British, I think, who didn't really speak Japanese. It was definitely clear to the audience but, as you said, it was about the experience. There was some Latin in that script as a bonus, I guess. The thing I will say about those types of weddings is that there's been a costume change in both of mine for the bride and groom, and I hear it's quite common. Edit: I'm guessing that background in your first photo was a really common theme for the stained glass as it reminds me very much, if it is not the same as, the last place I went (nowhere near Tohoku)

[@GoNorthJapan]

Yeah, I think they might buy their stained glass from the same place all over here.

[@grdvorak]

Hi, I've recently discovered a Nichiren ShoShu Buddhist temple near my home and gone there for a ceremony. I don't live in Japan but I know they are based there. Do you have any comments about how they operate in Japan or how prevalent they are?

[@GoNorthJapan]

Nichiren Shoshu is a somewhat combative sect. Unlike most other sects, they basically say that they are the only valid form of Buddhism and all the others are completely wrong. For that reason, I'm not a big fan tbh. Sure, the Lotus Sutra that they venerate is a great text with real wisdom, but the fact that it claims to be the ONLY valid source of wisdom turns me off a bit.

[@grdvorak]

I noticed that after attending one of their meditation sessions. I guess having come from an Evangelical Christian background it just didn't phase me because I'm so numb to that kind of language. Thanks for the reply! I love your videos. between you and Chris Broad I'm convinced that if I ever get to visit Japan heading to the North is what I want to do!

[@VerhoevenSimon]

It would seem more efficient if it was arranged by the venue, so you could do multiple back to back, rather than like you mentioned getting 2 on a day if you're lucky given the time expenditure.

[@michanoku]

They will usually do that! It's a schedule prepared by the venue and then given to whoever provides the priest. You can have back to back weddings or a mixture of fairs and weddings on the same day! I did 3 weddings and 2 fairs on one day sometimes.

[@GoNorthJapan]

Yeah, if you were doing them more regularly I think the scheduling would be better, like michanoku says there. I was very part time, so I didn't get more than 2 weddings in a day usually. Often just 1.

[@rishaa682]

This made me laugh, to be honest

[@clownearound5751]

First and foremost Quinlan, wishing you a great and prosperous Happy New Year for 2024. I thought this was great video, it’s very interesting to see how Japan has ‘adopted’ some of the traditional Western customs and holidays to a certain degree such as Christmas and Weddings and have different takes on them. It’s always interesting to see and hear more about your experiences whilst living in Japan and would definitely welcome more content if you choose to share that. Looking forward to seeing the seasons change from Winter to Spring, it’s always fantastic seeing the scenery of the mountains and trails that you show everyone. Thank you for all the excellent content that you shared with everyone during 2023, I look forward to seeing what this year will bring us. Best wishes to you from England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇺🇸🇯🇵

[@GoNorthJapan]

Thank you so much! Happy New Year to you too!

[@fqras]

Did you get married yourself and if so, did you do the Hollywood style or Japanese style marriage?

[@_mark1]

Osmo Pocket 3? Any good?

[@GoNorthJapan]

So far so good!

[@MrBud85]

Would you marry an athiest like myself :) I'm also a huge theatre person. I miss my performance days :*(

[@spacecavy]

Wow, what a bit of cultural dissonance! I’m not even a Christian and I want to scream at the sheer appropriation of it. I’m sure that if someone in America built a fake Shinto temple for Americans to get married at for vibes people would be grabbing their torches and pitchforks. I get the impression that people in Japan view religion as a whole very differently than we do in America. Thank you for sharing this; it’s important to be reminded there are different ways of looking at things.

[@GoNorthJapan]

Yeah, I totally get that take, and it's valid. Over here though, generally speaking, they don't have the same concepts of appropriation. if people built a faux Shinto temple in California and held weddings in kimonos with a guy dressed as a Shinto priest - say used various Asians that looked the part, even if they weren't Japanese, I really think very very very few people in Japan would be offended. They might think it was funny. Some would probably take it as a sign of Japanese culture being popular, even if poorly imitated, but I'd put money on only a tiny percentage taking offense. So in the same way, the main cultural imagination here doesn't realize how this practice might offend people in the West.

[@nolisarmiento1719]

I think religion is more of a Western concept.....most East Asian countries don't really have religions.....Buddhism and Confucianism are philosophies not religions......Shintoism is more about customs and beliefs and not a religion

[@thadtuiol1717]

As a Catholic, what you did was very wrong.

[@GoNorthJapan]

Fair enough. As someone raised Catholic that is currently atheist, I don't feel that way. I find religious culture interesting and beautiful, however! But the Japanese people doing these weddings aren't Christian or even pretending to be, they're just going for a exotic foreign wedding ceremony. I don't see how it harms anyone.