It was around the middle of February when the first scintilla of doubt began to form in Yu Okada’s mind that his April 4 wedding might not proceed as planned.
“I had a bad feeling about it,” the 32-year-old company worker says. “I started thinking, ‘What if?’ It was something I just didn’t want to think about, but I knew there was at least a possibility.”
Okada and his wife, Ami, had legally married in August last year, but they were planning to hold a lavish celebration at a Tokyo wedding venue for around 90 guests this spring. Like most wedding ceremonies in Japan, it was not going to be cheap. The couple expected a bill of around ¥5 million.