Shintoism

The kitchen staff spend their entire working daypreparing wedding feasts.When everything's ready, the bride and groom,with their guests, make their wayto one of the 11 wedding halls for the ceremony.

On a full day, here, they can handle 240 weddingsand receptions.These are the notices for some of them.The actual ceremony takes 10 minutes.The Shinto priest, attended by two shrine maidens,intones the words of the service.Instead of the ring to signify their union,the couple exchange cups of sake, Japanese rice wine.

The next wedding party are waiting outside,as the newlyweds pass through the lounge on the wayto the reception.These conveyor belt weddings cost between seven and 54pounds, depending upon the style and the number of guests.And though well over half of all Japanese managersare still arranged by the ...