A notice stating that 'A and B are going to get married' is displayed on the town office's noticeboard for about two weeks. If no objections are lodged, then for the first time you can decide the date. This is supposed to be a traditional custom to avoid bigamy or illicit marriage and it is continued today. It's a big hard to imagine this being done in Japan for a bride from overseas. All the procedures were finally completed when I registered my marriage at the Japanese Embassy.
International marriages are really a lot of trouble.
I had originally been living with Ivan's family anyway, so my life has not changed very much. With the support of his family, I plan to continue my efforts to spread go. One thing that has changed after getting married is that I've become more patient. I seem to be able to look at things more in the longer term . . . Well, that's probably necessary, since my stay looks like ending up a much longer one than I'd first planned.