I'd Rather Be Watching Baseball

For a few weeks now I've been looking for a suit to where to my wedding in November. There have been a few options on the table: rent a suit, buy an off-the-rack suit, or get one made to my specifications. Renting a suit was never a real option, mostly because I figure if I'm going to spend that much money ($600-700 here in Japan, don't get me started), I'd like to walk away with something I can possibly use again.

This mentality didn't stop me from trying on some rental suits along the way though. We are having a somewhat bastardized wedding with a bit of eastern and western tradition. Actually bastardized is probably too kind a word for what they do to weddings here in Japan (from a westerners point of view at least; looks like I started), but I'm learning that dwelling on that fact has no benefit to anything, specifically my own mental well being.

The main point here is that during the wedding, Chieko and I will be putting on some traditional Japanese wedding garb; Chieko a kimono, me, the male wedding costume, not sure what it's called, pretty sure it's not 'male kimono.' We are renting these outfits, and while I have virtually no choice in what I wear (it's black or white, literally), Chieko has a nearly infinite number of kimonos to choose from. So we go to different shops, Chieko tries on thousands of kimonos, I sit and read and take a picture every few minutes once they've strung another kimono up on her.

Usually the places we go to have a pretty crappy selection of suits; their bread and butter is in kimonos. But the last place we went, when we were in Tokyo a few weeks ago, had LOTS of suits to choose from, so I turned the tables and made Chieko wait and take pictures while I tried on a bunch of suits. Here are some pictures.

I kind of liked this get-up, though the pants were a little shiny.



Boring. Chieko liked it.



The reason I'm not smiling is because I hate this suit. Chieko liked it.



OH!! Money. I was way into this 17th century sweetness. I half-jokingly asked if they had a staff, and the lady came back with a staff AND a top hat. I seriously considered this suit, but it's a little much, and I'm not just saying that because my wife didn't like it.





So, with the option of renting a suit more or less ruled out, I was down to either buying something off the rack, or getting something made. This week I've been cruising around trying on suits, and I keep running into the same problem I encountered back in the states. I'm just between sizes, so nothing fits me perfectly. What's kind of aggravating is that I could pay $1,000 for a suit that doesn't fit me, and the store won't do anything to adjust it. So I've decided order made is the way to go.

Today we went down to a local tailor, picked out some material, got measured up, and I hope to be looking smooth on my wedding day. The pattern I picked wasn't actually in stock, and it's hard to tell much based on a sample piece of cloth the size of a CD case, so they ordered the goods and will let me check them out before making the suit. This is the first time I've ever had a suit made from scratch, and I'm pretty excited about it. After trying on a bunch of pricey suits that didn't really fit, I'm looking forward to getting something made specifically for me that doesn't cost a whole lot more. It makes me feel important or something.

In case you are wondering, the Japanese outfit I'll be wearing is similar to this one. I think the one I'll end up with is black on top, but the bottom is similar to this. Truth be told I think this outfit is really cool and wouldn't mind just wearing it for the entire wedding.



Well, I'm all bloated from a giant dinner of ramen and gyoza, and I need to assume a horizontal position that will most likely result in my loss of consciousness. All in all not a bad way to end the weekend. Have a nice day.