Last fall my boyfriend and I decided to get engaged here in Japan.
And a lot of people have asked "What does his family think of this?"
Are they ok with him marrying an American? A non-Japanese person?
Will we fit into a traditional Japanese family? Or will we be on our own?
Well it's New Years, which is the biggest holiday in Japan and a lot of people return back to their hometowns.
We are going to give you a very rare glimpse into a traditional New Years with a Japanese family.
And you'll see how I interact with the in-laws.
This is the first holiday. So, let's hope I don't mess it up. Here we go.
Every time you visit a Japanese person's house you should bring a gift. And we've got lots of gifts because it's New Years.
In Japan it's a tradition to go to the Shinto temple and do the first prayer of the year.
But Tommy's parents know I'm a catholic, so instead they took us to church
which just happens to be the same church where we'll be getting married this year.
I guess it takes one hour or two hours.
You think 1 or 2 hours for that line just to do a 30 second prayer.
Ehhh! Come on, it keeps going.
Just when you think it's the end of the line, it's not.
It's the never ending line.
Maybe 3 hours. 3 hours! Maybe.
Oh my gosh, this is dedication. Look at this.
I'm not sure about the connection with a panda and the year of the tiger. But that's alright. There's a panda.
He got the lucky one. That means he's gonna have good luck this year. He's a lucky guy.
Because this year is my year. You're the year of the tiger. Tiger!
Oh wait, so you tie it no matter what? What's the purpose of tying it here? Why do you tie it?
Uh, my dream will come true. What's your dream?
There you go. Good luck this year. Dude this is crowded. We gotta get out of here.
It's a big festival. New Years festival.
I love this one.
What's inside? Anko and custard.
Yummy. Look at that.
Mmm, that's good. There's like pudding inside of there. Custard.
Taiyaki. It's a little fish. I don't know it's a fish with custard in it. What else we got?
I love this. Takoyaki. Squid. Squid balls.