By Ong Yee Ting
INSTEAD of the usual family dinner on their wedding anniversaries, Japanese couple Shigeaki and Chieko Fujii decided to try something different for their golden anniversary - a traditional Malay wedding ceremony.
The 80-year-old ‘bridegroom’ said it was E&O Hotel senior sales manager Khoo Boo Lim who suggested the idea to him.
The couple from Yokohama have been coming to the hotel for their month-long annual holiday since 2004.
Shigeaki said this was the first time he wore a baju melayu with tengkolok and sampin.
Their daughter, Mami Nakamura, 46, and her two children Naoto and Miri Nakamura also flew in from Tokyo to witness the ceremony.
“The only traditional costume I had seen my mum worn is the kimono which she wears on special occasions but she looks really wonderful in the kebaya,” she said.
Clad in a beautiful lime green kebaya complete with a short train and a shiny tiara, the petite Chieko, 74, was beaming as she followed her husband onto the pelamin (dais) prepared by the hotel.
The two then sat on the dais adorned with golden draperies and yellow decorative lights to receive blessings from invited hotel guests and hotel staff.
Everyone was later treated to a traditional-style Malay dinner - pulut kuning (yellow glutinous rice), rendang, chicken curry and Nyonya delicacies.
Khoo said this was the first time the hotel had organised a traditional wedding ceremony for its guests.
“Mr and Mrs Fujii both love Malaysian culture and the idea struck me when they told me that they wanted to spend their anniversary here when they visited Penang last year,” he said.
Source: www.thestar.com (2 April 2007)
