Cash-giving in a Japanese wedding

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 If you're asked to attend a Japanese wedding be ready to part with some cash. It may seemed a bit weird for us, Filipinos, but cash-giving is very common in weddings in Japan. The amount you give  varies depending on your relationship with the couple. The closer you are to them, the higher the amount that you must give them. And you don't just put this in any other envelope but in a Goshugi-bukuro (see picture below) with your name on it. When you get to the ceremony, you should give this to the wedding receptionist.

 
Source: Goshugi-bukuro [Online image]. (4 November 2010). Retrieved from http://jollygoo.blogspot.jp/2010/11/goshugi-bukuro.html
 
They say that the groom's family should give a generous amount to the bride's family and on the average, the amount is  equivalent to the groom's salary for three months. I'm not sure if this is still strictly practiced. All I know is the boss, co-workers, friends, and family members of the couple are expected to give cash gifts. Usually, friends give at least 30,000 yen or approximately 275 dollars at today's rate. The couple's boss or family members give more. The most important thing that you have to think of when giving money is the number of bills that you are putting in the envelope. It must not be divisible by two, as two relates to rikon (divorce).
 
When I was invited to a Japanese wedding for the first time, I was very nervous because of the stories that I heard about cash-giving. Since it was an interracial wedding, with the groom coming from North America, the Japanese practice of cash giving was not strictly observed. My friend, who happened to be the groom, instructed me and his other foreign friends in Japan to just give any amount to them. So we, his close friends in Japan, gave 20,000 yen or 183 dollars. Instead of using a ten-thousand paper bill for the whole amount, we used one ten-thousand and two five-thousand bills. That way we still observed the tradition of not giving something that relates to two.  :)  Though it was very expensive for us, it was really a great experience!
 
 
 
 
 
 

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