11 . 11 .

On November 11th, 2011 Shin and I were married at city hall in Osaka. There was no ceremony, just the two of us filling out paperwork and presenting our identification. We exchanged rings in the back of a taxi on the way home; a friend of ours commented that it was all very "rock star".

Of course that wasn't all we did.

We followed up our rock start visit to city hall by dressing in traditional Japanese kimonos and visiting one of the more famous and beautiful sightseeing spots in Kyoto, Arishiyama.

The next day we celebrated with friends and family with a more traditional reception. We exchanged vows, ate, drank and were merry. It was a fabulous couple of days.

It's now one year later and we are celebrating our first anniversary! What a year it has been. We moved at the end of March, I started a new job at the beginning of April and of course The Bean entered the picture not long after that. 

The Hiranos don't mess around.

When it came to celebrating our first anniversary we figured that, much like our wedding, it should be a two day affair. So Shin made plans for the 11th and I made plans for the 12th.

After working on the morning of the 11th, I headed home and was greeted by the arrival of some maternity clothes I had ordered online. Woo hoo, something to wear for our big weekend! Already off to a good start. After ripping open the box and playing dress-up for a while I noticed that something was missing.

My husband.

Where was Shin?

I knew that he had planned to borrow his parent's car for the weekend but had said that he'd be home by the time I finished work. The pouring rain outside, coupled with his propensity for being late meant that he was probably both stuck in traffic and of course running late. Perfect time for a nap. I woke up an hour  later, still no Shin.

Hmmmm.

He was now about three hours late and in my books that's time enough to warrant a phone call. After about 6 rings Shin groggily answered the phone,

"Where are you!?"

"Sleeping in the car."

Shin's parents live between 45 minutes to an hour away on a normal day. Throw in some rain, and keep in mind that it was Sunday, the time almost doubles. But sleeping in the car...? Apparently, Shin was really tired on the way home and didn't think that he'd make it without a nap. So, he pulled over for a ten minute snooze.

An hour and a half later he was still snoozing.

Shin reassured me that I had no need to worry, and that he would be home in plenty of time to get ready for our evening out. Under my breath I muttered "better late than never" and hung up.

Although the 11th was Shin's day to plan anniversary fun, I had a little surprise up my sleeve.

There were many aspects of our wedding that Shin was happy to let me take care of, but one of the things that he had some very strong opinions on was our wedding cake. He didn't want the usual fruity cream cake that is served at most receptions in Japan, and when I suggested a cupcake tower he was hooked. I realize that cupcake towers are by no means new or unusual in most places, but they are pretty much unheard of in Japan.

What to do?

Of course! Ask the Sugar Fairy, to make our wedding cake. The Sugar Fairy is a  baker and maker extraordinaire, and luckily for us she is also a very good friend. Although it was a monumental task, she churned out the perfect cake!

We had planned to freeze some for our first anniversary, but the Sugar Fairy advised against it and promised to make us an anniversary cake. And, so she did.

While Shin was making his way home I made some coffee and took the cake out of the fridge. Shin had forgotten about the promise of an anniversary cake, so when he (finally) got home he was totally surprised. We sat down and toasted our first year of marriage.

Cake before dinner, why not!







After finishing our dessert we got dressed up and headed out to the restaurant. Shin had reserved us a table at a famous teppanyaki restaurant about an hour drive from our place. I was convinced that we wouldn't make it in time for our reservation, as it had taken Shin so long to get home, but the rain had let up and there was no need to stop for a nap. For once we were actually early!

Then we ate.

And ate.

And ate.

Each table at the restaurant had its own chef, so all of the courses (eight in total) were perfectly timed and the food was cooked exactly as we wanted. The two most exciting courses for me were the seafood course and the steak course.

Delicious!

I had never been to a teppanyaki restaurant before, so this was a big treat for me. On our way home with bellies bursting, Shin pondered where we would go with The Bean for dinner on our second anniversary.

But I was too full to even answer.