Bulging brides
Only one generation ago in Japan, it was deeply shameful for a family if an unmarried daughter became pregnant. In those days of high morality, a woman's virginity was treasured and it was beyond imagining that a bride would publicly admit her pregnancy at her wedding.
But, today, many Japanese women see nothing shameful about it. Marriage rites in which the baby's imminent arrival is celebrated are no longer shocking. In fact, according to a recent government survey, one out of every four children was already on the way when their parents married in 2000, compared with one out of eight in 1980.
The cheeky phrase deki-chatta kon - literally, a 'we're-pregnant wedding' - was created when pop music superstar Namie Amuro got married in 1997, admitting she was three months pregnant. 'I was going to have a baby sometime anyway; I might as well let it happen now,' she said.
Other celebrities of the popular music and TV world quickly followed suit. Some made their announcements with grins of mild embarrassment; others tacitly bragged about their passion; but none seemed clouded by a sense of shame. Among them was heartthrob Takuya Kimura of the popular singing group SMAP, who said his fiancee's pregnancy was not a problem, because he had planned to propose to her anyway.
Young people couldn't seem to care less if a bride is pregnant or, much less, a virgin. The editor of one bridal magazine says that marrying couples and their families increasingly see a pregnant bride as a 'double-happiness occasion'. A couple of TV family dramas have worked this twist into their plots.
The trend has not been lost on wedding-related businesses, which are scrambling to aim sales strategies at no-longer-blushing brides. Japan's leading maker of women's underwear, Wacoal, has developed six styles of wedding dresses with flexible fabric and double pleats, to accommodate a bride's swelling figure.
Wedding management firms are also in the hunt. Shin Yokohama International Hotel is one of the pioneers, offering a package with a size-adjustable wedding dress. Other hotels offer pregnancy-friendly menus and a photo session with the baby when it's one month old. Travel agencies and insurance companies are coming out with services for pregnant brides.
The trend may seem to symbolise a new liberalism among today's Japanese. It could also be evidence, however, that they recognise this society's continuing bias and discrimination against illegitimate children. Childbirth within marriage is still very important in Japan.
