The most common reason for marriage in Japan now appears to be unplanned pregnancy, and the enterprising Japanese bridal industry, fearful of the effect the term “shotgun wedding” might be having on their sales, is planning on renaming marriages designed to cover up an unexpected pregnancy “angel weddings” instead…
The term used in Japanese to denote marriages based on an already conceived pregnancy is a “dekichatta kekkon”, abbreviated to “dekikon,” very roughly an “accidental marriage,” often one where the frequently woeful understanding of contraception many Japanese possess has failed completely.
This carries a very similar if not identical nuance to the English term “shotgun wedding,” a marriage bride and groom are obliged to undertake after a child is conceived out of wedlock, lest their families scorn or even disown them.
Estimates put the number of such weddings at as much as 40% of the total in Japan, possibly making it the single largest contributor to marriage rates, but in spite of this commonness the practice is still viewed very negatively by many Japanese.
However, Japan’s cunning bridal industry has already sensed an opportunity, and is now pushing for these “shotgun weddings” to instead become known as “angel weddings.” A variety of other similar terms are being pushed, with some of the more desperate being “mamaridge” and “double happy marriage”…
Via Itai News.
2ch provides a variety of its own suggested terms, most of which are thankfully untranslatable…
“No-rubber-sex-riage.”
“The bridal industry must really be desperate, it’s painful to behold…”
“Double happy? If it were a happy occurrence they wouldn’t have been using contraceptives in the first place…”
“We-couldn’t-wait-riage.”
“What do you mean, ‘their contraception has failed’? They probably weren’t even using any from the start…”
“Unplannedge.”
“It’s not really a ‘contraception mishap’ if they aren’t even on the pill and they come inside…”
“In this era let us be thankful they are getting married at all.”
“There’s loads of young ones today who just come inside to force a marriage on. At least their parents will be happy.”
“Slaveriage.”
“Changing the word like this is on the same level as saying ‘let’s find a cool way of saying virginity!’”
“Is-this-really-mine-riage.”
“’Angel marriage’ – what the hell? Just call it an improper accident!”
“My-life-is-overiage.”
“If the image is so bad then don’t do it…”
“I-couldn’t-get-rid-of-heriage.”
“I don’t understand why the image needs to be improved, or why it was bad to begin with…”
“Just changing the name doesn’t change the image.”
Glad to see that they are not running away from their problem
marriage is stupid unless you’re smart and in for money
are they following a Leah-Dizon-trend nowadays?
Oh noes, it’s the reverse time lag!
Kafuka’s concepts always win
I’d marry the one in the op picture immediately