Romancing the phone: Japan navigates love in the time of coronavirus

“I had a bad feeling about it,” the 32-year-old company worker says. “I started thinking, ‘What if?’ It was something I just didn’t want to think about, but I knew there was at least a possibility.”

Okada and his wife, Ami, had legally married in August last year, but they were planning to hold a lavish celebration at a Tokyo wedding venue for around 90 guests this spring. Like most wedding ceremonies in Japan, it was not going to be cheap. The couple expected a bill of around ¥5 million.

When news of Japan’s first cases of COVID-19 began to hit the headlines in February, Okada checked the contract he had signed with the wedding venue. He discovered that he would still have to pay a fee if the wedding was canceled unilaterally, rising in increments as the day approached. He looked into taking out wedding insurance, only to find that he was two days too late.

As news of the virus’ spread worsened in March, Okada slumped further into despair. Then, on March 25, when Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike addressed residents in the capital and urged them to stay home that weekend, Okada and his wife finally decided to call off their wedding.

Okada ended up paying ¥1 million for a celebration that never took place, and when he opened the curtains on the morning of April 4 and saw nothing but clear, blue skies, he allowed himself a rueful smile at what might have been.

Later that day, Okada received a message from a friend, asking if he and his wife would like to join an online party. When they accepted and clicked on the link, they found six of their closest friends, all dressed in wedding outfits. The friends told the couple they were going to hold the wedding celebration online instead, and the group spent the rest of the day giving speeches and toasts and making the most of an extraordinary situation.

“It was a great experience,” Okada says. “I like big events, but doing it online with just six good friends made me realize what’s really important.”

Okada and his wife would still like to hold a real-life ceremony at a later date, but their plans are on hold indefinitely.

With the future so uncertain, who can blame them? Japan’s state of emergency is set to fully expire at the end of the month, but the government has warned that citizens will need to adopt a “new lifestyle” to prevent further outbreaks in the weeks, months and maybe even years to come.