HK banquet confirmed - 2009.05.17

Yo! Hong Kong banquet confirmed, as :

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Date: May 17, 2009 (Sunday)

Time: 12 pm to 3 pm

Venue: Grand Marquee, Gold Coast Hotel, Tuen Mun

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This is an easy conclusion against our well-defined criteria, including:

1) "Good days" (吉日) for us: Mar 29 (chosen for JP banquet), Apr 19, May 17, June 20.

Overseas friends' schedules was sought and May 17 is of convenience to the majority.

2) Time: lunch is preferred as i) all "good time" (吉時) picked are in the morning; ii) respect Japanese guests as Japanese style is more for lunch; iii) start early & finish early, avoid making it a tiring day for all; iv) a bright day in spring, with plenty of sunshine. AND!!! v) my super good friend xx is having her wedding on May 17 as well - we can rush to her dinner banquet after ours!

3) Venue: We want to make our banquet a cozy get-together, with natural light to add to the warmth & green + flowers to add energy and new hopes. A pure white marquee inside a garden is the best option!

A quick research of available marquees in HK:

i) Repulse Bay (out - renovation in Q2 2009);

ii) Harbour Plaza Metropolis (Marquee+harbour view= city feel and a gorgeous night view, better for night event);

iii) Aberdeen Marine Club (looks nice but could not manage to make a visit after several attempts..give up)

iv) Gold Coast Hotel: (Marquee in a garden!) in terms of "concept", Gold Coast stands out immediately! We made a visit there on May 1 (as an outing activity during Jin's stay in Apr for registration) and had a wonderful experience:

The whole Gold Coast area is a resort! Pace slow down once your enter the area. Less populated and most of the people there are in relax (tourist)/ casual (residents) mode. Going to Gold Coast itself can make a day trip - bring additional value to our guests especially when we can finish early. The outlook of the hotel is just so-so, but the marquee itself is super - surrounded by the garden and a cruise area. In terms of environment it is almost perfect!

The sales manager we talked to was a nice guy, too. Easy going and helpful. He even advised us to keep shopping around and confirm during wedding expo in order to get more discount....haha...

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Here comes the day - May 31.

I went with XX and her fiance for the Wedding Expo to confirm the package with Gold Coast Hotel. XX also confirmed a few packages for her wedding preparation as well. Tired but very fruitful day.

OK. The defined banquet date also serve as a kick-off for the project. A series of logistics need to be prepared and booked shortly. The first thing I did was confirmed Helen, my make-up stylist of her assistance again for next year's party! yeah yeah!

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p.s. Both Jin and myself love traveling a lot. Today he made a new section at the bottom of this blog - "Cities we have visited together".

Preparing document for Certificate of Eligibility: All systems are GO!!!

In the past post, I have reported that Carol has been added into my 戸籍. While the legal office had done its procedure to register us as family, we have been preparing the paperwork which we will submit to apply for the Certifiicate of Eligibility (在留資格認定証明書）. There are quite some items, which we slowly but surely prepared in a joint project:

Required formats
1. 在留資格認定証明書交付申請書 (Application form for Certificate of Eligibility) 3pages
2. 身元保証書 (Letter of Guarantee) 1page
3. 質問書 (Questionnaire) 8pages
4. Additional information for the questionnaire (An essay which we provide detailed information from the time we met until we decided to get marry) 4pages
5. B5 size envelope with return address (of Jin) written and 430JPY stamp attached
6. 課税証明書 (Taxation Certificate) 1page
7. 納税証明書 (Tax payment Certificate) 1page
8. 結婚証明書 (Marriage Certificate) - Original (to show), Copy (to submit), 2page translation, a total of 4 pages
9. 在籍証明書 (Certificate of Employment) - Original (to show), Copy (to submit), 2page translation, a total of 4 pages

Additional information
10. Namecard of Carol and Jin (to prove that we are of the same company) 2pcs
11. 上申書 (Letter of Petition) - A letter from a Jin's father and mother to address expedition of registration procedure (handwritten on a specific form and then stamp chopped) a total of 2pages
12. Copy of Carol's passport 1page
13. Call history of international calls which Jin and Carol had called to each other 61pages
14. Album of 40 pictures each with handmade captions attached to it.



Still need to fetch from legal office:
15. 戸籍謄本 (Family Register) 1page
16. 住民票 (Certificate of Residence) 1page

Whoa!!! It is a total of 92 pages of information!!!!! There's lots of information that the country of Japan requires me to submit in order to approve Carol's eligibility to stay in Japan with me.

Once this is submitted, the long long wait time will start. The date I'm planning to submit is just around the corner!!! あと少しだ!!!

It's 1 month old - Jin & Carol's marriage!

Dear Friends,

Today marks the first month celebration of our marriage!! *\(^o^)(^o^)/*

After our registration on Apr 27, we made visits to Macau, Shanghai & Suzhou. After a brief bye-bye, I headed Paris and then Belgium and met Jin again at HK airport for another week in HK...now that we are both back to our "normal mode" working hard in Tokyo and Hong Kong respectively. phew... The lucky thing was - we were able to stay together for almost half the month! yey yey!

It was a very colorful and busy busy month for us...yet, there is a call inside us keep reminding us to send this thank-you note to all of you!

Friends, we did not expect our day to be so marvellous until we had your presence. Your warm words of blessings, your true smile, big laughs, strengthful hand-shakes....your caring and support meant a lot to us. We could not thank you more but we promise to treat you a proper celebration next year either in Japan or Hong Kong.

In the meantime, let us share as much joy as we have with you:

• Photo album of the registration day: Our memories with you to last and treasure -
  http://picasaweb.google.com/jctakamura/OurWeddingPart1HKRegistration
• Preview version of our pre-wedding photos: (http://picasaweb.google.com/jctakamura/ZRuDzH)
  We took our pre-wedding pictures in Nara, Japan on April 8, 2008. (Exactly 2 months after Jin proposed!) Besides standard wedding dress and colorful evening dress, we also prepared "Kimono"/ "和服" (in Chinese) - it's the one and only "振袖" I wore in my life!! (Note: 振袖 is the type of kimono only for unmarried female, with long long sleeves.)
• Our wedding blog (http://jincarol.blogspot.com/):
  Many of you have asked the same question: "how's life after married?" "how do you feel being a husband/wife?" We are trying to address these questions via our blog - keep you eyes on it! You will also find detailed steps how we put together the wedding registration and other wedding arrangement - hope it will be helpful to the next brides/grooms!

ENJOY & STAY TUNED!

Warmest regards,
Carol & Jin

We are family!!!

Ever since I had gone back to Japan *sob*sob*, I had been calling the government office ever day to check whether they have registered our marriage registration in my 戸籍. Please refer to the previous post if you are not aware of what this is.

It was on the 14th of May that I received an extremely gooooooooooooooooooooodo news!!!!! Carol is now in my 戸籍, which means that we are ready to submit the registration form for the Certificate of Eligibility (在留資格認定証明書, the permit for Carol to request for her spouse visa).

I just am sooooo happy as these steps move along one by one!!! However, I am going to Hong Kong from Sunday for a business trip, so it'll have to be next week, or the final week of May which I can submit the forms..... I just cannot wait to get the process started and going!!!!!

きゃろちゃん、あと少しだからね。もう少し、我慢してね。いつまでも離れ離れで寂しい思いをさせてごめんね。

*0* ... our wedding shopping in Shanghai!

If you are sober enough, you will ask – how about Jin? Anything for him from Shanghai/ Suzhou?

Shopping for Jin happened in Shanghai. Again, advice/ prototype from Clara’s…Clara’s husband got his tuxedo in Shanghai’s Fabric Market last year at CNY 600. How’s Jin’s?

It was a shopping mall with 3 stories. We checked 2 stories but found most designs were just similar, if not identical. THE WAR BEGAN. Shops offered from CNY 1,100 to CNY 1,300. We started from CNY 500 and finally got a deal at CNY 700, inclusive of the jacket, bow tie, waist band and trousers. We requested some modifications to make it a unique one but this remained an uncertainty that I am not fully confident…anyway, we will see.

(trial fit in 2 days)

I also bought a tailor-made business suit in the Fabric Market, too. CNY 480 for suit jacket plus two pairs of trousers. Very good deal.

The real crazy shopping happened the other day when we return again for trial fit. We found a lot of ties and thought it might be good to get Jin a few. (I am gradually changing things inside Jin’s wardrobe…haha)

Initial offer – CNY 25 each. I dug out from the mountain of ties and got the best 8. We also got two pairs of cuffs. My mind was not very sharp that time and needed to re-negotiate…final deal at CNY 260 for all. I feel we could have get a better deal, but again, it’s good enough for HK & JP standards.

番外篇: I also had a "negative purchase" in Shanghai - paid to remove my pretty nails (>< .

I noticed one change in me after getting married – I am becoming money conscious! I never have bargained that hard before…but I felt it at ease and… indeed necessary!!

*0* ... our wedding shopping in Suzhou!

Jin felt a great pity not being able to accompany me throughout the wedding preparation (esp. costume arrangement) in Hong Kong. Here comes the chance! In his return trip to Japan after HK registration, Jin stopped in Shanghai for our brief shopping in the city and in the outskirt city of Suzhou (蘇州).

It is always good to be a “junior” bride, with experienced wife to guide and advice me =). The important persons for this Suzhou mission are Clara and Ann. This was in fact not the first Suzhou trip for us 3 (Welcome Jin!). Clara went through the same process last year and I was her bride’s maid. Ann is always the professional to advise us in terms of design, quality and price!

Ann also offered us to stay at her cozy home. With her super warm hospitality, we quickly restored our energy from all travels and became “genki genki” throughout the trip. (A big THANK YOU to Ann!)

Pre-trip preparation:

• Confirm schedule with my important “local” guides and better the train tickets. Yeah, thanks again to Clara & Ann for making their time.
• Basic research on Suzhou’s “wedding dress village”, Tiger Hill (虎丘)– Yes, the whole district is full of wedding dress shops. We cannot afford the time to check every single shop, therefore, needed to know the grading, style, price range & general customer comments in order to highlight just a few. Thanks Kate for getting me the “Shopping strategy guide of Suzhou wedding dress”. It was indeed very helpful.
• Get to know my “dream dress”. It is crucial that we know what kind of dress that we want because we will see hundreds of them…too much uncertainty is time-consuming and side-track our decision-making process. I am lucky that I have already gone through the “look-see-and-match” process in HK. I have already formed an idea of what dress suits me. Besides, Jin bought me some wedding dress magazines from Japan (wao, they are mostly high-end super dress). My idea of a “dream dress” was formed accordingly.
• Budget – not too much a worry. Making one in Suzhou is always cheaper than renting one in Hong Kong…But we really need to spend the time to select and check the details. And, most tiring of all – bargain, bargain and…bargain.

On the way to Suzhou

With all the experience and preparation, we believed a one-day trip will do. We departed early for a 9:15 train from Shanghai to Suzhou. Well…we barely… missed it. This marked the beginning of our “run & rush” day…haha. I cannot recall when was the last time I ran like crazy in a city! We explored a lot different means (which is in fact a good learning experience re: transportation in Shanghai!) and finally arrived Suzhou via private car around noon time.

"Yuk"…I guess this was the first word we said about Suzhou…traffic there was still (compare to last year) messy, demolition and construction, dust here and there; no proper traffic signals, drivers squeeze in and turn whichever way…really aggressive and DANGEROUS! We were dropped at a very unhygienic place…bad smell made us headache (>< The mess stopped when super Ann was able to get us return tickets to Shanghai at a favorable time. (official ticket booth said earliest available ticket was at 11:30 PM!) We took a lunch break and our happy money-washing trip began.....


1st stop – Chinese dress making at 石路
Making a Chinese Cheongsam is a must-do item on my list. I wished to make a gorgeous one for the wedding banquet and a few elegant ones for special social occasions.

Thanks to Clara’s experience, we immediately rush into our target, 瑞富祥, a department store that specializes in silk product.

Wao… silk cloth with all sorts of patterns and design. We checked rolls after rolls of cloth, quickly located some really good ones.

And, the WAR BEGAN! Room for bargain was really limited for this department store. Thanks to Ann’s soft strategy, we were able to get really good deals from both the cloth and the tailor handcraft fee!!!

Time flies when we were in crazy shopping mode. It was already close to 4pm when everything was done. (p.s.: what did Jin do during the crazy hours of ladies? He kept taking greedy happy photos of us…and kept giving amazing faces of “I can’t believe it! It’s soo cheap!!”)

2nd stop – Wedding dress making at 虎丘
Time was running out and I prepared everybody that Jin and I might need to come again the other day to continue the shopping. I never expected “Love at first sight” would happen!

Again, we did our “focus shopping” – quickly rush into the shop that Clara got her wedding dress last year.

While we were disappointed at the limited availability of the dresses and about to leave…the salesperson held us and presented us a dress of treasure, hid at the roof top of hte store which was wrapped in an ugly plastic bag…the salesperson started the story: they are so proud of their refinery of dresses that they made and transformed to the exporting business. By serving European and Japanese customers, they were earning a good fortune now. That was why they stopped from making fair dresses (for local needs).

My eyes…blink blink when I saw THE dress!!! It was a gorgeous one full of detail, handmade for sure. The long tail also fits perfectly for my march-in at the chapel of our wedding banquet in Japan. I quickly tried that on and fell into it. Offer at CNY 2,800. (Salesperson said they usually ask for CNY 4,500, but offer a great discount to us as old customers, blablabla). Jin didn’t say a word until that point as he could feel that I was getting emotional…he didn’t want to make it an impulsive purchase. He said “in order not to regret, let’s check other shops and come back afterwards”. We left the shop with the lady chased after us “what is your budget? We can try to match….” We said max. CNY 1,800 and she agreed. “hmm…too easy as if it’s not a good bargain…”

Anyway, since we agreed to keep looking, we then followed the “strategic guide” and checked isle by isle, however, nothing comparable. In 15 mins, we know we should return. Our strategy advisor, Ann, said it’s a signal of failure if we just rushed back so shortly. We therefore kept wandering around, checked also evening dresses, and planned our WAR, or in order words, DRAMA.

We wanted to set up a scene as:

I liked the dress so so much (to justify our return) but Jin doesn’t like it (not so perfect that it doesn’t deserve the price). We made our faces really bad and Ann as a mediator brought us back to stop our “quarrel”.

Although Jin acted so well that I even thought he really did’t like the dress, this stupid drama couldn’t get us any further discount (><. We finally made the deal at CNY 1,800...with some modification requested.

We must say all were super good deals in terms of both HK & JP standards – HURRAY~~ our successful shopping trip!!!

P.S.: the amazement didn’t stop. The cheongsam tailor wanted me to go back for a fit with the draft dresses, in merely 48 hours. Jin and I went to Suzhou again the other day and couldn’t help clapping our hands at the marvelous art did by the tailor. The handmade cheongsams were 80% done!!! The match of color, the detailness, everything were done so nicely. While I tried them on, other customers also amazed and ordered the same design as mine…Look forward to the final products (>w<

P.S. 2: This time we were able to take the train...which was 99% similar to JP's 新幹線 @_@

Price paid for the service.....

28th April was our first day of team work to battle against our common enemy. They were once our trustworthy agent, but it turned out that their service was nothing but ridiculously nonsensical. 'Twas really an experience for Jin to see how a "service of non-Japanese standard" would be, but in general, it was even below it... We were not treated as a customer even though we paid a fortune for their "worthless service".

***Note well: The following explains the content of the battle we fought with our Photo Shooting agent - Romantic Life - for their mistreatment they served us with, and the accomplishment we achieved from the battle. This post is NOT to put down on Romantic Life of their service, nor is it to provide our readers with how they can things be negotiated. This post is only to share with you what we had to go through for what they have done and we had to go through.

The mistreatment they had on us.....

1. Treated customers as if they were friends - called Jin with a nickname in Cantonese knowing that Jin cannot understand it.

2. Called Carol with a comment which was not appreciated at all. Such comment was not at all a fit since Carol had put sooooo much an effort to get into such result, and the treatment she received was just too cruel.

3. None of the arrangements and communications were intuitively made, and resulted in stress, burden, extra work, and also a mistreatment from the photo shooting staff (located in Taiwan, met for the first time when we were in Nara).

As a result, the first promise / explanation we received from the customer representative "We are here, a one stop service to make the communication with the staff as much as possible and transparent, to make the stress on the bride (since in this market, such miscommunication happens and puts burden and stress onto the bride, which yields to increase of stress level to the couple...) as little as possible" was not executed. Instead, the customer representative's activities were so junior and irresponsible, that we became the victim of their miscommunication. This was extremely stressful.

However much the arrangements were horrible, the end result of photo shooting was still satsifactory. The photo shooting crews and we were focused in making a one-and-only superb album. Our focus was very intense, that we want to give complements to the photo shooting staff.

So, the battle was against the Hong Kong arrangement crew. We met with the Shop Owner and explained the above. In the beginning, the Shop Owner thought we were complaining about the photo shooting crews. However, as our explanation elaborated, they started to feel the guilt. Fortunately (and indeed, this is a good thing), the Shop Owner is responsible of the customer operations and customer satisfaction, and since she was from Taiwan, she has the Taiwan customer oriented focus which resulted in a sympathy and feel of apology from all of the explanation we had elaborated.

This was a good thing, and the communication from here went smoother.

As a result, we were able to receive quite a number of accomplishment, which really is priceless.

1. ALL soft copies of the pictures we had taken in Kimono. This is because as I elaborated in the earlier post, the Kimono which Carol wore - furisode 振袖 - can only be worn by an unmarried lady. Hence, by practice, this was the one and only chance Carol could wear this type of Kimono in her whole life. It was very important that we have as evidence as possible of this period of time.

***It turns out that the number of photos taken were over 100 which resulted in quite an amount of bonus we were able to receive.

2. Discount in the creation of album. Since the number of photos we chose were a total of 100 (the package only included 30, hence we needed to pay for the extra 70 pictures to be included in the album). This discount also was quite some amount.

All in all, we felt that this battle was well thought, and we both did a good job. On top of this, the Shop Owner was really rational, understanding, reasonable, and fair. Her mind was sharp at all times, and was thinking in realtime of what went on, and what needed to be done in order to "keep the customer satisfaction, yet keep their store stance." We feel it was fortunate that we fought with her and no one else.

Currently, the album is in production, and the Shop Owner (since she insisted in taking over the production operation, because she has a 12years of experience in this operation, and she wants to do this for us to "gain the trust"), and she understands our trust in their service is down to the pits. It is on their hands to prove to us that they are "not as bad as what they had done to us up until now", and to make us satisfied.

Let's see the end result (^-'b