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Christian-style chapel weddings remain the rage in Japan because a typical bride there wants to wear the wedding dress and walk the virgin road—to be a princess for a day with all her friends watching. This may chagrin some ministers, but others eagerly cater to this unprecedented opportunity for more than just a fashionable performance.

Chapel weddings gained trendy status in the 1980s with a few celebrities choosing Christian style. Today, the bridal magazine “Zeksi” reports that more than 70 percent of Japanese weddings are the chapel type, far outnumbering traditional Shinto weddings. More than 80 percent of Japanese claim no religion according to “Operation World,” but most follow Buddhist and Shinto rituals. Brides in vogue, however, opt for the sparkling crown and flowing white-lace gown over ethnic Shinto tradition: being bound in as many as 12 kimonos and donning a large wig wrapped with a cloth designed to hide her “horns.”

Yet many couples have never read from the Bible, and are also unfamiliar with the Christian ceremony itself. Giggling and fretting over a wedding kiss in front of family and friends is a common element of these weddings, said Campus Crusade missionary Sam Ishikawa in Okinawa. Some couples settle for a handshake.

Though ministers are divided on the respectability of performing such weddings, some see it as a God-given chance in a country that has rebuffed Christianity for decades. The notion is not far-fetched given that on a typical weekend the number of people attending a chapel wedding nearly triples that of church worship services.

But in addition to providing a gospel witness, ministers hope to influence fledgling marriages. Japan has broken its own divorce rate record every year for more than a decade. With an estimated 250,000 divorces annually, the rate seems likely to continue to rise as Japan has one of the highest levels of marital dissatisfaction in the industrialized world. In 2001 long overdue laws regarding domestic violence were established in response to a government study that found one in five wives suffers physical violence from her husband.

If physical intimacy is a thermometer of marital bliss, Japan rates pathetically low here as well. A leading Japanese women’s magazine, “Josei Jishin,” reported last winter that 55 percent of couples in their 30s are sexless, an arrangement where husband and wife relate more like brother and sister, rather than sharing a bedroom.

Many clergy wish they could provide pre-marital counseling, but struggle with uncooperative hotels and wedding agencies. Others refuse to perform the rites without it. Some Osaka-area missionaries banded together in the mid-1990s to pressure the wedding industry, and have repudiated any weddings performed without at least an hour of counseling.

Since wedding schedules and Sunday worship times conflict, the demand for bona-fide ministers far outstrips the supply. Thus the wedding industry has mobilized to meet this demand. Companies have constructed more than 1,000 chapels across the nation, some importing entire defunct Anglican churches from the UK. A couple may have two-story stained glass windows of the crucifixion, choirs singing hymns, pipe organist and a jumbo-size Bible on display—everything except a Christian, including the “minister.”

Until recently, wedding agencies in Tokyo employed more than 500 un-ordained foreigners and 200 non-cleric Japanese to perform weddings. Kenny Joseph of REAP mission in Tokyo strongly objected. “Phony-baloney preachers are giving us a bad name. And we’re weeding them out,” he said.

Joseph, a native of Chicago, has trained and certified more than 90 “pinch-hitter” wedding chaplains. Many of these chaplains are Christian English teachers. They are screened for demeanor, adequate theology and Japanese language ability, then trained to perform a Christian wedding.

The penalty bogus ministers pay has recently gotten stiffer. Those who operate without a missionary visa may face a $2,500 fine, three years in prison and/or expulsion from the country.

But the lure for real ministers is big also. A three-wedding/three-hour commitment on a Saturday or Sunday typically earns the chaplain $450. With ministry and money so easy, many missionaries have dedicated themselves to nothing but weddings. Nathan Mikaelsen with Cadence International in Sendai estimated a loss of 200 missionaries to the trend, but added, “Perhaps they do more good there anyhow.”

Though the media have trumped up the motivation of mammon among ministers, many, like South Afrikaner Philip Visser of Japan Rural Mission in Kyushu, a veteran of 2,000 weddings, never personally touch their earnings. The money goes directly into mission operating funds. Support needed to minister in Japan ranks among the world’s highest, and many missionaries serve with inadequate funds.

The phenomenon is a dream come true for some missionaries: pagans build chapels, pack them with more pagans and plead for preachers to come preach. “God is building churches with the world’s money,” retired missionary Doyle Book said.

How long will the trend last? Independent missionary Richard Goodall of New Zealand quipped, “Until Christ comes back, or the Shinto boys see their income source shriveling up.”

Contenders argue that tangible conversions are scant, but scattered results are evident. Both Faialaga and Mikaelsen have seen salvation decisions. A woman at a new church in Yamagata related that before she had a clue about Christianity, her wedding was performed by a local minister. She was moved by the experience and eventually baptized. Last summer that pastor died without knowledge of her conversion. Most ministers doing weddings preach a one-shot message to an ocean of faces they will never see again—at least on this side of eternity.

Missionaries around the country are pessimistic about today’s Japanese marriages, but many agree that a Christian wedding might make the difference for finding something lasting.

Dr. Andrew Meeko is a second-generation missionary to Japan who directs Campus Crusade’s FamilyLife ministry (www.family lifejapan.org).