If you want to buy a wedding dress in Japan, here’s what you need to know.
A personal experience from a foreign bride.
I had no idea what I was thinking when I thought having a wedding in Japan would be breezy. I knew the language barrier was a huge inconvenient factor but in my naivety, I thought I could possibly manage since everyone was nice in Japan and their service was reputable.
I wasn’t entirely wrong. I did manage with the help of the friends I’ve made here. They’ve graciously and patiently rescued me in the later part of the journey. Nevertheless, the search was still tough.
These are some of the observations I’ve made while dress hunting here in Japan. It’ll be useful for you to know what you’ll have to deal with if or when you’re in a similar boat as me.
Rules and restrictions
Most wedding dress shops in Japan require a reservation. You can hardly find any departmental wedding dress shops like David’s Bridal here. They have occasional pop-up stores instead that happens about three to four times a year. The rules are laxer with no reservation needed. But COVID made it hard for these stores to hold their event with postponements and cancellations whenever the situation worsens.
Most of these dress stores allow you to try only two to four dresses in one visit for an hour. You can visit the store and try on the dresses for free for about two visits. More than two visits to the same store to try on other dresses will usually incur additional costs. Most of the stores have similar rules and are pretty standard across Tokyo, and possibly other parts of Japan (but I can’t be too sure). The only difference would be the number of dresses you can try on in one visit.
This was extremely inconvenient, especially having to travel to Tokyo each time. Even traveling within Tokyo is expensive! As many would know, public transportation in Japan is not exactly the cheapest. Precious time is also spent on traveling. If you don’t live in Tokyo, it takes at least 50 minutes to an hour and a half to get there, depending on which part of Tokyo you need to go to.
I do understand why such rules are in place. It’s to prevent people from having the freedom to try on too many dresses at the same time, and from spending too much time in their salon. It’s to keep their dresses safe and to keep their store orderly. Still, it definitely sucks the fun out of the search, making it very clinical and formal.
I wasn’t sure if this was universally true or exclusive to Japan so I took it to Facebook and asked my international friends what the rules were like in their part of the world. While some specialized boutiques have some rules, and reservation is needed, they’re still not as strict and rigid as Japan, allowing their customers to try up to five dresses or simply going with case-by-case situations. Five is a good number in my opinion. Just enough to suss out a couple of dresses in one visit.
At pop-up stores, while you can try on unlimited dresses in one visit, you’re not allowed to take pictures of yourself in the dresses you’re trying on. You can only take a picture if you intend to buy the dress.
Most dress stores also don’t allow brides to try on dresses if they don’t already have a wedding date. This was indeed vexing for pre-mature brides who want to get a head start in their wedding dress hunt, especially since there’s a lack of wedding dress departmental stores here.
Cultural Differences
After talking to a couple of my Japanese friends, it seems like it’s not in Japan’s culture to have friends accompany the bride on their search for a wedding dress. Usually, the mother or fiancé would follow. The number of people that could join the bride at the store is also limited to a tiny number, depending on the respective shops. Some only allow one. Others allow a maximum of three (but I can’t be too sure if it’s because of COVID).
It seems common for the fiancé to follow the bride on her dress search. I often see them waiting outside for the ladies to get changed, exchanging comments about the dress. After the bride chooses the dress, there’ll be a fitting rehearsal later for both bride and groom to see if their outfits are compatible.
I personally think this defeats the purpose of having a first look on the wedding day. But this seems like a very important process to wedding planners and dress coordinators. I guess I’m accustomed to the Western wedding culture. So I wanted my fiancé to see me in the dress on the special day itself. Even though I’ve mentioned this multiple times to them, it seemed like this was a hard and strange idea for them to grasp. So they probably thought I was the weird one.
If you’re planning to rent the dress, note that they’re quite particular about keeping their dress safe and clean. Their reasoning? Insurance is very expensive. Before canceling a location in Japan, the dress coordinator of that location kept persuading me not to dance during my wedding in the dress as it’s not part of their culture. She was very worried about the dress. Yet, I wasn’t allowed to bring in my own dress to dance in. And frankly, that was my last straw with the location. There were more issues with the location besides the dress of course, but that’s another story to tell for another day.
The Dress Staff
I had expected that the staff at the dress store would advise on the type of wedding dress that would suit my body type, especially at those specialized boutiques. I imagined they would ask for my preference and compare it to what they thought was suitable. Not in Japan. They only asked me what kind of dresses I like. I would show them my Pinterest board and they would get a rough idea but without any visualization of how I would fit the dress.
I guess I had this expectation because while wedding dress hunting for my short film when I was in the US, I observed their customer service and how personal the meeting was. I thought that was just part of their job. In Japan, that form of intimacy is unheard of due to the formal customer-staff relationship imbued into their culture. Instead, they’ll bring you two to three dresses (depending on the store’s rules) according to your references for you to try on. Or they would hand you a tablet or direct you to their website to choose your preferred dresses.
Strangely enough, in every dress that I tried on, they would say “kawaii!”. The initial compliment felt great. But realization dawned on me. It’s just something they say without much thought or sincerity. Dresses that they said looked cute on me, I didn’t agree, and neither did most of my family and friends when I showed them the pictures. It was hard to trust their comments. I had to look for someone I know that would give me an honest opinion to join me on the search. And this was the tough part. Without my family and friends from home, and being new in a foreign country, still trying to figure my way around, this proved to be a task.
Fortunately, I got to meet some great people who were nice enough to accompany me on this journey. Most importantly, they were candid enough to give me genuine feedback.
Types of wedding dresses in Japan
I’ve realized that the wedding dress style in Japan did not suit my taste nor my body size and type. They’re beautiful but their design is also unique to Japan, and archetypically Japanese. Even though their campaign says they’re imported dresses, the style is still made to fit Japan.
Most Japanese females are slender. So their dresses tend to be heavier with bulkier materials with more layers under the dress. With the cheaper dresses, the materials were stiffer too. It seems like they love their long trains. Every dress I tried on had a train lagging behind me. I wanted something simple, with the end of the dress slightly grazing the floor but it seemed like simplicity is a rare find here. Grand, extravagant dresses with elaborate floral designs seem to be the trend.
Being short and stout with a broad build, it was hard to find a dress suitable for me. I’ve visited at least four stores but all of them accentuate my flaws instead of my features. My disappointment grew each time. I felt terrible about myself. I finally came by a pop-up store that imports dresses from the United States thanks to Instagram ads. Fortunately, not only did the dress fit me better, it was also a lot cheaper. If you don’t care for local trends and budget is a priority, pop-up stores might suit your needs better, fitting smaller budgets with simpler designs and dresses.
Dress prices in Japan
You can easily find gorgeous dresses for less than $500 in the States. You don’t really need to look too hard for it. Just a couple taps on the keyboard and a list will appear on your search.
In Japan, I managed to find some stores that sell dresses for cheap thanks to Instagram ads, but their price indeed matches the quality and design of the dress. However, these stores are rare. It’s cheaper to buy a dress here than rent one. Still, buying dresses in Japan, in general, is very expensive. If you don’t know where to look, you’ll probably end up spending at least $2k-$3k.
You can find boutiques that sell dresses starting from about $650 (excluding tax) as well. However, after adding on the alterations and shipping costs, it’ll still amount to about $1k or more depending on the plan that you decide to get from them.
Shopping for a wedding dress in Japan can be easier if you’re armed with these skills and factors.
Knowing the language conversationally is a major bonus because communication’s one less stress to worry about.
Culturally, you may not agree with the way things are done here in the wedding industry but if you can let that go and adapt, the journey might be easier for you.
If you’re like me, unable to speak Japanese, and are still hung up on the logical side of things, you may go through some turmoil. Having friends, foreign or local, who can speak the language is definitely a huge plus. I appreciated them being my translator and honest commentator. My dress hunt was less lonely and more fun! Having another set of opinions helped in finally getting the dress for the big day.
Now I know that I might sound like I’m complaining, which I probably am a little, but most importantly, I wanted to share this is so that other international brides can prepare themselves for what’s to come if they decide to hold their special day here fully. During my wedding research before coming here, I’ve only found general information about weddings here. I haven’t read of anyone’s experience yet. While experiences can be biased, having some knowledge is still better than groping around blindly. And hey, if everything that I went through didn’t happen to you, good for you! But if you had similar experiences, then know that you’re not alone.
Read about the search for my wedding dress while I was in Japan!
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