Japanese couples celebrate divorce ceremonies

A husband and and his wife ride to their divorce ceremony

 A smashed wedding ring is displayed to symbolize the death of an 8year old marriage in Tokyo

  

A husband bows to his wife before their divorce ceremony

Hiroki Terai presiding over a divorce ceremony

In Japan, divorce ceremonies are held to mark the end of a marriage contract just like wedding ceremonies are held mark the beginning of a union. The couple pictured above are going through the process of ending their 8year old unhappy marriage. Japanese who choose this option believe that the dissolution of an unhappy deserve as much grandeur as that of a wedding. A self-styled Japanese Divorce Planner, Hiroki Terai claimed to have recently conducted his 79th divorce ceremony.

Couples who want want their marriage dissolved pay up to 55,000 yen ($606) to have their divorce ceremony. Divorce rates in Japan have soared to about 253,000 cases in 2009 up from about 77,000 cases in the sixties.