Even though it was a weekday, couples thronged Gyoko-dori street in early December when the area surrounding Tokyo Station was lit up for Christmas.

They stood out in their tuxedos and wedding dresses

“Look happy,” said a photographer. “Let’s take each other’s hand gently.”

Shuhei Ogawa, 37, a corporate worker, and his wife Rio, 28, of Kanagawa Prefecture, were among those striking up poses for photographers against the backdrop of the Marunouchi side of the red-brick station building lit up for the evening.

The Ogawas are planning to throw a wedding ceremony later this year.

“It has such a retro and classical vibe, just like a scene from a movie,” said Rio Ogawa. “It’s so Instagrammable!"

The temperature that day was around 10 degrees, so she donned a poncho to keep warm in between photo takes.

The number of couples visiting the street increases as sunset approaches.

Some evenings, people are still standing in line for their turn until after 7 p.m.

The Tokyo Station complex is one of a number of popular photo spots for newlyweds who want to snap commemorative pictures of themselves, especially if they were forced to postpone or even cancel their nuptials due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The popularity of Instagram no doubt help fuel the boom.

Tokyo Station opened in 1914, and the Marunouchi side is known as the gateway to the capital.

After going through the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake and air raids during the Pacific War, the complex was restored to its original glory in 2012.

Renowned for its red-brick exterior, the structure is registered as an important cultural property by the central government.

Tokyo Station has been a popular pre-wedding photoshoot site on social media for the past five years or so.

“You can take photos with an exotic mood,” said Ryuma Yorita, 45, president of Before The Rain Photography, a wedding photo company based in the capital’s Chiyoda Ward.

Each month, the company receives around 10 requests to take photos on the 190-meter-long, 73-meter-wide Gyoko-dori street with Tokyo Station in the background.

“It also matters a lot that no permission is required to shoot photos,” Yorita added.

The entire area is dotted with structures exuding a retro ambience, including an old guard post at the Wadakura-mon gate of the Imperial Palace, the Meiji Seimei Kan building and the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum.

The Ogawas said they postponed their wedding plans due to the pandemic.

They spent around two hours having photos taken of them at various spots in the area, paying approximately 150,000 yen ($1,130) for two photographers to trail them. The result was around 200 shots to be uploaded for their wedding and other future occasions.

The couple described the outing as an extraordinary experience that allowed them to play the leading roles to create once-in-a-lifetime memories.

INSTAGRAMMABLE SETTINGS

Elsewhere in Tokyo, the marble stairs in the main Honkan building of the Tokyo National Museum in Taito Ward is also a popular pre-wedding photoshoot spot. The museum is flooded with reservations.

Other sites around Japan include the Minato Mirai 21 waterfront district in Yokohama, the Osaka City Central Public Hall in Osaka’s Nakanoshima district and the Arita Porcelain Park in Arita, Saga Prefecture, which is famed for a massive replica of a German palace.

“I think the ‘Instagrammable’ boom on social media is an underlying cause of their popularity,” said Kanako Hioki, editor in chief of wedding information magazine Zexy. “An extraordinary occasion like a wedding is coupled with an out-of-the-ordinary situation of taking pre-wedding photos in front of the station and the museum, making photos look even more Instagrammable.”

She also noted that young people tend to have a discerning eye for what constitutes a good wedding photo posted on social media, prompting them to want to shoot pictures at historic sites with an authentic atmosphere, rather than going to a studio.

According to a survey on marriage trends by Recruit Co., which publishes Zexy, 6.3 percent of couples said they decided not to hold wedding ceremonies and only took photos in the business year ending in March 2020.

But the figure rose to 12.9 percent in the business year ending in March 2022.

“While many couples have postponed or canceled their wedding ceremonies, an increasing number of them say they want at least to take photos to keep them as mementos,” Hioki said.

Although many couples flock to popular pre-wedding photoshoot spots, others opt for locations that are especially meaningful to them, such as places where they first met.

“Freed from existing styles, a growing number of couples choose ‘oshi-kon’ to express things that are important to them,” Hioki added, referring to a buzzword in the bridal industry.