Our Story

Groom

Jared Mattern

Dec 1, 1987

Born and raised in California

Bride

Emika Shigemoto

Feb 13, 1994

Born in Fukushima, raised in Yamaguchi

We both enjoy common hobbies such as traveling, snowboarding, billiards, and Formula 1. We have recently started surfing and enjoy our time together in the ocean. We love exploring delicious food and drinks. We are nature lovers. Apart from those, Jared enjoys grappling and anime. Emika loves to sing.

2016

Sep

We first met at a bar called Tasuichi in Shibuya, Tokyo.

2017

Apr

We reunited for a trip through Hong Kong and Vietnam.

✈︎ Hong Kong
✈︎ Vietnam

Jul

Jared quit his job of 5 years in SF and began a temporary early retirement to travel around the world for a few years. First stop, Japan! Where our relationship began.

Aug

We took a trip to the Kansai region – Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka. We visited the Golden Temple, the iconic Torii (red gates) Shrine, the biggest Buddha statue, and many other places.

Kyoto
Nara
Osaka

After Kyoto, we visited Emika’s hometown of Yamaguchi where Jared met Emika’s parents and siblings for the first time!

Celebrated Emika’s mother’s(Mihoko) birthday

One of the reasons we decided to have our wedding at Hotel Matsumasa is because we actually stayed there before!

Yamaguchi

We took a road trip from Yamaguchi to Yakushima – one of the most beautiful islands we’ve ever visited. Seeing shooting stars after a long hike was magical.

We spent a month traveling through South East Asia starting from Singapore all the way through Malaysia until we made it to Phuket in Thailand.

✈︎ Singapore
✈︎ Malaysia
✈︎ Thailand

Oct

Jared’s parents came to visit Japan. Emika’s first time meeting them! Jared had to head back to the states for a while to attend a friend’s wedding.

Nov

We met back up in Thailand! This time in Bangkok. We enjoyed the magical night during the lantern festival in Chiang Mai, the iconic floating market, and the historic city of Ayutthaya.

✈︎ Thailand

Dec

Next to Vietnam, again! Jared’s parents were doing a long-term stay in Hoi An, Vietnam, so we visited them. This was Emika’s first time meeting Jared’s sister Sam!

✈︎ Vietnam

2018

Jan

We spent New Year’s with Emika’s family in Fukushima. Jared met Emika’s extended family for the first time. We all got to enjoy some skiing/snowboarding.

During winter, we took many snowboarding trips throughout Japan.

Mar

We flew to Taiwan for the first time for both of us, traveling throughout Taiwan from Taipei to Tainan. They hold a massive lantern festival every year, we were lucky to check it out. Vibe check passed!

✈︎ Taiwan

This shows how much we love Vietnam, the third time baby! This time, we visited the capital city of Vietnam, Hanoi. We also took a cruise tour of the beautiful bay of Ha Long.

✈︎ Vietnam

Apr

After spending a month apart, we met up on the tropical island of Bali. Circumnavigated Bali together with our homie Gado, the scooter.

✈︎ Bali, Indonesia

Jul

Happy 1 year Anniversary!
We celebrated together at our favorite sushi restaurant – Kinka, in Tokyo.

Aug

We joined Emika’s family trip to the Kyushu region – Miyazaki, Kumamoto, and Fukuoka.

The Kyushu Region

After the family trip, we flew to Korea for the first time for both of us. We still think that these gloves for chicken wings are genius.

✈︎ South Korea

To look for our future living location, we traveled through Australia – Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney to find our favorite city to live in. We did not know Australia can be legit cold in winter.

✈︎ Australia

Sep

We met up with Emika’s family in Singapore! It was the family’s first time that Emika’s family had all traveled abroad altogether. We watched the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix together. Emika’s sister Sumika fell asleep at the race track during part of it.

✈︎ Singapore

Back in Japan, Emika graduated from university. Woo hoo!

Dec

We spent our time with family & friends as much as we could before we left Japan.

We flew to the US for the first time together and spent Christmas with Jared’s family in South Dakota. This was Emika’s first time meeting the Matterns, there are so many of them!

✈︎ USA

2019

Jan

We drove through 9 states in 3 months snowboarding and visiting Jared’s family & friends.

Snowboarding with Jared’s friends in Alpine Meadows, California

As nature lovers, visiting Antelope Canyon, Grand Canyon, and Arches National Park was the highlight of this trip.

Mar

Our new life begins in a new country: Sydney, Australia.

For the first few days, Emika’s brother Koki joined us and explored the area together. The Blue Mountains became one of our places to escape from the city.