“When are you getting married?” might be regarded as a somewhat irritating question in some cultures, but in Indonesia it remains a question frequently asked by family and friends.

Genta Sawai, a former architecture student from Chiba University in Japan who was involved in a kampung development program carried out by several Japanese universities in conjunction with the University of Indonesia (UI), often found he could not avoid the question.

Sawai lived in Cikini Kramat, Menteng, Central Jakarta, from 2013 to 2015 while taking part in the program to build rumah pintar, a building designed for kampung residents to read and study in.

Regarding Sawai as a brother, the Cikini Kramat residents kept asking him when he was getting married, to which he always responded with a simple answer: next year.

Three years have passed and the 29-year-old Sawai, now an architect in Japan, surprised the residents when he returned to the kampung to hold a Betawi-style wedding reception.

On Sunday morning, the residents, including children, housewives and community unit (RW) heads and officials, were engaged in frenetic preparations for the big day.

Six girls, with make-up on their faces and hairpieces of coconut flowers, a Betawi icon, on their heads, stood by in a small court in neighborhood unit (RT) 004, preparing to dance for the event.

Little boys also packed the court, draping their necks with decorated water bottles, ready to drum them with bamboo sticks. Several young men, wearing pangsi, Betawi traditional attire, brought coconut-flower decorations and rods for a palang pintu (traditional door-bolting) performance.

The couple, Sawai and his wife Yuri Onuki, appeared among the residents around 9:30 a.m., wearing red Betawi wedding costumes.

The couple then paraded around the kampung, escorted by Japanese and UI students and the residents, who brought roti buaya (crocodile-shaped loaves) and other snacks.

The little girls performed traditional dances during the parade. Dozens of children merrily enlivened the parade, singing the Asian Games theme song “Meraih Bintang” (Reach for the Stars) and Betawi traditional song “Kicir-Kicir”.

Almost all of residents came out of their homes to record the parade on their mobile phones. The parade ended on Jl. Kimia Ujung with the palang pintu performance.

Sawai thanked the residents, lecturers and students of the architecture school of UI who helped him organize the event.

“When I was here, I was always asked when I would get married. I answered this with ‘next year’, again and again, until I finally got married this year. Being in Cikini village was very exciting and I always regarded the people as my own family,” Sawai said on the stage set up on the street.

The head of RW 1, Irawan Prasetio, said the residents were happy and enthusiastic about participating in the event.

“The residents were surprised that there was a Japanese couple that wanted to hold a wedding parade in the kampung,” Irawan said.

Together with the UI students, they spent a week preparing for the event.

Housewives, members of the Family Welfare Movement (PKK) in the area, prepared the meal for the reception on Saturday. Six members of the PKK were in charge of cooking 12 different meals for 300 guests.

“If you ask us whether we are exhausted, yes we are. However, we are so happy because it is so unusual for Japanese people to want to get married here,” Eni Usnarti, a member of the PKK said.

On Saturday, residents and students stayed up until around 2 a.m. to decorate the kampung. In the morning, they got up early to check the parade route for the couple was clear.

Since 2011, students from several universities in Japan and UI, involved in the Megacity Design Studio Indonesia-Japan program, have conducted several projects to improve the neighborhood of Cikini Kramat.

They have, for instance, developed proper bathing, washing and toilet (MCK) facilities and designed a shelter that can be used by the residents to accommodate visitors.

Akiko Okabe, a professor at the Environmental Studies Division of Tokyo University, said for her and her Japanese students the kampung was like their second home. The locals always received them with open arms, she said.

The village, located around cafes and malls, was like a sanctuary where they could learn how to live in a community, Okabe said.

“Before coming here, we thought that we had to improve [the kampung] as it was impossible to continue living in those conditions. When we arrived here, we discovered that everyone lived very happily. We learned how to live more happily here,” she said.

Evawani Ellisa, architecture lecturer at UI, said next year the students would work together to relocate an MCK facility in RT 004. The MCK is built over a river, so it needs to be moved somewhere else, she said.

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