【英语科技】iPad新妙用：婚礼策划工具

In Japan, bridal service companies are like state-of-the-art factories, producing complete 'modern Japanese wedding' packages.

One after another, they churn out meticulously planned and thoroughly executed ceremonies. Their efficiency and attention to detail are impressive, though, after witnessing a number of Japanese ceremonies, an observer might be forgiven for finding them a bit overproduced, lacking in spontaneity and character. But look out, jaded wedding guest, you haven't seen anything yet: the iPad-planned wedding is here.

The majority of Japanese couples today prefer white wedding dresses and Western, Christian-styled ceremonies -- not necessarily with any religious element -- to the more traditional Shinto rituals, where they wear special kimono. According to a survey this year by wedding information magazine Zexy, 60% of couples tied the knot in a Christian-style ceremony, while only 17% went for the traditional Shinto style.

Still, while they are styled to look like Western weddings, the similarity stops there. Guests, when they arrive, give cash as a gift to the couple being being allowed into the wedding venue, and get a little gift in return when they leave. The main party -- there are other, more private events in the day -- almost always features long speeches and a professionally produced slideshow or video presentation of the couple growing up. Some ceremonies even feature random westerners who are hired part-time to dress up as (fake) priests and perform wedding rituals.

Polished enough for you? Well, the Japanese wedding execution machine may have just become even more efficient.

Escrit Inc., a Tokyo-based start-up that runs wedding venues and plans ceremonies, has just developed a new computer system designed specifically for bridal businesses for analyzing data on customers, orders, accounting and other operations, with help from Japanese technology giant Fujitsu Ltd.

The system, for example, makes it possible to determine which course meals at wedding parties are more popular among younger couples as opposed to older ones, or in one location compared with another, says Hidefumi Yamanaka, who works in Escrit's business planning department. This allows the company to more accurately identify the factors behind the success or failure of certain services and make adjustments, he says. Because the system draws on Fujitsu's expertise on cloud computing â ' Internet-based software and other resources that PCs and other devices can access on demand -- Escrit employees can access it online to quickly run various analysis with all types of data.

While such data management systems are already common in some industries, 'the bridal industry (in Japan) has been rather slow when it comes to adopting new technology,' says Mr. Yamanaka.

But the industry is beginning to embrace technology. You know what's coming next, right? Yes â ' the iPad wedding prep. Escrit, like some other Japanese bridal companies, has been using the Apple Inc. gadget as a photo and video presentation tool to give its customers the idea of what their weddings may look like.

The company also put this year's briefing session for recruiting new graduates on live video streaming site Ustream, and handled inquiries about the session via its Twitter account.

日本的婚庆公司好似技术一流的现代工厂，生产完备的“现代日本婚礼”套装产品。

Bloomberg News日本兴起用iPad策划婚礼这些公司源源不断地推出各种精心筹划并认真执行的婚礼仪式。一个人若参加过很多日本婚礼，虽然会对其高效和关注细节的态度印象深刻，但仍可能觉得这些婚礼有点泛滥过度、不自然且缺乏个性。不过那些对此感到厌倦的观礼者请注意，你们还什么都没看到呢──现在出现了由平板电脑iPad策划的婚礼。

与穿着特制的和服、举行传统的神道结婚仪式相比，如今大多数日本新人都更愿意穿着婚纱，举行一个西式的、基督教风格的婚礼，不过后者并不一定带有任何宗教成分。据提供婚礼讯息的杂志Zexy的一项调查显示，日本新人中，有60%采用基督教风格的婚礼，只有17%举行传统的神道仪式。

尽管如此，虽然婚礼看起来像是西式风格，但也仅止于“形似”而已。前来观礼的客人入场前，会首先把现金当作礼物送给新人，然后再获准步入举办仪式的场所，而仪式结束后，客人在离开时会得到新人回馈的小礼物。主要仪式几乎都无外乎是长篇发言以及展示两人恋情发展过程的专业制作的幻灯片或录像。另外，当天还会有其它更多的私人活动。有些婚礼上甚至还会见到几个西方面孔，他们被临时雇来扮作(假)牧师，主持婚礼仪式。

怎么样，够不错的吧。不过，日本婚庆公司的效率或许本来可以更高。

东京一家婚庆公司Escrit Inc.专门负责婚礼场所的运营和婚庆仪式的策划，该公司刚刚起步，新开发了一套专为婚庆业务设计的计算机系统，可对客户、订单、财务和其它业务数据进行分析，这套系统的研发得到了日本科技业巨头富士通(Fujitsu Ltd)的帮助。

Escrit Inc.公司业务规划部员工Hidefumi Yamanaka说，这套系统可以确定婚礼上哪道主菜更受较年轻的新人喜欢，哪道主菜更受年龄较大的新人青睐，或年轻的新人喜欢在哪里举办婚礼以及年龄较大的人喜欢在哪办等。他说，这可以让公司更准确地找到某些婚庆服务成功或失败的具体原因并做出相应调整。由于这套系统在研发时运用了富士通的云计算技术，个人电脑和其它设备可随时使用基于互联网的软件和其它资源，Escrit员工可以在网上使用这套系统，用各种类型的数据进行快速分析。

Yamanaka说，虽然这种数据管理系统在一些行业已经十分常见，但日本的婚庆行业在使用新技术方面一直慢一拍。

不过这个行业已经开始接受新技术了。你知道下来将使用什么技术了吧。没错，用iPad筹备婚礼。跟日本其它一些婚庆公司一样，Escrit已开始使用苹果公司(Apple Inc.)的iPad为客户展示照片和录像，这样就可以让他们大概了解其婚礼仪式是个什么样子。

此外，Escrit公司还在视频直播网站Ustream上开毕业生招聘会，并在其Twitter账户上回答有关招聘会的咨询。