Built in 1998, this small contemporary-looking wooden church with its beautiful garden is located in the center of Hakuba village and boasts great views of the Northern Alps. Surrounded by lush greenery in the summer, or nestled deep in the sparkling snow during the winter, it’s a popular wedding destination year-round for both Japanese and international couples.
The Hakuba Chapel is especially famous for the emotional wedding speeches of pastor Mary Hasegawa, who has blessed more than one thousand couples over the last twenty years and continues to do so. A theologian and former pastor in Calcutta under Mother Teresa (1910–1997), Mary came to Japan in 1962. After moving to Hakuba in 1994, she took over the role as a pastor in 1998, the year of the Winter Olympics in Nagano, and remains one of the only female international pastors in Japan.