Society & Politics

Japanese Valentine's Day: How Lovers Celebrate in the Land of the Rising Sun

Raymond_Reddington
Japanese Valentine's Day and how they celebrate it.

Valentine's Day is a long way off. But that won't stop me from writing a Take about it!



You might be wondering what's so special about Japanese Valentine's Day. Well let me tell you, Japanese Valentine's day is nothing like ours.



In Japan, Valentine's Day is celebrated in a very unique style. In the western world couples often celebrate it by giving gifts like chocolate, cards, flowers and jewelry to their significant other. In Japan however, only women give presents.


Giri choco and Honmei Choco


It's an old tradition for women to give chocolates to men on Valentine's Day. One of the reasons why Japanese Valentine's Day is so unique, is because they have two kinds of Valentine's Day chocolates.



They have:



''Giri choco''


Japanese Valentine's Day: How Lovers Celebrate in the Land of the Rising Sun

Giri choco (literally translated as Obligation chocolate) is a rather inexpensive chocolate that's given to family members, friends, colleagues and other casual acquaintances. You should see giri choco as a sign of appreciation, as this type of chocolate is given to people to whom the giver has no romantic attachment.



''Honmei choco''



Japanese Valentine's Day: How Lovers Celebrate in the Land of the Rising Sun


And then there's ''Honmei choco'' (literally translated as true feeling chocolate) Honmei choco is given by women to the man for whom they have romantic feelings.



This kind of chocolate is considerably more expensive than Giri choco because it's usually a higher quality chocolate. But women who want to give a man some Honmei choco, often choose to make it themselves instead of buying it because many women think that it's not real love if they just buy the chocolate.


Japanese Valentine's Day: How Lovers Celebrate in the Land of the Rising Sun

You will start seeing large displays of chocolate, often in heart-shaped boxes, in department stores and grocery stores starting from mid-January. Days before Valentine’s Day, stores get packed with a large variety of chocolates, the cooking tools, and female customers!


Japanese Valentine's Day: How Lovers Celebrate in the Land of the Rising Sun

Howaito Dē ~ White Day


The different kinds of chocolate is just one reason why Japanese Valentine's Day is so unique.


In Japan, they celebrate another Valentine's Day related holiday. They celebrate ''Howaito Dē'' which translates to ''White Day''.



White Day gets celebrated on March 14, exactly one month after Valentine's Day. On this day all men who got a gift on Valentine's Day are expected to return a gift. Traditionally, popular White Day gifts are flowers, cookies, jewelry, white chocolate, white lingerie, and marshmallows.


Japanese Valentine's Day: How Lovers Celebrate in the Land of the Rising Sun

More often the color of the chocolate is white because of the name of the day. Sometimes the term ''sanbai gaeshi'' (literally translated as triple the return) is used to describe the generally recited rule that the return gift should be two to three times the worth of the Valentine's gift. Again, department stores have many advanced reminders with gift displays so men will have no excuse to forget about this special day which is really important to women.


Japanese Valentine's Day: How Lovers Celebrate in the Land of the Rising Sun

So now that you know about this, are you gonna give some Giri choco to someone next Valentine's Day?


I personally have never done it before, but i think i'm gonna do it next year!


Japanese Valentine's Day: How Lovers Celebrate in the Land of the Rising Sun
Japanese Valentine's Day: How Lovers Celebrate in the Land of the Rising Sun
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