Revue: Valentine's Day in Japan

Valentine's Day in Japan and Japanese Chocolates

From Setsuko Yoshizuka

On Valentine's Day, Japanese women give chocolate to men. Men give gifts to women on March 14th called White Day. This tradition started as a marketing tool for chocolate companies in Japan. Japanese women are encouraged to express love to men by giving chocolate and other gifts on February 14th.

Grocery stores, department stores, and convenience stores sell many different kinds of domestic and imported chocolate. More than half of the chocolate sold in a year is sold around Valentine's Day in Japan. Women buy chocolate for their co-workers, bosses, male friends, brothers, father, husband, boyfriends, and so on.

Chocolate given to men whom women don't feel special love are called "giri (obligation)-choco (chocolate)" in Japanese. Chocolate given to co-workers and bosses are usually considered as giri-choco.

Many men feel embarrassed if they don't receive any chocolate on Valentine's Day. Women usually make sure to give giri-choco to men around them so that they don't feel left out. The average price range for a giri-choco is from 200 yen to 500 yen each.

Women tend to give special gifts, such as neckties and clothes with chocolate to those men whom they love. Chocolate given to a special man from a woman is called "honmei (prospective winner)-choco." Honmei-choco is more expensive than giri-choco and is sometimes homemade. It's lucky if a man could receive a honmei-choco. Green tea chocolate ball is a choice for Valentine gifts.

Popular Japanese chocolate brands are glico, Meiji, and Morinaga. They make many delicious chocolates and sell them in attractive packages.

You can buy some kinds of Japanese chocolate on line. Visit Japanese Food Online Links.

Happy Valentine's Day!

St Valentine chocolate sales in Japan



St Valentine is a totally different thing in Japan than in the western world. The custom there is to get chocolates for your boss and male colleagues at work (cheap chocolates) and get real good chocolates for the man (or men) you like... or even for yourself if you are a single woman ! Then, one month later, on the "white day", the men have to reciprocate by giving chocolates back to women... The shop is anyway very busy with chocolates from all countries famous for their traditions (France, Belgium, Switzerland among others). And that is why we see ONLY women buying them in this video.


Valentine's Day in Japan (from article "Is Red the Color of Love?")

From Namiko Abe

Do you have any plans for Valentine's Day? Is there a special way of spending this time in your culture? In Japan, it is only the women who give presents (mainly chocolates) to men. Japanese women are usually too shy to express their love. (Though it might not be true nowadays.) Therefore, Valentine's Day was thought to be a great opportunity to let women express their feelings. However, this is a custom that smart chocolate companies spread to boost their sales, and it has been very successful. Now the chocolate companies in Japan sell more than half of their annual sales during the week before Valentine's Day. Men are supposed to return gifts to women on a day called "White Day" (March 14th), a Japanese creation.

Does it sound good to you? Don't get too excited when you get chocolates from Japanese girls! They might be "Giri-choko (obligation chocolate)." Women give chocolates not only to their loved ones ("A true love" chocolate is called "Honmei-choko.") "Giri-choko" is the chocolate given to men such as bosses, colleagues or male friends that women have no romantic interest in, just for friendship or gratitude. The concept of "giri" is very Japanese. It is a mutual obligation that the Japanese follow when dealing with other people. If someone does you a favor, then you feel obligated to do something for that person.

Unlike the West, sending a Valentine's cards is not common in Japan, and the phrase "Happy Valentines" is not widely used. "Happy Birthday" and "Happy New Year" are common phrases. In this case, "Happy ~" is translated as "~ omedetou （～おめでとう）

Speaking of love, which color do you think is the color of love? Many people would probably say it is red. Heart shapes are usually red, and red roses are romantic gifts. Red can also represent passion, revolution, fire, blood and so on.

Learn Japanese: Valentine's Day in Japan



History of White Day and Valentine's Day plus a few words