Valentine's Day
Who doesn't like getting candy or cookies? Practically no one. So with the holiday having just recently passed, here's a little of what I experienced on Valentine's Day in Japan!
Forget what you know about honoring St. Valentine or giving out Valentine's cards, those don't matter in Japan. It's all about the chocolate here, a big time for those confectionery companies to cash in on a public event (it's not considered a holiday here). Stores everywhere start selling special boxes of 'premium' chocolate for, of course, premium prices. I saw a box of 4 chocolates selling at the 7-11 convenience store for about $20. Cookies are big too, but not most other types of candy. You'll likely be seeing only chocolates and baked goods, none of those red heart-shaped suckers or small sugary candy hearts.
But here's the deal: it's only girls that give treats on Valentine's Day. Female foreigners in Japan, don't expect anything romantic from your Japanese significant other. Instead, guys return gifts to the girls on White Day, in March. And of course there are a set of cultural rules for that but I'll talk about that some other time.
There are now three types of chocolate in Japan that girls will give out. And while I say chocolate throughout this, cookies and other baked goods also count for all three categories. Honmei-choco is the romantic chocolate, given to a person expressing romantic interest. You can buy those expensive boxes in the store, or make your own to give. Handmade chocolate is considered the ultimate sign of affection. Next we have tomo-choco, which is friendship chocolate. Girls give this to all their female friends, or sometimes their male and female friends, or their classmates or coworkers. Usually it's handmade, just because buying chocolate for all your friends can REALLY start to add up. This is super popular at my school because it's an all-girls school. And finally we have giri-choco or obligation chocolate. Usually cheap and from the store, this chocolate is literally just because a girl is obligated to give chocolate, usually to your boss, coworkers, or teachers. It doesn't really mean anything, and sometimes it's just because maybe you're giving friendship chocolate to your friend coworkers and feel obligated to give something to everyone else!
As a foreigner, I decided I could probably get out of getting chocolate for anyone my first year here. But my husband wanted to try making chocolate, so he made enough for me to give to all the English teachers I work with. I think this went over well, and most were surprised to even be getting anything from us. Then I was also given sweets by some of my students, brownies, chocolates, cookies, all delicious, and brought to me during class, between classes, and during lunch. A lot of other teachers received things too, and not just the guys. I think this all counted as giri-choco or tomo-choco but I'm not really sure which, and I'm not complaining cause I got cookies!
Thanks to some advice from my predecessor, I made sure to write down the names and class numbers of all the students who brought me something so I can reciprocate on White Day! I hope I got them all right...it's hard to remember the faces of everyone when you teach 320 students once a week.
Forget what you know about honoring St. Valentine or giving out Valentine's cards, those don't matter in Japan. It's all about the chocolate here, a big time for those confectionery companies to cash in on a public event (it's not considered a holiday here). Stores everywhere start selling special boxes of 'premium' chocolate for, of course, premium prices. I saw a box of 4 chocolates selling at the 7-11 convenience store for about $20. Cookies are big too, but not most other types of candy. You'll likely be seeing only chocolates and baked goods, none of those red heart-shaped suckers or small sugary candy hearts.
But here's the deal: it's only girls that give treats on Valentine's Day. Female foreigners in Japan, don't expect anything romantic from your Japanese significant other. Instead, guys return gifts to the girls on White Day, in March. And of course there are a set of cultural rules for that but I'll talk about that some other time.
There are now three types of chocolate in Japan that girls will give out. And while I say chocolate throughout this, cookies and other baked goods also count for all three categories. Honmei-choco is the romantic chocolate, given to a person expressing romantic interest. You can buy those expensive boxes in the store, or make your own to give. Handmade chocolate is considered the ultimate sign of affection. Next we have tomo-choco, which is friendship chocolate. Girls give this to all their female friends, or sometimes their male and female friends, or their classmates or coworkers. Usually it's handmade, just because buying chocolate for all your friends can REALLY start to add up. This is super popular at my school because it's an all-girls school. And finally we have giri-choco or obligation chocolate. Usually cheap and from the store, this chocolate is literally just because a girl is obligated to give chocolate, usually to your boss, coworkers, or teachers. It doesn't really mean anything, and sometimes it's just because maybe you're giving friendship chocolate to your friend coworkers and feel obligated to give something to everyone else!
As a foreigner, I decided I could probably get out of getting chocolate for anyone my first year here. But my husband wanted to try making chocolate, so he made enough for me to give to all the English teachers I work with. I think this went over well, and most were surprised to even be getting anything from us. Then I was also given sweets by some of my students, brownies, chocolates, cookies, all delicious, and brought to me during class, between classes, and during lunch. A lot of other teachers received things too, and not just the guys. I think this all counted as giri-choco or tomo-choco but I'm not really sure which, and I'm not complaining cause I got cookies!
Thanks to some advice from my predecessor, I made sure to write down the names and class numbers of all the students who brought me something so I can reciprocate on White Day! I hope I got them all right...it's hard to remember the faces of everyone when you teach 320 students once a week.
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| I didn't get anything like this, but I got tons of cookies! |
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