(Late, I know) Valentine's Day in Japan

 (Late but hey- I was in Hokkaido sharing my love with Ramen on actual V-day)

Valentine's Day. This holiday brings on so many mixed feelings from people: some love it, some refer to it as single-awareness day, some claim its just corporations wanting you to spend money on cards and chocolate and flowers, and some just don't care.

 Well regardless of personal opinions, Japan has a kind of unique way of carrying out this holiday and I thought I might as well report on it.

For starters, in Japan on this day, it's only the women who give presents and chocolate to the guys. And there's a lot rules and specifications surrounding it.
For example, there are 3 different kinds of chocolate you can give: Giri Choco, Honmei Choco, and Tomo choco.
-Giri chocolate is "obligatory chocolate"...the chocolate you have to give to guys that are your friends to show your gratitude...but they are only just friends. This is the "no strings attached chocolate".
-Honmei Choco is the chocolate you give to that special someone...the person you are serious about. A lot of times this chocolate is handmade, because it is a sign of being that girls' "only one". After all, why would she spend all this time hand-making 20 boxes of chocolate? (*A side note: the handmade chocolate kits here are ridiculous! I wish I would've taken pictures. I was tempted to buy a kit just for fun)
-Tomo choco is chocolate for your other female friends! I guess according to a few websites, this has been a recent development in the past few years.

You don't give flowers here as gifts...(but since it's only the guys receiving the chocolate...maybe guys don't really like getting flowers anyway? I'm sure some do, but according to my friend Kanako, all the balloon and flower giving is uncommon)....I guess some women give small presents like Neckties to their Honmei Choco guys as well.

So, this is all sounding kind of unfair right?

A lot of people seemed to think so- and from the encouraging of chocolate corporations, in 1978 White Day was created.

White Day comes exactly one month after Valentine's Day: March 14th.  It's a day where the guys who have received "giri" or "honmei" choco return the favor and give the girl gifts in return (and usually, it is supposed to be worth more than what the girl spent on him). Cookies, jewelry, white chocolate, lingerie and marshmallows are all popular gifts to give. 

I personally didn't celebrate Valentine's Day since I was out and about traveling (and traveling with Americans for that matter)- and it kind of took a lot of stress off.  There's a lot of social obligations to this holiday- I mean imagine buying a box of chocolate for every single one of your guy friends! You don't want to offend anyone by not wanting to spend money on them. (And it gets expensive here in Tokyo).
Valentine's is nice if you have that person to share it with, but really you should be grateful to them everyday I think. And not just to boyfriends or girlfriends but all those people you love. :)