Valentine's Day in Western countries is considered to be a day when both partners express love and attention to each other. But often, the approaching date of February 14 forces men around the world to be a little more persistent and struggle when trying to choose a gift or plan the perfect dinner.
However, in Japan, February 14th is a little different. Valentine's Day was imported to Japan in the 50s by a Japanese chocolate company that wanted to profit from such a special day when everyone buys each other chocolates and candies. Inadvertently (or perhaps on purpose), some of the first advertisements for Valentine's Day misrepresented Western tradition by claiming that it was a day for women to show their love to men by giving them various types of chocolate, rather than the other way around.
More than 50 years later, Japanese Valentine's Day is still a day when women give men chocolate, and chocolate companies continue to profit, making half of their annual sales at this time of year.
What kind of chocolate do the Japanese give?
There are two main types of candy given on Valentine's Day: honmei-choco and giri-choco .
Honmei-choco
"Honmei" (beloved) and "Choco" (chocolate) are chocolates that are given to a very special person in your life, such as a beloved friend, husband or significant other - whom you want to shower with love in the form of chocolates, cookies and other sweets. treats.
In order to show how important and loved a man is, many women in Japan choose to make their own chocolates, creating their gift by hand, they hope to demonstrate how valuable this man is in their lives. Thanks to this, stores will sell not only chocolate for Valentine's Day, but also many ingredients for making candy. Occasionally, honmei-choco is accompanied by a "declaration of love" where the woman asks the recipient to be her boyfriend.
Giri-choco
"Giri" (commitment) and "choco" (chocolate) are candies given to someone without romantic attachment, such as colleagues, friends or superiors.
Giri is a very complex concept in Japanese culture and is not easily translated for Westerners. Giri is an obligation, but it is also close to a debt of gratitude or a desire for the happiness of another person. Receiving a giri-choco from the girl or woman in your life won't be a romantic gesture, but it shouldn't be seen as a forced gift either.
The forced gift also has its own name - cho-giri-choco (ultra-obligatory chocolate).
In recent years, two new types have also been introduced to the market: gyaku-choco , which means 'reverse chocolate', i.e. men will also have to give chocolate to women as per traditional Western custom, and tomo-choco which means 'chocolate for Friends', which women give to their friends on Valentine's Day, so that no one is left without gifts, they get together and eat all the chocolate. This is the time for girls to get together and enjoy their special moments on Valentine's Day.
How to celebrate Valentine's Day in Japan
Traditions are closely related to Japanese culture; they permeate everything, from everyday life to holidays.
Valentine's Day, which is celebrated all over the world
on February 14
, was no exception, but it was in the land of the rising sun that it acquired a special meaning and acquired accompanying rituals. Initially, Valentine's Day was not celebrated in Japan, but after a large-scale advertising campaign in newspapers, the situation changed dramatically.
Young Japanese women were forbidden to openly show feelings for men they liked, and the latter also behaved extremely shyly when it came to declarations of love, so chocolate manufacturers decided to take advantage of this situation. Different sources indicate two different companies, one of which was founded by Russian emigrant Valentin Fedorovich Morozov, and the second - the Morinaga company. One way or another, newspapers carried out a large-scale advertising campaign, sweets were made in the shape of hearts with inscriptions, and the Japanese liked this foreign tradition so much that it quickly took root and now it is difficult to imagine this holiday without gift tiles. It is especially important that this approach allowed women to confess their feelings without words once a year; it was enough to prepare or buy delicious and beautiful chocolate as a gift
. Many say that most of the year's supply of chocolate is sold out on the eve of February 14th.
It is important to understand that a present for a loved one and a colleague or just a friend was different. In the first case, it is called hon-mei and is intended for husbands and lovers, but giri-choco is a gesture of courtesy, it does not carry any love connotations
, so it is given to all the men I know.
Moreover, even if a girl wants to give some kind of souvenir, she still must attach a chocolate bar to it, this is an integral attribute of the holiday. So, young guys even organize competitions “who will get the most chocolates”
, showing off to colleagues and friends. Some even buy themselves a few tiles, just in case no one congratulates them. They show chocolates to others, saying that someone also likes them. And considering that the gift can be either signed or anonymous, this trick always succeeds.
For a very long time, February 14 was mainly a holiday for men, since it is customary that on this day it is girls who pay attention to the male sex, but not everything is so simple.
In Japan, this holiday continues - exactly a month later, on March 14, Women's Day arrives, when men who received their gift in February must make a reciprocal gesture by also giving a bar of white chocolate.
This is where the name “White Day” came from. Of course, you can also give flowers and other souvenirs, but you won’t be able to celebrate this day without sweets, since the Japanese are sure that it is sweetness that conveys their feeling of love for another person.
Now Valentine's Day is very popular in the country of the samurai, since the Japanese are used to giving gifts only out of duty, and on this day you can confess your love to someone or feel that someone likes you even without words.
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What is white day?
Exactly a month later, on March 14, only men will now give women chocolate. Men of all ages will give gifts worth at least three times the amount of the gift received to any woman from whom they received chocolate the month before.
White Day takes place on March 14th and was first introduced by a confectionery company in the 70s who named it after the color of sugar and then twisted the meaning to say white meant “pure love.”
As the name suggests, the theme of the day is the color white, so women often expect white chocolate, marshmallows, white scarves, accessories or silver jewelry. If a Japanese woman gave a gift, even just a giri-choko, you will definitely need to buy her something small in exchange for White Day.
In Japan, store windows become more unusual on Valentine's Day to attract more shoppers by offering different flavors of chocolate. The packaging is also made to be more elaborate, as are the chocolates themselves, and most department stores will offer gift wrapping services to make chocolate gifts extra special.
Chocolate Festival: Who and what is given in Japan on Valentine's Day
On February 12, 1936, advertisements for the first time appeared in Japanese magazines for the best gift for a beloved man on Valentine's Day - Morozoff chocolate, made at the confectionery factory of the Russian emigrant Valentin Morozov. (The Morozoff trademark still exists today, and to this day the chocolate of this brand is one of the best in Japan, although the company has only retained the name from the Russian founder). The Japanese took their word for it that “real” foreigners were used to celebrating Valentine’s Day this way, and began giving each other chocolate. True, this custom finally took root in the Land of the Rising Sun only a quarter of a century after the war. And in the 1970s, giving a man a box of chocolates was almost tantamount to a declaration of love. However, time has made its own adjustments and added even more national specificity to the holiday.
“Giri-choco”, or “chocolate on duty”
Today, probably every man in Japan brings a box of chocolates from work on February 14th. He does not hide it deep in his pocket from the jealous eyes of his wife and does not frantically try to eat its contents before the threshold of the house. Everyone already understands that this is “giri-choko”. Otherwise – “chocolate on duty.” Usually there is absolutely nothing personal in this, everything is very similar to how Russian women every year on February 23rd give their colleagues cute and useless gifts on the principle “so that they are inexpensive, but look good.” We collected money and bought chocolates, the same for everyone, so that no one would be offended.
“Tomo-choco”, or “friendship chocolate”
But the main source of income for chocolate producers in this hot season is not these obligatory gifts. As the largest confectionery companies in Japan found out, more than 70% of women buy chocolate in order to give it... to a friend. And this does not mean that Japanese women suddenly decided to dramatically change their lives and orientation. This is just a new trend and a new specificity of celebrating this day in Japan. Giving chocolate only to the man you love means being behind the times. And indeed: Japanese men, as a rule, do not like sweets. And if they love, then they try not to admit this destructive passion. Traditionally, sweets are the domain of women. And, despite the fact that the pampered generation of 20-30 year old Japanese young people do not hesitate to dye their hair in all imaginable and unimaginable colors, regularly do their hair in beauty salons, use skin products and do manicures, they still consume little chocolate. And in the very design of sweets for the Valentine's Day there is little courage. Their exquisitely ornate packaging may leave only the male part of the population indifferent. But any woman will want to own them, at least for the sake of the box itself and regardless of the contents. The circle is closed - the woman will choose, and the woman will appreciate and eat.
For your loved ones - instead of chocolate... panties
For its intended purpose - that is, for lovers - chocolate is now only given to boys they like at school. And, contrary to the puritanical unisex education in Japanese schools, boys, who are in high demand among their peers, begin to receive their first boxes of chocolate as early as the second or third grade.
What then should you give to your beloved man? It took Japanese women several decades to recognize the right of their beloved men not to feign fake delight in unloved chocolate. Now they stop throwing it in front of the ungrateful stronger sex and began to enthusiastically give it to themselves. Manufacturers of men's underwear are trying to fill the niche of gifts for lovers. Moreover, just like confectioners, they are guided not by the taste of the man who will wear it, but by the ideas of beauty of those women who buy it .
It's hard to imagine that any man would voluntarily buy pink, yellow, orange panties with Mickey Mouse, Snoopy and Kitty cats. Meanwhile, just such an assortment of men's underwear is increasingly appearing next to chocolate boxes. It’s unlikely that the designers studied men’s opinions on this matter. The task was set differently: to win the heart of the main buyer - women. They were designed keeping in mind what a woman might want to wear if she were a man.
The Japanese Valentine's Day linen gift note has a few surprises in store this year. One of them is length. Next to the “classic-family” style, similar ones appeared, like two peas in a pod, but knee-length. Another innovation, apparently the last cry of this year’s “Valentine” fashion, is plain knitted panties with a wide elastic band in shockingly acidic phosphorescent shades, from pink to light green.
“White day”, or white chocolate holiday
The tradition of giving and receiving gifts in Japan is surrounded by many conventions. When the Japanese give a gift, they try in every possible way to belittle its value and blur its merits. Moreover, the more expensive the gift, the more it will be said about it that it is a trifle, an unnecessary and almost worthless thing. It is important here not to create a feeling of constraint: the recipient of the gift should not consider himself obligated to the giver. To maintain balance in a relationship, for every gift received, you need to give a return gift. So, for example, each guest leaves a wedding, taking with them a paper bag with a “reciprocal” gift from the newlyweds.
Valentine's Day was no exception. Even if it is a formal "giri-choco", it is necessary to even the score. There is a date for this in Japan (and if you believe evil tongues, it was specially invented as a result of a conspiracy among Japanese confectionery shops - March 14. Women who gave “giri-choco” to men in February can be sure that exactly a month later they will receive their portion of chocolate, traditionally white, as opposed to black "masculine". For Japanese women, Valentine's Day turns into a month-long chocolate holiday - first sweets from friends, then from co-workers. And confectionery companies, already on the night of February 15, changed the content of their windows and stands for boxes of white chocolate, they will try not to disappoint their expectations.
