Suzu

Valentine's Day in Japan

Maybe some of you already know what Japanese people do on the Valentine's Day.
It's a kind of romantic and exciting event mainly between Japanese school boys and girls.

On the Valentine's Day, girls give chocolates to boys who they like or who they think is special (sometimes as a boyfriend).
So, on that day, boys start to get excited and become a little upset when they get none...
Every year, some of my male friends say "I couldn't get any chocolate this year TOO...", "the only person who gave me a chocolate was my mom..." XD
I used to make a handmade chocolate with my friends when i was a jr.high school student. hmm, good memory :P

Some girls just enjoy the event by giving chocolates to others and some girls (usually at work) give it to others because they think it is like a social obligation, and those chocolates are called "giri-chocolate". (giri=buty/ obligation, maybe pity too)

In my company, we used to collect some money (1000 yen) from all female workers to buy small Giri-chocolate for each male worker, but these years, we are not doing it anymore because the company has become a little bigger.

Do you think it is unfair because only girls spend money on the Valentine's Day in Japan?
Don't worry, boys will need to return some presents on the White Day, which is on March 14th, and I think it is a Japanese original day introduced by a sweets company. I'll write about it when the day comes ;)

| | |