Valentine's Day in Japan

It’s valentine’s Day tomorrow and shoppers, or rather some shoppers are making some big purchases. I say some shoppers because in Japan Valentine’s Day is a day when women give chocolate to men and not the other way around. The men-to-women occasion is exactly one month later, on March 14th, and is called White Day.
In Japan women give usually chocolate, but sometimes
also cakes or cookies, not only to their boyfriends and
husbands but also to any male colleagues, teachers,
bosses, their fathers and any other men in their lives.
The non-romantic type is called ‘giri-choco’ which
means that it’s given out of duty rather than love. I think this is an example of an act of Japanese kindness; it means that the ugly guy in the office won't be the only one with no V-Day chocolate!
For Valentines gifts to be ‘heartfelt’ they have to be
hand-made and so many department stores and
supermarkets also sell ingredients and accessories
for making such items. Check out this picture of a
department store chocolate shop shopping frenzy-
and hardly a man to be seen!


And for men who don't like
chocolate, there's always
chocolate flavored potato-chips
or chocolate beer!