Has the love bug hit or are you celebrating a deep connection established over many years? All I can say is I’m glad Valentine’s Day is about chocolate. Dark, milk, with nuts or without, Valentine’s Day is my day to indulge.
In the U.S. it’s all about loved ones and in the case of kids, their friends. Welcome to Japan, where Valentine’s Day (a borrowed event from the West) has a whole new meaning. Here it’s all about women giving to men, and you don’t really have to like the guy either. Seriously. For that special guy, women will make chocolate with a little bit of love added in. Many young girls don’t have a special guy, but want to enjoy the day, so recently the term “Tomo-Choco” has come into play. Tomo is short for Tomodachi, which means friend. So, girls will usually make chocolate for their close girlfriends, and to heck with the boys.
But it gets even better. Some marketing genius decided to expand the definition of the day to include bosses and male co-workers. Discover “Giri Choco.” Giri means obligation and that’s what it is, chocolate you buy because you are obligated to not because you necessarily want to. This can suck if you have to give to someone you hate. I think this image captures it all. Ha ha ha!
On the upside, men have to return the favor one month later on March 14th, which is called White Day, and they are supposed to return a gift that is 1.5 to 2 times as much as they received.
