How cool is that! On Valentine’s Day, women prepare chocolates and confectionary treats to celebrate all the men in their lives. But in Japan, women are the ones to make the first move. In the West it’s common practice for men and women to exchange gifts on February 14th. Again, department stores have many advanced reminders with gift displays so men will have no excuse to forget about this special day which is important for women. Flowers, candies and other gifts are also popular along with the chocolates. More often the color of the chocolate is white because of the name of the day. On White Day men are supposed to give return gifts to women who gifted them chocolates on Valentine’s Day. What is more unique in Japan is that there exists a “White Day” which takes place on March 14th, exactly one month after Valentine’s Day. Days before the Valentine’s Day, stores get packed with a large variety of chocolates, the cooking tools, and women! You will start seeing large displays of chocolate, often heart-shaped in department stores and grocery stores from mid-January. Japanese women often prepare the Honmei-choco by themselves as many of them think it is not true love if they just buy the ready made chocolate at shops. On the other hand, Honmei-choco is given to a boyfriend, lover, or husband with true love. “Giri” means obligation hence this Giri-choco has no romance involved. Giri-choco is meant to be for friends, colleagues, bosses, and close male friends. There are two types of chocolates, “Giri-choco” (obligation chocolate), and “Honmei-choco”. There is a strong tradition of women giving chocolates to men on Valentines Day. It is the women who present gifts to men. In Japan Valentine’s Day is celebrated in a very unique style. Japanese Valentine’s Day is nothing like others. This is one of the reasons I am a little hesitant about the possibility of marrying a Japanese man like my cousin.Digital Woodprint From The Master of 浮世絵 Tudioįourth Series 'pictures of the floating world' Sorry for such a depressing fact, but there are always negatives to every positive in a country. It’s a sad thought especially when you are brought up to believe that love conquers all but this isn’t the case in Japan. It’s acceptable for the men to go fool around with other women as the married couple doesn’t engage in certain activities and the wife either ignores the truth or just lets it go on. Have you written an article on the unfortunate statistics of Japanese men who cheat on their wives and vice-versa? Apparently after the wife becomes a mother the cultural stigma is that the wife can no longer be considered “desirable” in the husband’s eyes as she is the mother of his children. Sadly, Japan is still a very male-dominated culture. Are the chocolates she made just “giri-choko”, or does she really feel more strongly for Kazehaya and wish them to be “honmei-choko”? Kurumi, who knows she’s already lost Kazehaya to Sawako, gives Sawako a push to see if she’ll give Kazehaya the chocolates or not.Īnother really cool difference in cultures. Main character Sawako is struggling with giving Kazehaya-kun chocolates on Valentine’s because she can’t decide what her feelings are. However, a good example from a shoujo manga is in Kimi ni Todoke, Vol. I can’t recall the first time I came across the different terms of “giri-choco” and “honmei-choco”. You never know, he might just become your boyfriend! So you might give the guy some “honmei-choko” or “sweetheart chocolate”. Valentine’s is a time when you can give confessions. Now let’s say you really are crushing on a guy. Giri means “duty” or “obligation” – so in a sense you feel obligated to give your guy friends chocolates so that they don’t feel left out on Valentine’s Day. However, in Japan, many guys just hope to receive any kind of chocolate on Valentine’s Day, so they’ve come to differentiate between the feelings behind the chocolates given.įor instance, if you were a teen girl in Japan and had some boys that were in your club or that you associate with frequently, then you might give them “giri-choko”. In America, if you give a guy chocolate on Valentines, we’ll it’s got to be because you like the guy, otherwise why bother. What I find so intriguing about this western holiday in Japan, is that there are distinctive types of feelings behind the chocolate gifts given. That’s why you tend to see a valentine scene in almost every slice of life shoujo manga or anime told from a girl’s perspective. Couples may go on dates, but it’s more about women giving chocolates to the men that they like. Here in the states its a holiday for both men and women, but caters more to men giving gifts to women. Giri Chocolate February 13, 2015Īh, Valentine’s Day! It’s the time once a year that people declare their feelings for the ones they love.
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