Valentine's Day is a slightly peculiar and ridiculously commercialized holiday in Japan, where the giving and receiving of chocolates has very little to do with the kind of love seen in the classic love story The Way We Were...or in this Brokeback-esque version of Top Gun (no correlation to Valentine's Day, just made me break into a snort or two while laughing).
The rule is simple. Girls give boys chocolates. Period. No girls to girls, no boys to boys. "That would make for nasty surprise for everyone." For an amusing "How to Valentine" Japanese style, check this out.
Valentine's is a twofer in Japan. The chocolate frenzy carries over to March 14 for White Day. It's a confusing mess of obligation chocolates (giri-choko) and love chocolates (honmei-choko). As if women aren't burdened enough, now they have to pass out upwards of 20 to 30 boxes of cheap chocolates to men who they may not even like (which I've been told taste more like waxy plastic than premium chocolate) just because some marketing folks sold them on the idea. And if they don't, men are made to feel embarrased for not receiving any. I don't see this practice catching on in America anytime soon.
Despite thinking Japan's version of Valentine's Day is more bitter chocolate than semi-sweet, it should be said that in the fine Japanese tradition of presentation, the boxes of chocolat
es are beautiful, even the less expensive giri-choko. Everywhere I ventured today had displays upon displays of their chocolate wares, with the most gorgeous of boxes, tied perfectly with ribbons, with sweet sayings imprinted on them.
Valentine's is a twofer in Japan. The chocolate frenzy carries over to March 14 for White Day. It's a confusing mess of obligation chocolates (giri-choko) and love chocolates (honmei-choko). As if women aren't burdened enough, now they have to pass out upwards of 20 to 30 boxes of cheap chocolates to men who they may not even like (which I've been told taste more like waxy plastic than premium chocolate) just because some marketing folks sold them on the idea. And if they don't, men are made to feel embarrased for not receiving any. I don't see this practice catching on in America anytime soon.
Despite thinking Japan's version of Valentine's Day is more bitter chocolate than semi-sweet, it should be said that in the fine Japanese tradition of presentation, the boxes of chocolat
es are beautiful, even the less expensive giri-choko. Everywhere I ventured today had displays upon displays of their chocolate wares, with the most gorgeous of boxes, tied perfectly with ribbons, with sweet sayings imprinted on them.
0 comments:
Post a Comment