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Valentine's Day in Japan

torakris

By torakris
in Japan: Cooking & Baking

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hillvalley

hillvalley

Posted
Posted

Is it as big a deal over there as it is here?

Do they celebrate it similiarly?

True Heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost,

but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. -Arthur Ashe

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torakris

torakris

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Is it as big a deal over there as it is here?

Do they celebrate it similiarly?

Valentines Day here is HUGE, commercially that is. The Valentine chocolate stands start popping up in department store basements/supermarkets/train stations/you name it as soon as the New Year holidays are over.

It is different from in other parts of the world in that the girls give chocolate to the men and not just their romantic interests, every man they know! Fathers, brothers, sons, co-workers, etc. Most of this chocolate is referred to as "giri choco" or obligation chocolates.

It has become a trend in recent years to make your own choclate confections and thus most stores expand their baking sections during this period to include many varieties of melting chocolate, heart shaped pans and various decorations.

The girls get their day in March (3/14) on "White Day" when they recieve choclates from all of the men they came chocolates to.....

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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hillvalley

hillvalley

Posted
Posted

I'm a little confused :wacko:

Do the men get away with not giving anything at all or is it just the chocolates?

Is dining out as big of a deal as it is in the US?

True Heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost,

but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. -Arthur Ashe

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torakris

torakris

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I'm a little confused :wacko:

Do the men get away with not giving anything at all or is it just the chocolates?

Is dining out as big of a deal as it is in the US?

Sorry to confuse you, the men basically give nothing on Valentines Day, instead teh Japanese have created a day called White Day on March 14 and this is the same as Valentines Day except now the men give chocolates to all the women they know.

Though it is a popular day for couples to go out, their isn't much given except for the chocolate, no flowers, presents, wine, etc...

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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meguroman

meguroman

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Posted

Even though I've been here for 5 years, I grew up with a house of 4 sisters in the USA, am somewhat chauvenistic, and there are still SOME Western traditions that I refuse to give up! :cool:

This year, Valentine's Day falls on a Saturday, so, on the preceding Friday the 13th, each of the ladies in my dept. will be getting, towards the end of the day, a home-made Valrhrona pot de creme, with fresh raspberry whipped cream.

If, between Valentine's Day and White Day, they are very good, perhaps some

of my truffles will be in their future.

MM

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hillvalley

hillvalley

Posted
Posted
Even though I've been here for 5 years, I grew up with a house of 4 sisters in the USA, am somewhat chauvenistic, and there are still SOME Western traditions that I refuse to give up! :cool:

This year, Valentine's Day falls on a Saturday, so, on the preceding Friday the 13th, each of the ladies in my dept. will be getting, towards the end of the day, a home-made Valrhrona pot de creme, with fresh raspberry whipped cream.

If, between Valentine's Day and White Day, they are very good, perhaps some

of my truffles will be in their future.

MM

:wub::wub::wub::wub::wub::wub:

So are there White Day decorations different than the Valentine's day decorations?

Do they stay up all the way until March? Even I could get sick of that!

True Heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost,

but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. -Arthur Ashe

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torakris

torakris

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Posted
Even though I've been here for 5 years, I grew up with a house of 4 sisters in the USA, am somewhat chauvenistic, and there are still SOME Western traditions that I refuse to give up!  :cool:

This year, Valentine's Day falls on a Saturday, so, on the preceding Friday the 13th, each of the ladies in my dept. will be getting, towards the end of the day, a home-made Valrhrona pot de creme, with fresh raspberry whipped cream.

If, between Valentine's Day and White Day, they are very good, perhaps some

of my truffles will be in their future.

MM

:wub::wub::wub::wub::wub::wub:

So are there White Day decorations different than the Valentine's day decorations?

Do they stay up all the way until March? Even I could get sick of that!

Yes you do get sick of the decorations after a while!

White day decorations are similar to those for Valentines Day but they tend to be white :blink: and white chocolate is very popular to be given as a gift.

I read somewhere that 1/2 of most chcolate shops annual sales are during the one week period before Valentines Day!

White Day doesn't seem to have the huge chocolate sales as most men don't seem as good about buying gifts.....

Most of my friends buy the chocolates for their husbands to pass out.

Hina matsuri (Girl's Day) is on March 3rd so there is a small break between the two chocolate "holidays" as wagashi (Japanese sweets) are more common on this day.

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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hillvalley

hillvalley

Posted
Posted

It sounds like the women get the jipped big time.

I wish that didn't surprise me.

True Heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost,

but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. -Arthur Ashe

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prasantrin

prasantrin

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Posted
It sounds like the women get the jipped big time.

I wish that didn't surprise me.

Actually, some women do quite well on White Day. A friend who works for Fuji Bank would give her supervisors cheap chocolates for Valentine's Day, and get Tiffany key chains or expensive scarves on White Day. It really depends on what business you are in. At the school I taught at, none of the female teachers gave their male co-workers gifts on Valentine's Day and so they got nothing in return.

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  • 2 weeks later...
hillvalley

hillvalley

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Forget about the men, women in Japan are now buying Valentine's chocolates for themselves!

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=feature&id=604

Here's to women's lib!!!

:wub::wub::wub: Happy Valentine's Day :wub::wub::wub:

True Heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost,

but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. -Arthur Ashe

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  • 11 months later...
helenjp

helenjp

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Posted

Husband doesn't get the office chocolates that he used to...his hair is grayer now!

The past few years, I've made a box of Valentine cookies and goodies for him to take to work and share out, hoping to ease the tensions that run high as the end of the financial year approaches and deadlines get crazier and crazier.

This year I've got a huge Valentine's Day deadline myself, so our sons may be making the cookies this weekend!

Helenjp

* Pickles foodblog

* New Year foodblog

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helenjp

helenjp

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Yeah I think that giri-choco is mostly a hang-over from the "bubble" period.

My son2's violin teacher made his day when she gave him a little chocolate one year. Now I'm waiting to see if the girl who sent son1 a New Year's card will give him chocolate this year. Maybe not - he sent her a New Year's card which was about as warm and friendly as a notice from the tax department!

Helenjp

* Pickles foodblog

* New Year foodblog

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easternsun

easternsun

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Posted
so what are you getting/making for your man this year? :biggrin:

my husband is away :sad: so i dont have to worry about it this year. if he was here, i would make simple white chocolate with fruit and nuts (his fave) and he would give me flowers. he knows well enough that we have to celebrate all holidays commercial or otherwise in both canadian and japanese traditions :smile: .

i made a huge batch of peanut butter cookies for my former employers. they loved it as they said they get burned out on chocolates.

"Thy food shall be thy medicine" -Hippocrates

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torakris

torakris

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Husband doesn't get the office chocolates that he used to...his hair is grayer now!

My husband has never gotten giri choco as there are no women at his worksite. :laugh:

I usually make some brownies for him as they are his favorite. I never buy anything for him, but he often gets some bought chocolates from his mother....

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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Kiem Hwa

Kiem Hwa

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I told my BF that in Japan, Valentines Day is a day for women to give thier men a gift.... he loves that idea of course, and now expects me to give him something great... :raz:

So I am making him a Boston Creme Pie, then he is going to cook me dinner. Then later this week (after the Valentines Day rush is over), were going to celebrate by trying out a new raved about restaurant here in Honolulu, Hiroshi Eurasion Tapas:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=61414

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Hiroyuki

Hiroyuki

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I told my BF that in Japan, Valentines Day is a day for women to give thier men a gift.... he loves that idea of course, and now expects me to give him something great... :raz:

Tell your BF about White Day!! :biggrin:

The girls get their day in March (3/14) on "White Day" when they recieve choclates from all of the men they came chocolates to.....
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Susan G

Susan G

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I'm skipping the card bit and moving right to dinner-as-present: Apps of shimp cocktail (hate peeling the little buggers, but the presentation is so much better that way :raz:) .......baked stuffed clams; leg of lamb with rosemary and garlic slivers under the fat; mashed potatoes, steamed beets with butter - and a chocolate mousse cake from the bakery that did our wedding cake, topped with chocloate-dipped strawberries..........which I need to now remove from the wax paper!

Edited by Susan G (log)

I'm a canning clean freak because there's no sorry large enough to cover the, "Oops! I gave you botulism" regrets.

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Kiem Hwa

Kiem Hwa

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I told my BF that in Japan, Valentines Day is a day for women to give thier men a gift.... he loves that idea of course, and now expects me to give him something great... :raz:

Tell your BF about White Day!! :biggrin:

The girls get their day in March (3/14) on "White Day" when they recieve choclates from all of the men they came chocolates to.....

I did tell him about White Day, but all he seemed to hear was that I'm supposed to get him presents for Valentines Day. :laugh:

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yunnermeier

yunnermeier

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Apparently White Day was actually invented by ..was it Meiji? Some company anyway and 'traditional' white day gifts are actually marshmallows!

There're basically 2 kinds of chocolates given out on Valentine's.

The first is called Giri choco which is given to your dad,brothers,boss, colleagues,male friends to 'thank' them for 'helping' you or just to show your appreciation.

The other is called Honmei choco and is given to the guy the girl has a crush on.

Apparently the way to differentiate which 'choco' you get is how much it costs and whether it's homemade. Honmei choco are more expensive (like Godiva) or homemade (truffles or something).

If the guy likes the girl too, he'll give her something on White Day; usually something which costs 3- 5 times more than the chocolates she gave! :D

My eG Foodblogs : Hungry in Holland, Oberhausen and Budapest

Malaysia Truly Asia

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