Love is in the air and guys are making last-minute plans to woo their loved-ones. And with that I’ve been asked a lot recently just how different is Valentine’s Day is in Japan and how it differs from the West.
With that let’s get the boring lesson out of the way first. In Japan, Valentine’s Day isn’t what we’d typically associate with in America. It’s more about girls and office workers giving giri-choko, or obligation chocolate, to their friends and co-workers simply out of obligation, with understandably confused the heck out me when I first started dating in Japan.
Think about it: in America we mostly associate Valentine’s Day with the romantic “date night” or giving flowers or candies to our loved ones, but as I experienced with my girlfriend, this doesn’t really hold true in Japan, where they mostly view it as trying to figure out how much chocolate they should give to each person.
So when do Japanese couples celebrate their love, you ask? Typically couples will spend all their time with one another and exchange gifts on and around Christmas Eve. When I was spending time with my girlfriend and her family over the past Winter Break, she and I flew together to both Osaka and Kyoto so we could finally be alone.
While it might be embarrassing to her, sorry Yuka, all we did while we were on the trip was tell ourselves just how much we meant to one another while simply enjoying each others’ company; from going to Universal Studios Japan to just a regular trip to the mall near her home. The point is, that was our extended Valentine’s Day for us.
Earlier I mentioned giri-choko and the social obligation of giving chocolate. Now get this: White Day, March 14, is the opposite. Despite sounding like something you would hear out of the Beatles’ White Album, White Day is a day where the men and co-workers who have received chocolate or some other gift return the gesture and give something like white chocolate or marshmallows in return.
It’s all pretty interesting when you think about it. Not only is it a different culture’s approach to an old holiday, but it also gives each person, no matter what part of the friend or romantic side you are on, a chance to feel appreciated.
Even though I won’t be Fukuoka, spending time with my loved one next week, everybody knows how crazy I am about her. And thanks to Japan’s Valentine’s Day, she knows even more than before. Spending time in Japan this past December has definitely put things in perspective and made me appreciate the time I spend with her even more.
