Chocolate, Guys and The Valentine's

Valentine's Day is, usually, the day when people express their love to their loved ones. They tend to give each other flowers, cards, candy or chocolate (if not any other precious items) as presents. In Japan, chocolate seems to be of central interest for such subject. It has started some time not too long ago though there has not been a concrete history on that aside from the fact that it was Morozoff Limited, a sweet company in Kobe, who was the first to produce "Valentine's Chocolate" (i.e. chocolate in heart shape packaged in heart-shape box.) in Japan in 1936. Obviously, it was not a big boom until only recently.



In Japan, Valentine's Day is quite different from other part of the world. It's become a tradition for WOMEN to reveal their secret interests, and not MEN! (I think I belong in the wrong place on Valentine's!! haha) So, yes, it's the day when women buy all these chocolate and give away to guys they like. However, as the tradition goes, there emerged what-so-called "Giri Choco" (義理チョコ）or "chocolate of obligation" in which girls pass on to guys, not because they like them, but because it's some kind of obligation they should do to guys in the same work place or so. (Girls tend to give chocolate among girls too and that's called "Tomo-Choco" (友チョコ) or "chocolate for friends".)

Graph shows how much chocolate they can sell each year as a result of Giri-choco. The drop indicates lost of sales cuz Valentine's Day falls on weekend or holidays.

Riding along Valentine's tradition, there is a "White-Day" on Mar 14, when guys are expected to return favor to those give them chocolate on Valentine's. In other word, if a girl revealed their interest to you on Valentine's Day, you have one full month to think whether you want to get together with this girl or not. If you are interested, it's your turn to give back the present to that girl on Mar 14. The reason why it's a White-Day is because they usually give out cookies, candies or marshmallows. (though I only see marshmallows white in this case!)

More recently and not yet popular in general is "Orange-Day", which falls on Apr 14. A... right on Thai New Year's! =P It's the day when a couple trade each other "oranages" to confirm their love!#&%!<--- why Orange?!?!?! I really question if this will become THAT popular!

Anyways... this year... to make it more exciting for myself, I decided to buy Giri-choco and passed them on to my seniors in school. Believe it or not, in my research lab (or, in other word, my study room), there are all guys and only 3 girls including me. And today, I was the only girl in the room. It kinda made the day very fun for me and it was a great feeling to have made them smile. One of them even jokingly said "oh.. thank you... and I will consider that." haha. Also, it was the very first time I gave chocolate to guys!! haha... emphasized.. it's guySSSS... (and after all these years! Hwahahaha.)

mom -- sorry.. no roses around here na... =P