Valentine's day is coming so I decided to blog something about that!
Everyone knows that Valentine´s day has got its beginning in antique Rome and for christians the day was considered as a day of christian saint called Valentine. Valentine's day has a long history also in England and France and there are many myths and stories about the day. Nowadays it is a day which is celebrated all over the world, but of course every country and culture has its own way to spend it.
I found some interesting facts about celebrating Valentine's day in Japan. Actually I heard this first in the radio, and it made me so interested so I searched a little bit more information.
It is said that back in the 1950′s, a company advertised Valentine’s day chocolates to non-Japanese living in Japan at the time. Then, Japanese companies wanted to get on board too, and started advertising Valentine’s Day chocolates as well.
During this period there was quite a bit of “Westernization” where people wanted to adopt more Western amd American traditions. Because of this, Valentine’s Day in Japan did fairly well.But well, everything didn't go quite right...
It seems that at some point someone messed up a translation and ended up telling the Japanese people that Valentine’s day was an opportunity for women to express their love to men. Because of this, even to this day it’s mostly women giving chocolates to men!
And because there are differents relationships between men and women, Japanese stores offer three kinds of chocolate: Giri, Honmei and Tomo-chocolates. Woman chooses the kind depending of the relation she has with the man she's giving the chocolate.
Giri-Chocolate means obligatory chocolate. This kind of chocolate refers to the chocolate you have to give to people. These could be people like bosses, coworkers, male friends, etc, who you aren't exactly in love with. Even sadder still, there’s also something called “Cho-Giri-Chocolate” (Ultra-obligatory-chocolate), which is given to unpopular people you really don’t want to give chocolates to. That's funny ehh??
Honmei-Chocolate means favorite chocolate. This kind of chocolate is the kind of chocolate you give to the one you want to express your love to. These chocolates tend to be more expensive or possibly even home made. Basically, it has to be obvious that these are honmei and not giri, so they have to be on a completely different level. Isn't that every chocolate maker's dream? To make fine chocolate no matter how much it costs because you just know people will buy it.
Tomo-choco just means friend chocolates, and refers to chocolates you give to your female friends as a female.
So well, don't you think that's quite simple? Just because you know you have to give chocolate, you don't need to spend time thinking about "What could I give to him or do I give anything?!" Like in Finland, there isn't presise rule that if you're woman, you give chocolate to men and that's it. We need to think that very much, and ohh how embarrassing it is if you don't get anything back!!! That if anything makes a girl cry haha. Japanese people have solved this preciprocation problem too. Men just don't give anything back on Valentine's day. They have their own day to express their love, and its called White day. Traditionally, popular White day gifts are cookies, jewellery, white chocolate, white lingerie, and marshmallows.
But that's Japan. I have to say that I really like the idea of them spending Valentine's day and White day... It's an important part of their culture, and a good example of that how Valentine's day is spent differently in different cultures. If you compare it to Finnish Valentine's day, you notice that we don't have any rules or expectations for the day. Or if we expect something, we usually get disappointed. Finnish men seldom think that women would appreciate something special on that day. But thats our culture and we just have to live with it.
....At least my boyfriend said that he doesn't see any reason to celebrate Valentine's day. Well maybe I will eat the chocolate meant for him by myself and just go to dinner with my friends. :D And after that I will teach him some Japanese traditions haha.
Happy Valentine's to you all~ <3
Heidi
You have chosen an interesting and current topic for the blog!! Just out of curiosity you might want to check & know what Saudis think about this day.
VastaaPoistaCould this phenomena be classified into "American imperialism" affecting different countries way of living in a too American way?
Those Japanese traditions were interesting but sure it would be nice to know how people in other cultures too celebrate Valentine's day. Thanks for the tip, I will check those Saudis. :)
VastaaPoistaAnd that Japanese Valentine's day is a funny example how "American imperialism" can go all wrong, but still it can be a start for a brand new and maybe even a better way to do something. And even if other countries try to live in American way, they still have their own culture, and everything they copy from Americans, they do it like their own culture says.