Every year across Japan, Japanese people celebrate a holiday of
love and compassion similar to its western counterpart. This
holiday occurs every February 14th and is named Barentain Dei / バレンタイン デー (St. Valentine’s
Day). Barentain Dei was introduced in 1936 by the chocolate
company Morozofu Kabushiki Gaisha モロゾフ株式会社 through advertisements
targeted to foreigners. Valentine’s Day was not yet ready for
chocolate giving and it would take decades for it to become a
chocolate-giving holiday. It was 1953 when Morozofu began
advertising Heart-Shaped chocolate candy and later in 1958 the
Isetan Department Store 伊勢丹 advertised Valentine’s Day sales where
it became a popular custom in the early 1960s.
The Japanese custom of Valentine’s Day usually involves women
giving men chocolate. The origin of this custom is widely believed
to a translation error during the original Isetan Department Store
commercials where women were seen giving chocolate to men instead
of men giving chocolate to women. There are various types of
chocolate for Barentain Dei, each having their own respective
reason for giving and receiving.
Giri-choco 義理チョコ
Giri-choco 義理チョコ is an obligation
chocolate where many women feel obligated to give to males with no
romantic connection to offer gratitude or prevent embarrassment.
The concept of Giri in itself is generally due to giving something
back to someone hence the obligation in giving chocolate.
The chocolate itself is store-bought and usually never of the
expensive kind. Typically Giri-choco will cost less than $10USD
however in some instances it can be more expensive than good wine.
More recently, giri-choco has become less popular and many
businesses have been asking their employees to donate what they
would have spent on giri-choco to a charity.
Honmei-Choco 本命チョコ Honmei-choco 本命チョコ are expensive store-bought
chocolate or home-made chocolate to be given to those whom the girl
cares most about such as romance. Honmei-choco can take a lot of
time to prepare which demonstrates heart-felt dedication and
compassion for the individual receiving it. The term honmei
originates from favoring a horse in horse racing where the
correlation is favoring a male among the others competing. Today
the term means true love or the one you genuinely love. In 2014,
there was a controversy surrounding Honmei-choco when a trend on
Twitter erupted with secretly (sometimes not) insert a part of the
women’s self into the chocolate such as hair, menstrual blood,
saliva, and even nail clippings. It did not become viral again in
2015 perhaps for the better.
Tomo-Choco
友チョコ Tomo-choco 友チョコ is a newer type
of chocolate, where girls give other girls chocolate because of
their friendship. The term “Tomo” originates from Tomodachi meaning
friend/companion in Japanese. There are no minimum or maximum
amount that can be spent on tomo-choco as it’s merely a kind
gesture for the female friendship.
Jibun Choco 自分チョコ
The last type of chocolate is known as Jibun choco 自分チョコ, meaning chocolate for
myself. Generally this chocolate is bought as a reward for all the
hard work and dedication put forth into Valentine’s Day and is a
more recent phenomenon. It is bought with the sole purpose of
consumption by oneself, not to be shared; after all it’s a reward
for baking and sharing.
While giving Giri-choco it is possible to cause a very unfortunate
experience due to a misunderstanding. At times, giri-choco is
perceived as honmei-choco and as a result the male thinks the girl
likes him while the girl doesn’t think anything of him. In
competitive settings such as school, males tend to compete with
others to see who can get the most chocolate. Long ago in the
distant past, Japanese women used to give men handmade sweaters and
other clothes however the modern culture tends to think of it as
very corny.
White Day (Opposite from Valentine's Day)
Men are expected to return the favor a month later in what is
called White Day. Every March 14,
White Day is celebrated much like Valentine’s Day (albeit not as
grandiose), it involves males returning the favor to those whom
gave them honmei choco. Generally chocolate are white and more
expensive than the ones received during Valentine’s Day, upwards to
two or three times as much.
Chocolate baths exists throughout Japan in some Onsens (Hot Spring)
and Sentou (Bath house). Some baths are filled to the top with
chocolate where groups of people or couples bathe in all of its
chocolate goodness. It is important to note that it is not entirely
made of chocolate, but rather a mixture of water and chocolate.
Chocolate baths often begin early February and end at the end of
March.
It is said that Japan holds the world record with the most
chocolate sold during Valentine’s Day and according to the
Chocolate and Cocoa Association of Japan, in 2009 Japan produced
approximately 196,553 tons of chocolate, and over 19,375 tons were
imported from Australia, Belgium, China, France, Italy, South
Korea, and the United States tallying over 212,657 tons. Due to the
severe increase in the global population with a taste bud for
chocolate, droughts, and diseases, chocolate is becoming more
difficult to produce for the demand and as such, the cost of real
chocolate steadily increases.
According to a 2006 survey of men and women between the ages of 10
and 49 conducted by Oricon Style, they found that the most popular
Valentine’s Day song was Sayuri Kokushou’s 1986 hit single
Valentine’s Day Kiss. Below you will find a video of the remake by
the popular all-girl jpop group Watarirouka Hashiritai 7 (from
AKB48 Copyright Pony Canyon).
August 30, 2018 Update: The video was since removed and a
different artist (Kokusho Sayuri) is shown.
Did you know that during the occupation of Japan (1945 – 1952),
American soldiers would give Japanese children chocolate which made
chocolate so much more popular in Japan? In fact, it is said that
the children’s first English phrase was "Give me more
chocolate".
