From chocolate tablets to decoration products and obviously molds. By making your gift by hand, you hope to show how valuable this person is in your life.Ĭontrary to what one might think, this doesn’t take away sales to stores, but the opposite: many stores not only sell chocolates on Valentine’s Day, but also many of the ingredients to make honmei-choco. Obviously it’s not that they can make chocolate, but they buy chocolate tablets and melt them and then make their own chocolates or make desserts with chocolate, such as brownies or cakes. Or, as I have explained, to the person who is not yet your partner but to whom you want to confess your feelings.įor being so important, and to differentiate it from the other chocolates that are given by obligation, many women prefer that it be something done by themselves. Honmei means something like “favorite” or “first choice” and is the chocolate that is given to the person you like or that you are in love with, like your boyfriend or husband. The honmei-choco (本命チョコ) is probably the most important of this day and the one that started this holiday. It’s not surprising that San Valentin also ended up becoming almost a social obligation, with different “types of chocolate”. Or every time that someone starts a business, they usually receive flowers from friends and other companies. This souvenir is usually always some food or drink related to the place you have visited. For example, every time you go on a trip, you have to take your coworkers an omiyage or souvenir. But we will talk about White Day in more detail next month.Īlthough the sale of chocolate probably focused more on couples and lovers, Japan is a culture where gifts are of great importance or social weight. That is also because in Japan there is a lot of habit of returning gifts. In fact, among adults, the most normal thing is that if a woman has given you chocolate on Valentine’s Day, you will return the gift on White Day. Although that only happens with high school students or very young people. If the boy corresponds to your feelings, he will give you chocolate on March 14. At that time the female “kokuhaku”(kokuhaku is the act of confessing feelings or declaring oneself), was considered somewhat radical and taboo.īy establishing a day when it was acceptable for women to take risks and confess their feelings in Japan, chocolate makers and gift sellers not only found a great marketing opportunity, but also helped change the way men and women interacted in Japan. This produced changes in Japanese cultural norms. In fact, they used to declare themselves at the time they delivered the chocolate (surely you will have seen it in many anime and movies). The girls used this day to give chocolate to the boy they liked, as a statement. When this festivity began to be celebrated in Japan, the act of giving away chocolate was much more. Before I said that in Japan Valentine’s Day has no romantic meaning but that is not completely true. The boys have their day a month later, on March 14, when White Day is celebrated. In Japan it is only the girls who give chocolate on February 14. Japanese chocolate companies make at least half of their annual sales during this time of year.īut not anyone can give chocolate this day. They could perfectly call it “Chocolate Day”. Valentine’s Day in Japan is almost only and exclusively about chocolate. But this doesn’t happen in Japan, since these things are done on December 24, the most romantic day of the year for the Japanese. Normally it is usually men who give their partners things like bouquets of flowers, jewelry, romantic cards and sometimes a box of chocolates as a small detail that accompanies the main gift. In general, Valentine is a day when couples exchange gifts and have romantic dinners.
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