A Heart of Jam

Happy Valentines Day!

Chen came by since I had invited her over for brunch and I made pancakes. We both realized that it was Valentine's Day; since we had not chocolate, just syrup, butter, and strawberry jam, we improvised:



And just like chocolate, the pancake was very yummy.

Valentine's Day is done a bit differently in Japan. For starters, it's not really a couple's holiday in the sense that both partners take part in buying gifts for one another, going out to dinner etc. etc. There are actual, prescribed rules for Japan Valentine's Day:



1) If you are single and female you give chocolate that is not too expensive (i.e. Kit-Kat, Snickers, M&M's, 100yen chocolate from QQ Shop) to give to your guy friends, and other men in your life. This can range from your father, your boss or your advisor.
2) If you are single, female and you like a particular guy then you give him a little special chocolate in addition to the Kit-Kats that everyone gets - or is it just that special guy? I am thinking the latter, bit fuzzy here.
3) If you are female and in a relationship, then you give the one you love VERY expensive, VERY special chocolate.

Said chocolate is the type that you get at department stores, in the special events floor. Alisa had gone to one of the department stores in Osaka and gorged on the free samples. On her advice (and good one at that!) I went to the JR Isetan after the kimono taiken and got my chocolate fix. There were hundreds of women going crazy for little bitty pieces of overpriced chocolate from around the world, apparently.

But on February 14, it's all the women that go gaga and shop for all the chocolate that is to be found in Japan. What do the guys do?

Here we enter the world of "Funky Holidays That Only The Japanese Could Make Up." It totally trumps the American greeting card industry and their penchant for designating my birthday as "Happy Peanut Day" or something of the sort.

Enter White Day, Marc h 14. Exactly one month later, all the guys who got chocolate are required to reciprocate back to the ladies. As to how mandatory this is, I don't know. If the guy who got chocolate from a girl who like him and wants to tell her the same thing, then chocolate of the same grade is given back. How sweet - they then become sweeties over sweets.