Again the Japanese show that they excel at marketing. For tomorrow is February 14! Unlike in America where couples give each other gifts, usually a man to a woman, Japan has turned it into a day where women give men chocolates. However, rather than being a voluntary thing this act of giving has become such that women feel obligated to give chocolate to their male co-workers, lovers, friends, pretty much any man or boy they know. The chocolates given out of obligation are called giri-choco (義理チョコ) but chocolates given to a significant other are called honmei-choco (本命チョコ). To take the "holiday" to the next level, there is March 14, "White Day", where men are supposed to return the favor by giving chocolates to women from whom they received a month prior. But for anybody who knows anything about a typical Japanese man, these chocolates are usually only given to girlfriends and not to women who they received chocolates from. Originally the chocolates were supposed to be white chocolates or marshmallows, hence the name. But apparently men have taken the meaning in the form of white lingerie (all hearsay as I've never had a girlfriend on March 14. Or February 14 for that matter.) That brings me to the original reason for my publishing of this blog besides increasing your knowledge about Japanese culture; Valentine's Day aka Singles' awareness day is coming soon and I would like to say Happy Valentines Day! I've never been a fan of this holiday except maybe in 4th grade when I was a big winner in the amount of cards I received, but I shall not digress anymore. Valentines Day: Just another day to Johnny B.

P.S. another little story:
Last year, I received a box of awamori chocolates (alcohol chocolates) and the person asked me yesterday if I would like some more this year. I said don’t worry, at which point she asked me if I wanted socks. I said don’t worry about it but I think her sense of obligation will prevail over my saying no and I will have a new pair of socks in a day or 2.