Valentine’s Day has come and gone in Japan. They really have a great system here: women buy chocolate for men, and not the other way around. And not just for their boyfriends/husbands, but for everyone. There are two types of chocolate that women have to give: the type reserved for the boyfriends/husbands is called honmei chocolate (本命チョコ, honmei meaning more-or-less “true-feeling”); others get giri chocolate (義理チョコ, giri meaning “duty” or “obligation”). I suppose it shares roots with the gift-giving wars Japanese people have with each other, and with the ridiculous amount of new years cards (年賀状, nengajou) they send every year—at least when they’re not in an economic recession… I hear there was a lot more email/SMS cards last year.
In my case, this year I received my first ever honmei chocolate! Woo! Last year I received giri chocolate from my private lesson teachers, and I reciprocated with chocolate on White Day; the day exactly one month later (14th March) when men give chocolate back to the women who gave them chocolate on Valentine’s Day.
Check out my honmei chocolate!
