Just like Christmas Day, Valentine’s Day in Japan does not have its roots in religious festivities. While Filipinos are still taught the significance and meaning of various St. Valentine’s Day rituals at Sunday school, for the Japanese the 14th of February is all about one thing: chocolate.

In Japan, February 14th is the time of the year when young girls and women are expected to give chocolate to the men in their lives. This tradition was thought to have originated from the Japanese chocolate and sweets industry, who first started advertising that Valentine’s Day was the perfect day to confess to your loved one with some chocolate.

The tradition has grown dramatically since then, with a quarter of Japan’s annual chocolate sales generated from just that week running up to Valentine’s Day.

Japanese women and girls buy two kinds of chocolate: the “giri-choco” or obligation chocolate given to coworkers and platonic friends, and “honmei-choco” or sweetheart chocolate given to their significant others or to boys that young girls would like to confess their feelings to. In addition to this, there is also the “tomo-choco” or friends chocolate that women give to other women who are their close friends.

Giri-choco is usually the cheap kind, worth about JPY 500 and bought at convenience stores. Tomo-choko are in the middle of the road, about JPY 1000 to 5000 depending on the woman’s budget and tastes. Honmei-choco are really extravagant — worth JPY 10,000 or more, and are sometimes accompanied by another more expensive item such as a designer tie, cuff links, a wallet, or a wristwatch.

If you think young adult women (shakaijin) are unfairly burdened with so many expenses on this holiday, for young girls in junior or senior high the experience is even more harrowing. Many girls pick this day to confess to their crushes, and get up early in the morning to hand-make chocolate truffles or bonbons for their special someones. The chance of rejection is very high — especially for the popular boys, and many girls end the day with broken hearts.

For the guys Valentine’s Day is like a popularity contest, with the number of chocolates received becoming the barometer by which to judge their “kakkoi” (cool) factor. Handmade or designer brand honmei-choco score higher on the scale, while cheap convenience store giri-choco will only net a few points. For boys in junior and senior high, Valentine’s Day is just as traumatic as for the girls if they receive mostly giri-choco — or none at all!

If you’d like to try your hand at bucking the trend in Manila and buying your boyfriend chocolate instead of him buying you flowers, then we have a few suggestions. You can purchase delicious designer chocolate at Royce (for Japanese nama chocolate) and Maitre (for European chocolate gift sets). Lovely tomo-choko that won’t break the bank can be found from both Meiji and Morinaga, available at many department stores and supermarkets. And for giri-choko, the cheap and cheerful Flat Tops and Kit Kat never fail to bring smiles.

What happens to everyone when this is all over? All the men reciprocate on White Day, of course — but that’s fodder for another post 🙂