White Day

Mar 14, 2008 • Japanese Culture

What if you don’t like white chocolate?

Today was White Day, the most contrived holiday in Japan. It was started by some marshmallow makers who wanted to sell more marshmallows (as if the global market wasn’t drowning in Peeps). In an effort to plunder more money from hardworking salarymen, other candy makers got in on the action and promoted white chocolate, then regular chocolate, and now, it’s Valentine’s Day Part II¹ with the usual things like flowers, jewelry, and nice dinners being marketed.

Workplaces do the same - on Valentine’s Day, women are expected to buy giri choco (obligation chocolate!) for the men in the office. On White Day, men are expected to return the favor…3 times more expensive. Plus, if you’re in a position of authority, it’s good if you give your hardworking peons a present too².

White Day was awesome this year. Last year, I got a piece of strawberry shortcake, which is more like white cake with a strawberry on top, and a pink handkerchief/hand towel. I hate pink, which goes to show exactly how much thought goes into this holiday³. This year, I got a box of fruit and cream-filled crepes and cake that looks like a candle holder. However, it’s all wrapped in a manner that even Amanda would approve of, so clearly, it’s a good present.

There was also a note, which I don’t have a picture of unfortunately. In caps, it said “THANKS!!!,”⁴ followed by the bowing emoji, a longer version of thanks in Japanese, and then the happy face emoji complete with peace sign. Stapled to it was a reminder to pick up our crepes in the fridge before leaving work today.

See Wikipedia’s entry for a less sarcastic version of events [↩]
I’ve heard this is picked out by their wives, usually. [↩]
None [↩]
This was probably for my benefit only…except I understood the rest of the note. [↩]