I notice that some stores in malls are already decorated with Valentine's Day items. Valentine's Day is basically the day to exchange gifts between lovers, but in Japan, this tradition is a bit different. Valentine's Day is supposed to be the day girls declare their love. Only girls would give gifts to guys. The gift is usually chocolate. Guys who receive chocolate on Valentine's Day will return cookies on White Day, which is one month after the Valentine's Day.
I am not sure if Japanese commercialization of Valentine's Day is better for the retailers or North American version of commercialization is better, but this is the time for different retailers to make money. For flower shops, this is the busiest time of the year to sell roses for high price. In most of the kindergarten and day cares here have activities on Valentine's. They bring cards and maybe chocolate to their classmates and teachers. Cards and chocolates sell well during this period.
In Japan, girls often give chocolate to their male bosses, classmates, too. These are called "giri-choco", meaning "courtesy chocolate", just giving them to make sure that their day doesn't end with no chocolate. Sometimes they pretend that it is "giri-choco" to give someone they actually like very much.
It maybe commercialization by retailers, but it is a nice little event you can enjoy during winter. It is quite depressing to live through a long winter after Christmas is over.
Image by Annabelle Orozcoon flickr
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