Love .. and chocolate

“LOVE is... a cross between hunger and obsessive-compulsive disorder. It's a bit like eating chocolate, in fact.”

Valentine’s Day is either loved or loathed by many in the UK, and that usually depends on whether you have a partner that year or not. But surely all the fun at school was sending and receiving anonymous cards written in block letters or ransom-note stylee with cut out newspaper print? For me Valentine’s Day was the buzz of expectation running up to the actual day. It didn’t matter whether you had a lover or not, it was almost more fun if you were single.. well-meaning friends could forge love notes from your school crushes so you’d feel loved all the same. The Japanese miss out on the whole anonymous card fun, my students were aghast when I told them about our card tradition, for them it would be too embarrassing to contemplate, “But it’s anonymous..” I insisted.. No, they really didn’t like the idea.. One girl couldn’t imagine being given chocolates by an anonymous giver either, “What if they were poisoned?” she pointed out. Hmm, I'd never thought of it like that !



However, Japan’s shops are full of expensive chocolates and gifts. The Japanese tradition is for the ladies to give their men chocolates on February 14th (and this includes mothers to sons, female co-workers to male colleagues, etc..). Apparently this is called *giri choko (obligatory chocolate). So, men get to stuff themselves silly on Valentine’s Day. But here’s the catch.. one month later on March 14th, men must return the favour on 'White Day' and buy chocolates for all the women who gave him chocs a month before.. I’ve heard this can get really expensive for some men, especially in large offices. Valentine’s Day in Japan is largely a pricey chocolate exchanging exercise, between people who have no romantic connection whatsoever ! And of course, the confectioners make a killing, with Valentine chocolate sales a 50 million yen market. The confectioners Morozoff Ltd. claim to have introduced Valentine’s Day with a 1936 advertisement for chocolates. "If we'd been a florist, no doubt we would have tried to sell flowers," Morozoff spokesman Kazuo Kojima said.”



White Day was apparently invented as a marketing gimmick in the 1980’s by a marshmallow manufacturer (hence the name), cashing in on men’s guilty feelings at receiving all of this chocolate, by getting them to buy some back in return. I’ve heard this chocolate is slightly pricier for the men too, hmm.. No wonder some of them are ducking their responsibility and Japanese women are getting bitter at the obligatory Valentine’s chocolate arrangement, according to this Yahoo article.

Funnily enough, Christmas is regarded a ‘lover’s holiday’ in Japan. Couples take off for cozy weekends or go out for a nice meal, so it seems December 25th has usurped Valentine’s Day.


Mmm give me Green and Blacks Organic Cherry Dark Chocolate any day .. especially when you know that :

Eating chocolate may halve risk of dying

Chocolate makes you sexy
“women.. who consumed the most chocolate had the highest levels of desire, arousal and sexual satisfaction.”

Chocolate stops you coughing

Unborn babies like chocolate
“The babies born to women who had been eating chocolate daily during pregnancy were more active and "positively reactive" - a measure that encompasses traits such as smiling and laughter.”



*giri = "giri" refers to an innate sense of duty, obligation, morality and the absolute need to return a favor. Everyone is bound by giri - giri toward ones parents (filial piety) and giri toward ones teachers and benefactors. giri is also expressed at the societal level by meeting ones obligations and responsibilities as best as possible. The American anthropologist, Ruth Benedict in her book, "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword" explains that the reason why the Japanese are so bound by giri is, "if they do not, they would be regarded as 'ignorant of giri' and be put to shame in front of others."
From here.