In Japan we know that Valentine’s Day came from Western culture, but for a long time many of us Japanese believed that Western people also celebrate it in the same way as the Japanese people, who regard the day as “Day for Chocolates”.
The expression comes from the fact that an enormous amount of chocolate is sold and given among people at バレンタインデー(barentaindee – St. Valentine Day), 14th of February.
I don’t know when this big event started here in Japan, but it has been already one of our biggest customs since I was teenager, as if it was our original culture. By the way, バレンタインデー(St. Valentine Day) used to be more important day for lots of girls who have someone special. If you want to confess your special feelings to him, バレンタインデー(St. Valentine Day) is the very day. You will send a love letter with chocolates to him, and may spend sleepless nights for the expectation of the reaction from him.
But the time has changed. Now we regard the day as one for チョコレート(chokoleeto – chocolate) rather than confession of your love,
and more people are curious about buying chocolates and taste them even by themselves. Every cake shop and sweets company can expect a great deal from customers (women, of course), but they should compete by preparing more tasty, more gorgeous and more fresh products. Perhaps Belgian chocolates has been quite popular from before, and recently more imported goods increase like French. Around the end of January, lots of テレビ番組（テレビばんぐみ – terebi bangumi – TV programs) and 雑誌（ざっし – zasshi – magazines) start reporting about チョコレート(chocolate) about the 味（あじ – aji – taste), 値段（ねだん – nedan – price) and other information for the customers, and some of the products are limited of the quantity. Here in Sapporo, one of the biggest デパート(depaato – department stores) invited a chocolate “master” from France, and so expensive boxes of chocolates by him were sold out immediately, a reporter said. Each of the box costed about 15,000 yen, and one of the women told the reporter that she has bought it for herself. But it’s not so wonder, as far as thinking that women like chocolates much more than men do.
Well, if you buy chocolates for yourself, you don’t need to think the specific day (14th), and actually chocolate corners are getting crowded around 10th of February already. Even though スーパー(suupaa – supermarkets) and コンビに(konbini – convenience stores) have lots of chocolate products like クッキー(kukkii – cookies) and アイスクリーム(aisukuriimu – ice cream), they always prepare another version for バレンタインデー(St. Valentine Day). Chocolate lovers can buy such limited products and possibly they may think them as the gifts for someone – if you have a 彼（かれ – kare – boyfriend) and he doesn’t like chocolate so much, you may be happy with sending such a cheaper and reasonable stuff, apart from how he feels.
But anyway lots of women think that they should give chocolate at that day. And they buy chocolates for some people – her male 同僚（どうりょう – douryou – colleagues), her male 上司（じょうし – joushi – boss), her 父（ちち – chichi – father), her 兄弟（きょうだい – kyoudai – brothers), her male 友人（ゆうじん – yuujin – friends) etc. Of course you may give chocolates to your cherished person, but that might be another gift, not chocolates. Anyway, lots of women buy some chocolates, and the shops and the floor of the デパート(department stores) are crowded impossibly and really chaotic - you will find the horrible state if you happen to be there at the evening of 13th.
By the way, this event (giving away chocolate) is a good opportunity for us to show our appreciation. If you want to say “thank you” to your boss, colleagues and family, sending chocolates has a big effect at times. In this case, the chocolate isn’t important – namely the receiver can get your kind mind. Perhaps Japanese people like sending something when we want to express our appreciation, and the cost is not important. So, even though it’s a quite cheap and small box of chocolate, you can delight the person with it. By the reason, recently more people send chocolates also to female colleagues and boss and possibly women might be able to get more gorgeous chocolates. In fact, I’ve bought a fancy box of chocolates for my female colleague for a long time ago, and I did smaller ones for male colleagues. At the particular day, I found also she did for me the same thing, lol.
White Day
But unfortunately things don’t go always peacefully. Another day called ホワイトデー(howaitodee – White Day) comes next month (14th of March), and men are expected sending back something to women who sent chocolates to him. ホワイトデー(White Day) is still new event, and we had no idea “sending back” before the event begins. If you just want to your appreciation or special feelings to someone, you don’t expect such a thing, I think. But now sending back something at ホワイトデー(White Day) is quite common, and poor men who didn’t know the custom used to be blamed. Amazingly enough such troubles happened here and there, and sending chocolates at バレンタインデー(St. Valentine Day) were forbidden in the office in lots of companies. And even though there weren’t such problems, sending “something” to women is not so easy for men. So, lots of men try to leave the tiresome task to their wives. Thus, lots of sweets shops are crowded by women who are tring to buy boxes of クッキー(kukkii – cookies), lol.
But originally this day for a woman who has a special person, and she might think another gift like handmade stuff like sweater and cakes, or prepare dinner at the evening, or buy something like wallet, clothes etc etc. You might add a box of chocolates, but it depends on if he likes it or not. Both of you might go to attend special events for バレンタインデー(St. Valentine Day) at the evening. The town is lively for some events like コンサート(konsaato – concerts) for lovers, and lots of レストラン(resutoran – restaurants) prepare special menu for the night.
Baking your own gift
And if you like making sweets, you can buy special materials for that. Recently really professional stuff like chocolate liquor, block of chocolates, cocoa powder are imported from Belgium and France etc, and you can find also special forms for chocolate sweets and recipe books as well. Lots of imported sweets are introduced in the original name, so older people can’t read the katakana names especially when they are from Europe except England. So, such precious materials are mainly bought by younger women. Recent sweets magazine tends to use more professional and original French words on the method of the sweets, because the readers seem to feel “cool and trendy” about such expressions. Anyway, young girls often try to bake chocolate cookies or cakes like brownies for the special day if they want to tell their feelings, and some of them have to buy something instead of their “unsuccessful work”.
On the other hand, this day is special for each of boys as well if he has someone in his mind. They cannot but expect chocolates from her at that day even though he doesn’t like chocolates, so if he didn’t get anything from her, he may spend empty days. Well, a boy may get more chocolates from lots of girls, and of course he is proud of that. Brothers may compete the number of the chocolates, or father and the son may do. Anyway the female family are delighted of the chocolates if the men share the capturing stuff with them. But if it seems the 息子（むすこ – musuko – son) can’t expect any chocolates at that day, his 母（はは – haha – mother) might prepare chocolates for him.
Vocabulary
- バレンタインデー – barentainde- – Valentine’s Day
- チョコレート – chokoleeto – chocolate
- テレビ番組 – テレビばんぐみ – terebi bangumi – TV programs
- 雑誌 – ざっし – zasshi – magazines
- 味 – あじ – aji – taste
- 値段 – ねだん – nedan – price
- デパート – depaato – department stores
- スーパー – suupaa – supermarkets
- コンビに – konbini – convenience stores
- クッキー – kukkii – cookies
- アイスクリーム – aisukuriimu – ice cream
- 彼 – かれ – kare - he, boyfriend
- 同僚 – どうりょう – douryou – colleagues
- 上司 – じょうし – joushi – boss
- 父 – ちち – chichi – father
- 兄弟 – きょうだい – kyoudai – brothers
- 友人 – ゆうじん – yuujin – friend
- ホワイトデー – howaitodee – White Day
- コンサート – konsaato – concert
- 買った – かった – katta – bought/have bought
- 田中さんに – たなかさんに – tanaka san ni – for Tanaka san
- そう – sou – yes/you’re right
- もしかして – moshikashite – possibly, by (any) chanse
- ぜんぜん – zenzen – no, at all
- レストラン – resutoran – restaurant
- 彼女 – かのじょ – kanojo – she, girlfriend
- 息子 – むすこ – musuko – son
- 母- はは – haha – mother
Notes
彼（かれ – kare) – This word is used as a personal pronoun like below:
- 彼は(kare wa)/彼が(kare ga) – he
- 彼の(kare no) – his
- 彼を(kare o)/彼に(kare ni) – him
However, we don’t use pronouns as much as Western people do, and we also use the words kare and kanojo as the meaning of “boyfriend/lover” rather than the personal pronoun. So, when wanting to say “he”, we mostly use the person’s name instead of the pronoun.
- A: このチョコレート、田中さんに買ったの？
(Did you buy this chocolate for Tanaka san?) - B: そう、田中さんにね。
(Yes, it was for him!) - A: 田中さんって、もしかして雪ちゃんの彼？
(Is he your boyfriend, Yuki chan?) - B: ぜんぜん。でも、彼女だったらいいな。
(No at all. But I wish I could be his girlfriend!)
Also, regarding kanojo, it’s commonly used as girlfriend rather than
the personal pronoun “she/her”. Of course it’s often used when we
translate something from Western stuff.
- 彼女(kanojo wa)/彼女が(kanojo ga) – she
- 彼女の(kanojo no) – her
- 彼女を(kanojo o)/彼女に(kanojo ni) – her