Friday, February 12, 2010

The Chocolate Craze

Valentine's Day takes on a whole new meaning in Japan. It's celebrated quite differently from other countries--it's the girl giving candy/presents to the boy. On Valentine's Day, it's a tradition to give the person she likes some kind of handmade sweets. The boy returns the gift on White Day on March 14, which is like another Valentine's Day but reversed. It is a huge deal here, I think it's the biggest event after Christmas.
Another tradition is tomo-choco, where valentines are exchanged with friends. This is mostly girls giving each other chocolate or what not, so I think every girl comes home with at least 10 handmade sweets on Valentine's Day.
Whoever the valentine is for, a lot of Japanese girls work very hard for this day. I went to a store called LOFT today, and it was absolute chaos. 
今年はバレンタインがいつもより早くやってくる気がします。個人的にはまだ一ヶ月くらい先な気がしちゃうんですが、もう明日ですね。今日ロフトに行ってやっと気付きました。すごかったです、女の子たち!みんな一生懸命。海外ではホワイトデーもないし、日本のバレンタインはかなり特殊ですよね。

The window decorations. I love how one of the phrases say "Girls be Ambitious". Notice how all the girls have LOFT bags.
今年のロフトのデザインは可愛い!相変わらず音楽は...だけど。




Some of the cute kits and bags. There's a huge variety of these kits, ranging from brownies, truffles, macarons, cookies...
最近のキットは本当に可愛い!全部作りたい。でもなかなかパッケージ通りに仕上がらないのです。

Are you planning anything special for Valentine's Day? Whatever you're doing, I hope everyone has a wonderful day!
皆様も素敵なバレンタインになりますように。私はこれからお菓子作りに励みます...

8 comments:

phantom; said...

Oh my! I love the separation of Valentines and White day. Sounds like a hectic day!
Have you bought anything? & How are you spending your day?
It's my friends birthday on Valentines day and so I am just spending time with friends :D

POLISHFEMME said...

nice photos !
mademoisellepaulina.blogspot.com

Guiltyhyena said...

It's really fascinating how they celebrate Valentines day, All though I think the boys should give the present gifts first time round and then later the girls return gift in March! :)

Madeline Veenstra said...

I love that they're so into Valentine's day. It's such a nice concept that they have v-day and then white day. But those lines look crazy!

I'm not doing much, but my boyfriend says he will buy me flowers. And I went out with my friends last night and say "Valentine's Day" the movie!

Happy V-day! And thank you for adding a wiki badge :)

Marta said...

in poland people are sending their sweathearts cards with poems or other love confesions.
i like the idea of giving each other chocolate (i never can't get enough of this sweet!)!

Miss Woody said...

i would like to live there !

we could grow up 2gether said...

have u notice they play the same music at the entrance?!

Kate said...

Japan looks such a gorgeous country. I am desperate to visit!
Beautiful photos :)