Sunday was ホワイトデー in Japan, which is a very similar followup to バレンタインデー that takes place one month later on March 14th. Why do they need two separate days? The answer is fairly simple, if a little strange.
While Valentine's Day at home is a chance for both men and women to give presents to their valentines, バレンタインデー is a day exclusively for women to give chocolate to men. The men then reciprocate one month later on ホワイトデー. "ホワイト" (howaito) is how "white" is always written and spoken in katakana, by the way - if you say "ワイト" (waito) you won't be understood.
Although Valentine's Day isn't really considered a big deal at home, バレンタインデー seems to cause a lot of anxiety for some ever-courteous Japanese people. Chocolate is not only given to sweethearts - you are expected to hand it out to male coworkers and acquaintances regardless of how you feel about them! This has actually spawned the Japanese phrase 義理チョコ (ぎりちょこ - girichoko - obligatory chocolate), referring to chocolate that has been given out only because of social obligation or a sense of duty. Of course, the men don't get away from this either - once ホワイトデー rolls around, be prepared to return some 義理チョコ for all the 義理チョコ you got yourself!
Thankfully, the shops are more than willing to help you part with your money and it's very hard to escape the displays of バレンタインデー and ホワイトデー gifts - they have prepackaged chocolate to suit all levels of love and social obligation! With some exceptions, 生チョコ (なまちょこ - namachoko) is what's given out by the women on バレンタインデー. It's squishy, silky-textured chocolate dusted with cocoa which stays soft even when it's chilled. "生" means "raw", "pure" or "unprocessed" though, which makes 生チョコ a strange name for it - it's made by mixing chocolate with sugar syrup. Nevertheless, it's very nice and I'd recommend trying it - you can buy it any time of the year.
Things aren't as cut and dried on ホワイトデー so it's probably harder for the men to choose a good present. ホワイトデー gifts can traditionally be anything from white (or dark) chocolate, to marshmallows, to jewellery. They also have to make sure not to mess up the level of the gift - they don't want to send the wrong message and make it look like 義理チョコ when they wanted to impress. They've only got one chance a year to get it right.
I think I'm starting to understand the anxiety!
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