{"id":7092,"date":"2022-01-27T23:52:38","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T23:52:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/?p=7092"},"modified":"2022-01-27T23:52:38","modified_gmt":"2022-01-27T23:52:38","slug":"about-unique-japanese-valentines-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/about-unique-japanese-valentines-day\/","title":{"rendered":"About Unique Japanese Valentine\u2019s Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is the biggest event in February (\u4e8c\u6708 nigatsu)?\u00a0 Setsubun (\u7bc0\u5206), which falls on February 3?\u00a0 For the entire nation, it may be.\u00a0 Setsubun means to divide seasons (\u5b63\u7bc0 kisetsu), dividing the winter and the spring (2\/4). On Setsubun, people throw roasted soybeans at Oni, a demon (\u9b3c), shouting \u201d Out with the demons. In with good fortune.\u201d It is the tradition. But I have to say what could be more popular is Valentine\u2019s Day due to the size of the market.<\/p>\n

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takedahrs<\/a>\u306b\u3088\u308bPixabay<\/a>\u304b\u3089\u306e\u753b\u50cf<\/p><\/div>\n

The Japanese Valentine\u2019s Day was started and popularized by confectionary companies promoting their chocolates. Japanese Valentine\u2019s Day was very unique. For the Japanese, Valentine\u2019s Day was (emphasizing the past tense!) the only day on which women could confess (\u544a\u767d\u3059\u308b kokuhakusuru) their love to men. It was very popular among young girls.<\/p>\n

Then another unique Japanese custom came to be popular in the 1980s. That is called \u201cgiri choco\u201d (obligatory chocolate \u7fa9\u7406\u30c1\u30e7\u30b3), reportedly another genius (\u5929\u624d\u7684\u306a tensaitekina) invention (\u767a\u660e hatsumei) by the Japanese confectionary industry to broaden the market.\u00a0 Women working in offices started to give chocolates to their male colleagues and bosses as a means of communication.<\/p>\n

Thanks to these marketing strategies (\u6226\u7565 senryaku), it is said that 20% of chocolate sales in Japan is registered during the Valentine\u2019s Day period. In 2020, just before COVID-19 changed the whole world, the whole Valentine\u2019s Day market (\u5e02\u5834 shijou), including chocolate, amounted to US$1 billion, which was a significant amount for the retailers. Although there is no data available for 2020, the giri choco market reached US$18 million in 2017.<\/p>\n

It was a huge \u201cwasted\u201d expense for female employees, and a very stressful time for male employees as the number of chocolates indicated the popularity inside the company. So some companies prohibited (\u7981\u6b62\u3059\u308bkinshisuru) the chocolate giving activity entirely.<\/p>\n