crystal's capers

one girl's international adventures

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Another Valentine's Day?

Today, March 14th, is White Day. It is said that this day is the world's first commercially produced holiday; celebrated in Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Basically, candy producers in Japan thought they were not selling enough at Valentine's Day, and rallied together to make a second holiday targeting male consumers.

How it works: at Valentine's Day it is traditional for women to give candy (mostly chocolate) to the men in their lives. She can give "giri choco" to male co-workers, bosses, friends, etc. and/or "honmei choco" to her special someone. In return, exactly one month later, male recipients return the favour.

Some speculate that White Day was originally the brainchild of marshmallow candy producers, and that it was the producers of white chocolate (the now-common gift of choice on this occasion) that followed. Either way, I think women are getting ripped off; nothing is better than good old fashioned milk chocolate.

My two cents: as if one Valentine's Day isn't bad enough. Alone. Ugh.

NB While researching for the White Day picture I came across a rather interesting cultural event... KANAMARA MATSURI. It is held every April 15th at Wakamiya Hachimangu Shrine in Kawasaki, Japan and involves such practises as pushing a giant penis around the city. Seriously, Google it.

4 Comments:

    • At 9:09 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

      Sweet! A second choco-holiday? Sign me up. Love ya darlin'

       
    • At 8:48 AM, Blogger Fluffica said…

      any pictures of said man friend in parisian's blog? is that cryptic enough? ha.

       
    • At 7:33 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

      I love how "GOOGLE" has become the new universal word for "RESEARCH"!

      The Oxford Dictionary (Circa 2008):

      Study:
      a. The act or process of Googling.
      b. The pursuit of knowledge, as by reading, observation, or Google.

       
    • At 9:05 AM, Blogger Fluffica said…

      oh my garsh
      i fell asleep until 11 ish. so sorry! i will definitely call you sunday!

       
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