[Ansteorra] fwd: Valentines day in Japan

[Renee Pitcock]

This is actually not entirely accurate.  Giri-choco extends all the way to co-workers and people you may interact with on a daily basis.  Japan has a strong culture of mutual obligations and gift-giving like that.  Moreover, White Day is specifically intended for men to return women's gifts, and it can be a mental game.  Even if a woman in the office, for example, doesn't get a man chocolates on Valentine's Day, he may still be considered obligated to give every woman in his workplace White Day gifts, and they can be any number of presents.  In fact, many women will buy gifts for their husbands to distribute at work to make sure the obligations are met.  However, just as women can use Valentine's to confess their feelings to a man, so too can men use White Day to confess their feelings to a woman.  Likewise, the lack of chocolate or a reciprocal gift can be an obvious snub to a person you dislike or whose feelings you do not return.  Also, many
 women make their chocolates at home by hand, so the idea that you're getting three times the value is a little skewed.

In other words, Valentine's Day is complicated in Japan.
 
~Morina O'Donovan


________________________________
 From: Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com>
To: Inc. Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA <ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org> 
Sent: Monday, February 6, 2012 4:06 PM
Subject: [Ansteorra] fwd: Valentines  day in Japan
 
From the Gleann Ahbann list.

I just knew there had to be a catch...

Stefan
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Valentines  day in Japan
   Posted by: "Tree" ladytree53 at yahoo.com ladytree53
   Date: Mon Feb 6, 2012 9:47 am ((PST))

While the below information is not SCA related, I thought some of you might like this little bit of information.  My daughter and her husband live at Kadena AFB in Japan.  She posted the below information on her blog a while back and I found it interesting.  While how far back in time this custom goes I do not know, I did find it enjoyable.

Tree
____________________________________
In American most men are planning the big day in Feb. to show love with candy ,cards ,flowers and maybe even a nice dinner. Japan it is a little diff. here the men wait to see how many gifts they will get. yes,ladies the men get the gifts!!!! When it first began in Japan single woman would present a gift (usually chocolate) to the boy to confess attraction to them. Times have changed just a little ...now woman of all ages give a gift to their loved one ...called hommei-choco(true love chocolates). for relatives they give giri-choco(obligation chocolates) -smaller. Friend or (tomodachi or you can just say tomo) may also get gifts.
Even Americans may get a gift from a Japanese person while walking or in a store. If you do get one.. then on White Day on March 14th you have to give that person a gift back and it should be worth three times the amount of the gift they gave you.This gift is called (san-bai-gaishi). All of you woman run out and get your husband a hommie-choco so in March he has to triple the amout on a san-bai-gaishi gift for you lol!!!!
__________________________

--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
   Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/marksharris
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****






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