Wednesday, April 14, 2010

White Day



White Day was first celebrated in 1978 in Japan. It was started by the National Confectionery Industry Association (全国飴菓子工業協同組合) as an "answer day" to Valentine's Day on the grounds that men should pay back the women who gave them chocolate and other gifts on Valentine's Day. In 1977, a Fukuoka-based confectionery company, Ishimura Manseido (石村萬盛堂), marketed marshmallows to men on March 14, calling it Marshmallow Day (マシュマロデー).
Soon thereafter, confectionery companies began marketing white chocolate. Now, men give both white and dark chocolate, as well as other edible and non-edible gifts, such as jewelry or objects of sentimental value, or white clothing like lingerie, to women from whom they received chocolate on Valentine's Day one month earlier. If the chocolate given to him was giri-choco, the man, likewise, may not be expressing actual romantic interest, but rather a social obligation.

Here the steps to celebrated White Day with ur loves one....

STEP1:
First you have to organize the list of people who gave you a present on Valentine's Day. You should be able to separate them into two groups, people who gave you "giri" or courtesy chocolate, and if you are lucky, people who gave you "honmei" or true love chocolate.

STEP2:
This is the hard part. You have to decide how you will reciprocate. Tradition says that the White Day present should be about three times the value of the Valentine's Day present, although I haven't seen this practiced much. Generally you can return "giri" chocolate with a "giri" type present. They are generally easy to find on sale in department stores and supermarkets.

STEP3:
The next step is to decide what to do about any "honmei" chocolates you received. If you feel the same way, feel free to respond with a very nice present and let love bloom. It is important however to let the others down easy with a nice present and an explanatory note. It's easy for feelings to be hurt here.

STEP4:
Hopefully you've made it through Valentine's Day and White Day without any social gaffs and are enjoying better communication and new friendships thanks to this modern Japanese tradition.

No comments:

Post a Comment