{"id":26848,"date":"2023-03-11T05:00:41","date_gmt":"2023-03-11T05:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/?p=26848"},"modified":"2023-05-31T02:28:27","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T02:28:27","slug":"white-day-in-japan-past-present-and-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/blog\/white-day-in-japan-past-present-and-future\/","title":{"rendered":"White Day in Japan: past, present, and future"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Japan, the Western holiday of Valentine\u2019s Day was popularized in the 1950\u2019s. There\u2019s also a follow-up holiday called White Day (\u30db\u30ef\u30a4\u30c8\u30c7\u30fc) on\u00a0March 14<\/strong>, which was invented as a day for\u00a0men to give gifts and show appreciation to the women\u00a0who had given them gifts the month prior.<\/p>\n

Read on to learn more about the types of gifts you can expect to give or receive on White Day, the holiday\u2019s origins, as well as its current state in the midst of cultural and societal shifts in Japan.<\/p>\n

Valentine\u2019s Day\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

First, it\u2019s important to understand how Valentine\u2019s Day\u00a0gift-giving conventions\u00a0in Japan differ from the West. On this day, it\u2019s\u00a0standard for women to give gifts and chocolate to their male friends, co-workers, family, and romantic interests.\u00a0There is even a breakdown of how these\u00a0types of gifts<\/strong>\u00a0are called.<\/p>\n

Tomo-choco\u00a0<\/i>(\u53cb\u30c1\u30e7\u30b3 ), a combination of the\u00a0kanji<\/em>\u00a0for \u201cfriend\u201d and choco is chocolate given to girlfriends.\u00a0Giri-choco<\/i>\u00a0(\u7fa9\u7406\u30c1\u30e7\u30b3) is \u201cobligation chocolate\u201d given to coworkers and acquaintances for formality. Finally\u00a0honmei-choco<\/i>\u00a0(\u672c\u547d\u30c1\u30e7\u30b3) or \u201ctrue love chocolate\u201d is much more serious and reserved for a romantic interest or partner. However, there are times when men will break convention and give chocolates to women on Valentine\u2019s Day, and it\u2019s called\u00a0gyaku-choco<\/i>\u00a0(\u9006\u30c1\u30e7\u30b3) or \u201creversed\u201d chocolates.<\/p>\n

Women<\/strong>\u00a0also\u00a0make their own treats<\/strong>. You can expect to see Valentine\u2019s-themed molds and packaging around this time of year. However after years of practicing this tradition, before White Day came around, women started to question the fairness of this one-sided gift giving.<\/p>\n

Origins of White Day in Japan<\/b><\/h2>\n

White Day is believed to have\u00a0originated in the 1970s<\/strong>\u00a0with a Fukuoka-based confectionery company,\u00a0Ishimura Manseido<\/a>. An executive had read a letter in a women\u2019s magazine lamenting the fact that men receive chocolate from women on Valentine\u2019s Day, but women are not returned the favor. \u201cWhy don\u2019t they give us something?\u00a0A handkerchief, candy, even marshmallows\u2026\u201d she\u00a0wrote<\/a>.\u00a0In a company meeting, Ishimura asked women employees to choose a day for women to receive gifts, and they all agreed on March 14, one month after Valentine\u2019s Day. Japan\u2019s cultural practice of giving gifts to show thanks and appreciation also resonated with this market strategy.<\/p>\n

The comment on marshmallows led Ishimura Manseido to coin\u00a0\u201cMarshmallow Day\u201d and created a new sweet with marshmallow paste stuffed with chocolate for the occasion. They came up with the slogan \u201cI would like to take the chocolate I received from you, and wrap it with my white heart.\u201d Eventually, the name was changed to\u00a0 \u201cWhite Day\u201d to be more open-ended while still referencing the fluffy marshmallow\u2019s roots. By the 1980s, White Day was popularized all over Japan, and other countries in Asia also adopted this tradition. To this day, marshmallows are still popular gifts to give on White Day in Japan.<\/p>\n

\"White<\/p>\n

Types of gifts on White Day\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

Much like the different levels and meanings of gifts given on Valentine\u2019s Day, White Day gifts are also\u00a0categorized<\/strong>\u00a0depending on who the recipient is. In the\u00a0workplace<\/strong>, it\u2019s customary for men to pitch in to get one box of chocolates for women staff. Between\u00a0romantic partners<\/strong>, the gifts are much more grand. Gifts are expected to be three times the value of whatever the man had received prior. Traditionally,\u00a0the gifts should also be white<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 white gold, silver, or platinum jewelry, white sweets, or white clothing and accessories. However, over time the expectation has been loosened. Gifts don\u2019t necessarily have to be white, but women still expect them to be high quality. For those who you want to reject kindly, it is still a courtesy to at least return sweets worth approximately the same value.<\/p>\n

How White Day has changed in Japan<\/b><\/h2>\n

Over the years, White Day has become less popular. There have been cultural shifts around gender norms, societal expectations, and even financial viability. First, the market success of the White Day depends on men whether men had received gifts the month prior. However in the past few years, Valentine\u2019s spending has decreased, meaning White Day spending has\u00a0also continued to fall<\/a>. People have also described how Japan\u2019s\u00a0okaeshi\u00a0<\/i>gift giving culture can lead into a\u00a0pricey cycle<\/strong>\u00a0and pressure to maintain harmony among social relationships. Women in Japan have especially been\u00a0challenging<\/a>\u00a0the tradition of gifting chocolates, and questioning the pressure of obligation chocolates. In a 2019 survey, 60% of women expressed that they prefer to buy chocolates as personal treats and for family members. 36% of women planned on keeping up the practice of giving chocolates to partners or crushes.<\/p>\n

Whether you choose to partake or end up receiving gifts on White Day in Japan this year, the history around the holiday and its cultural implications are nevertheless fascinating.<\/p>\n

To learn more about life and culture in Japan, keep up with the\u00a0Go! Go! Nihon blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Japan, the Western holiday of Valentine\u2019s Day was popularized in the 1950\u2019s. There\u2019s also a follow-up holiday called White Day (\u30db\u30ef\u30a4\u30c8\u30c7\u30fc) on\u00a0March 14, which was invented as a day for\u00a0men to give gifts and show appreciation to the women\u00a0who had given them gifts the month prior. Read on to learn more about the types […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":25519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[400],"tags":[690,672,683],"class_list":["post-26848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-japanese-culture","tag-living-abroad","tag-style","tag-tradition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}