mission.japan

Like Christmas, Valentine’s Day has been fed into the Great Commercialization Machine of Japan. The Machine works something like the transporter from Star Trek. What comes out looks much like the original, but there are a lot of metaphysical-type questions, like whether the result is really the real thing.

In the case of Valentine’s Day in Japan, when it was dematerialized into the Machine, an abundance of chronoton particles resulted in the contents of the transporter buffer being mysteriously bifurcated and the two patterns materializing at different times. (If you didn’t understand that, it’s a sign that you’re a normal person.) Put simply, Valentine’s Day in Japan is on February 14, but a new holiday, White Day, takes place on March 14.

The two holidays are virtually the same, except they are unidirectional. Valentine’s Day is ruled by chocolate, and the chocolate is given from women to men (or girls to boys, which is an overused cliche in school drama anime). White Day has a wider variety of gift selections (though candy is preferred), and the gift giving proceeds in the opposite direction.

Because giving a gift for reasons of romance was deemed too narrow, the gods of Chocolate in Japan decided that Valentine’s Day should include giri-choco—chocolate generally given because of a professional or hierarchical relationship. (The word “giri” has the idea of duty or obligation.) With the circle of chocolate influence thus widened, the run to Valentine’s Day builds in snowball fashion, with chocolate commercials running on every channel and stores everywhere setting up displays of all sizes.