White Day - A Japanese Holiday

White Day is part two of Valentine's Day in Japan. This is a unique Japanese holiday that is seemed to have been started by the candy companies.

On Valentine's Day women give a variety of gifts such as;

Giri Choko - Obligatory chocolate for coworkers and the boss.

Tomo Choko - For the friends (Tomo is short for tomodachi which means friend)

Honmei Choko - Which is the real chocolate for someone special.

In 1978, the candy companies came up with a way for all of the guilt ridden men who received candy and presents on Valentine's Day to return the gift a month later. Playing on the traditional Japanese custom of reciprocating a gift, men are now able to give back some chocolate or a small present on March 14th. So with the color of Valentine's Day being red, this newly created holiday brings all of the chocolate boxes and presents wrapped in white.

In 1977 a confectionery company in Fukuoka started this by offering marshmallows as a way for men to "give back." The following year other companies began to make white chocolate for this new tradition. Nowadays chocolate, jewelry, flowers and other small flowers are common White Day presents. The heavy advertising done by these companies lets no man forget about what an important day it is to buy something and reciprocate the gift.

The Perfect Japanese Gifts
Japanese Holidays