Happy White Day

White day is marked on the 14 March on the calendars in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. What do people do on White Day? I read up on wikipedia...

White Day was first celebrated in 1978 in Japan. It was started by the National Confectionery Industry Association 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, Ishimuramanseido, marketed marshmallows to men on March 14, calling it Marshmallow Day (マシュマロデー). 
Soon there after, 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 jewellery 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.

I knew that March 14 is the day when guys return chocolates to the ladies who gave them chocolates on Valentines Day. Saw this gesture in many manga and anime. Only that I didn't expect to receive one today. And it was the first thing in the morning, and I was not even awake. So sweet...



1 comment: