I bought a package of Almond Hershey's Kisses yesterday. Today, I plopped the bag, unwrapped, on the table in the lounge at the workplace. There were about two or three Kisses for everyone. I think I ate more than anyone else, though (^.~).

As for Valentine's Days past, I baked chocolate heart shaped cookies and toss them in a large Tupperware, took it to school on my bicycle (trying to avoid bumps in the road as much as possible, so that the heart shaped cookies would still look like heart shaped cookies at the end of the 20 minute ride), and went around the halls during lunch period, passing them out to friends while I was in high school. (This was an all girls high school, by the way.) In university, I distributed small packets of cookies and candy to the guys in crew and the guys in my study group and my girlfriends. And yes, I did make a special packet for the guy I had a hopeless crush on at the time. (No, nothing good came of the crush, but if you are my really close friend, I will fill you in on all the gory details later, upon request.)

There is a reason I am giving chocolate to people, even though I would much more preferred to have gone into the kitchen, open that package, and eat the Kisses myself last night. For those of you who don't know, I'm a Japanese woman living and working in Japan, in a mainly male working environment. And for those of you who don't know, tomorrow will be the day after Valentine's Day. Another point for those of you who don't know is that in Japan, women are supposed to give men they care about chocolate on Valentine's Day.

It all started as a marketing ploy on the part of a Japanese confectionery manufacturer about 40 years ago. It was a cute marketing ploy; chocolate wasn't expensive, and more importantly, contemporary Japanese women didn't have much of an opportunity to express their interest toward men who attracted them. A tastefully wrapped box of chocolate acted as a simple, modest method to say "I love you." It worked. It stuck.

The problem was, it stuck too well. Somewhere along the line, the concept of "giri chocolate", or just "giri choco" for short, came along. "Giri" means obligation, and "giri choco" is chocolate you are obliged to give, regardless of your amorous interest (or lack thereof) of the male in question; chocolate is given to bosses and co-workers, lest they think that you don't think they are attractive as males and bruise their fragile egos.

But wait! It gets better! So of course, you have to give the best chocolate to the man you really care about, right? Enter European chocolate companies and other expensive, overpriced, snobbish choclatiers. Enter the concept of "homemade chocolate" (you just melt pre-made chocolate in a double boiler and pour it into molds or whatever, so it's really more like "home assembled" than "homemade"). Enter environmentally unfriendly fluffy wrapping paper and ribbon.

But wait! It gets better! Not satisfied that they'd pretty much entirely convinced Japan's female population that they have to give chocolate to every single male they know with spontaneous respirations and a pulse, now they have to convince the receiving end that they must give something in return. Enter "White Day", still another totally contrived marketing ploy by the confectionery manufacturers, is a day where males who have received chocolate must (supposedly) give candy to the females who gave them chocolate. 

Maybe this is all so much sour grapes from a woman who doesn't have anyone to give "honmei (serious interest) choco" to...a sure sign of loserdom by Japanese standards, I suppose. But the Japanese confectionery companies are not going to make any money off of me this year. True, I bought chocolate, but it's a package of Hershey's Kisses, and last I heard, they were based in Hershey, PA. 

And next to the package, I am going to leave a note that says "for your tasting enjoyment. Any and all White Day gifts will be viewed as a sign of serious interest in becoming Mr. (insert Ayako's family name here)" 

I'll keep you posted on whether I receive anything on March 14th.