An unusual way to celebrate Valentine’s Day with chocolates

February 11th, 2009 by Graham

Chocolate heart
No doubt many women will be getting chocolates on Valentine’s Day from secret (and some not so secret admirers). But in some parts of Asia it’s a slightly different story.

For instance, in Japan many women are obliged to give chocolates to all of their male co-workers on February 14th. This is known as giri-choko (the word giri means “obligation” in Japanese and and choko.. well, you can guess what that means).

There is also honmei-choko, which is chocolate given to a loved one and tomo-choko, which is when friends (usually female) give chocolate to each other.

But what’s interesting about the February 14th habit of giving chocolate to male co-workers is that it is followed on March 14th by another event, White Day, where men are expected to return the favour and give chocolates back to their female colleagues who gave them chocolates a month before.

It’s a similar story in South Korea, but with one difference. On April 14th (the so-called Black Day), men and women who did not receive any chocolates on the 14th of February or March go to a Chinese restaurant to eat black noodles and “mourn” their single life!

Completely bonkers of course, like many of these traditions. But I kind-of like it.

And I think maybe we should introduce something over here in the UK. So how about it?