Nothing Says "I Love You" Like Snack Food

So the Church took a perfectly good holiday and turned it into a celebration of some possibly apocryphal guy getting his head cut off.

This has, of course, nothing on what Hallmark has done with it since. But all of this is peanuts compared to the Japanese adaptation of the holiday.

I could not walk anywhere in Tokyo since the middle of January without being assaulted by the Valentine marketing push. Everything from chocolate to Campari is pushed with a Valentine’s spin from bus signs, hanging subway advertisements and billboards. Even foreign countries get in on the act: “Thailand is for Lovers.”

The day does have one redeeming quality here, though. On Valentine’s Day in Japan, women give the men gifts. Typically chocolate. Of course, like all things in life, there is no free lunch. One month later on White Day, men are expected to reciprocate.

Which brings me to the gift I received on Valentine’s day. While others received trips to Thailand and Campari, I was the proud recipient of:

A rice cracker

OK, it was a heart-shaped rice cracker, but still.

I’ve got a month until White Day — I figure that should be enough time to find a heart-shaped Dorito for Yukari.

Posted by pmk at February 15, 2004 2:43 AM | TrackBack