February
[Barentain Dei]
ST. VALENTINE'S DAY IN
JAPAN
You know that Japanese St.Valentin's Day is very
different from the original one now. When I was a junior
high school student, it was the day that a girl student
presented a chocolate to confess her love to only one boy.
It was more a serious day than recently. It was a big source
of gossip in the class who seemed to give chocolate to whom.
Five years later, when my younger brother was a junior high school student, he got five chocolates on one Valentin's day and he said that it was a kind of recreation for girls to give chocolates to more than one boy. That time I was a little bit irritate because it was not pure.
Because ofthe efforts and advertising tactics of the chocolate companies, the custom of St. Valentine's Day was accepted widely in Japan, and having passed though the Japanese groupism, it transformed strangely. Nowadays in many offices, every woman employee cooperates in paying money and the representative buys chocolates and puts them on the desks of each man employee on the morning of St.Valentine's Day. Women in the office feel that the man who doesn't get a chocolate is pitiful. On the other hand, if they gave chocolate to a few men whom they liked, the jealousy and bad feeling of the others would be troublesome for them. So they selected the safest and useless way as an obligation. In Japanese groupism, sameness is important. At first, a chocolate had a meaning of love or goodwill to the man or the boy. And then, the meaning of friendship or play was added and recently even the meaning of duty was added. Miserable metamorphosis !
Then on the 14th of February, our door bell rang. I opened the door and I found two girl classmates of my son.
-Good afternoon. Is Show at home ?
-No, now he is gone out.
-Then please give this chocolate to him.
-Oh thank you. From you two ?
-Yes, and please tell him not to misunderstand the meaning. We are presenting them to all the boys in our class.
- Ah, O.K. I'll give it to him and tell him what you said. Bye.
They made these chocolates with some other girls, so they enjoyed cooking and the present game. Many boys and their families ware surprised and glad after their visit. But I feel it might be a bud of "sameness is good". I hope that they become independent women.
Five years later, when my younger brother was a junior high school student, he got five chocolates on one Valentin's day and he said that it was a kind of recreation for girls to give chocolates to more than one boy. That time I was a little bit irritate because it was not pure.
Because ofthe efforts and advertising tactics of the chocolate companies, the custom of St. Valentine's Day was accepted widely in Japan, and having passed though the Japanese groupism, it transformed strangely. Nowadays in many offices, every woman employee cooperates in paying money and the representative buys chocolates and puts them on the desks of each man employee on the morning of St.Valentine's Day. Women in the office feel that the man who doesn't get a chocolate is pitiful. On the other hand, if they gave chocolate to a few men whom they liked, the jealousy and bad feeling of the others would be troublesome for them. So they selected the safest and useless way as an obligation. In Japanese groupism, sameness is important. At first, a chocolate had a meaning of love or goodwill to the man or the boy. And then, the meaning of friendship or play was added and recently even the meaning of duty was added. Miserable metamorphosis !
Then on the 14th of February, our door bell rang. I opened the door and I found two girl classmates of my son.
-Good afternoon. Is Show at home ?
-No, now he is gone out.
-Then please give this chocolate to him.
-Oh thank you. From you two ?
-Yes, and please tell him not to misunderstand the meaning. We are presenting them to all the boys in our class.
- Ah, O.K. I'll give it to him and tell him what you said. Bye.
They made these chocolates with some other girls, so they enjoyed cooking and the present game. Many boys and their families ware surprised and glad after their visit. But I feel it might be a bud of "sameness is good". I hope that they become independent women.