Marshmallow Day

So, I realise that this post is a few days late (must excuse the mountain of uni work going on) but on the 14th of March, Japan has just celebrated White Day. 

So what is White Day? No, it is not some sort of inappropriate KKK holiday, but instead another Japanese holiday celebrating obligation.  Unlike valentines day, where it is all about the girls forking out money to buy chocolate for anyone they may want to (or feel obligated to), White Day is all about the guys giving it to the girls.  In fact, it is quite an insult to not return the gift of obligation chocolate if you received something on Valentines day. So, once again the stores are filled with chocolate;or at least they leave the same valentines chocolate out on the shelf, with a newer, more expensive price tag, and a 'white day' sign on top.

And, unlike valentines day, where the day was originally about love, White Day is all about obligation (giri). White Day was created by a marshmallow company, who later paired up with other confectionery companies and did a massive marketing campaign for the citizens of Japan to take the day on. Eventually they did and another money spending day was created. Originally called 'marshmallow day' it was later changed to 'white day' as the colour of marshmallows, which allowed other companies to cash in on the day (Lingerie, cookies, jewellery etc). And, unlike Christmas and Valentines day, where there may once have been a noble message in there somewhere- White Day is purely a money making scheme... And it does seem to work.

There is a bit of a 'rule of three' when it comes to white day chocolate- as in, the man should be giving you something that is three times more expensive than whatever you gave him. Apparently, it is not entirely unheard of for some Japanese school girls to give their father a couple of hundred dollars (10,000 yens) worth of giri-chocolate (Obligation chocolate), just so that their dad's might buy them that new Gucci bag they always wanted....

 

Ahh, the cunning....

So, if it is that easy to create a new money spending holiday; I prose that April 8th be "Cadbury Creme Egg Day." A day to celebrate the wonders of consumerism...Oh, wait... I think it already is....