Girls' Confession Day? Japanese Valentin's Day

February 14th is Valentine's Day in Japan, as well! However, events of this day are a little different from that of Western countries. Apparently Valentine's Day culture was originally imported to Japan in late 1950s, but it wasn't really anchored down. Perhaps Japanese people were too shy to enjoy a day of romantic love back then.

In late 1970s, Valentine's gifts started to be common among young girls because Japanese candy companies made advertizements such as "Girls! Valentine's Day is a day for romantic love! Why don't you muster up your courage to give a chocolate gift to the boy you love on this day? The chocolate will tell the boy how you feel!", and it attracted many young girls who are very shy to verbally confess their feelings.

Since then, Valentine's Day has been a day for girls and women in Japan. So, most shopping malls have Valentine's Chocolate gift corners in this season, as you can see in the lower photos, and the customers at the corners are mostly girls/women. 

Yet apparently some parts of Japanese Valentine's Day culture is now changing. According to a newspaper survey, nowadays 45% of girls/women are giving Valentine's gifts to their female friends, 41% of girls/women are giving to their father, 30% of girls/women are giving to their husbands/boyfriends, and only 9% of girls/women are giving to boys/men who they want to confess their feelings. It appears that Japanese girls/women are not very shy anymore to use a roundabout way to confess.

Anyway,  it seems that one thing hasn't changed in Japan is Valentine's Day is a day for chocolate gifts. 
Happy Valentine's Day!