A month after Valentine’s Day, let’s celebrate White Day!
A while ago, one month to be precise, we were talking about Valentine’s Day in Japan and about girls offering the gifts. To make things equal, today is White Day: it’s your day, girls!
Equal is a bit exaggerated actually since the gifts offered to the girls today must be twice to three times more valuable than the ones they offered to boys.
White Day (ホワイトデー - howaito dê) is quite recent compared to Valentine’s Day since it was celebrated for the first time in 1978. In 1977, the confectioner Ishimura MANSEIDO decided to launch Marshmallow Day, to allow men to offer marshmallows as a reply to the gifts they had got on Valentine’s Day. The success was mild but it gave the idea to the National Confectionery Industry Association which launched White Day. The color white was chosen as a symbol of purity and because it was the color of sugar too.
The sanbai gaeshi rule states that men offer gifts twice or three times more expensive than those offered on Valentine’s Day. Like for Valentine’s Day, there is a strong symbol in the gesture and in the value of the gift. If a boy offers no gift back to a girl, it means that he feels superior. If he offers a gift of equal value, it means the end of a relationship. At first, only chocolates were offered but now girls also get jewellery, accessories, clothes, or lingerie.
Happy White Day!
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