Seeing Culture With A Sweet Tooth: Saint Valentine's Day

It's that time of year, the one where the price of roses quadruples and where young men with pimpled faces and pure, unbridled romance hurl themselves into oncoming traffic. Saint Valentine's Day, once the day to remember an imprisoned Christian and others persecuted for faith, is now the day of love, innuendo, flowery poetry, flowers themselves.

And in Japan, it is the day of chocolate.

Previously I've been ambivalent about Valentine's Day. I used to be almost terminally single, especially as a teenager and in my very early twenties. At school and work, the people who received the most Valentines day cards were invariably the people that you hated (and envied on that one day) the most.

In Japan, even if you're single you still get to celebrate because guys get given giri chocolate by women at work and sometimes (though rarely) school, basically a platonic gift. If you're not romancing on Valentine's Day you at least get to comfort eat the best food for that purpose.

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