An advert from a store reminding men that White Day is March 14.
In Japan, the calendar of spring-time affection and gift giving rituals is a bit different from Western norms.
To avoid any awkward moment where the person you got chocolate for didn’t get you any in return, in Japan, only girls give chocolates on Valentine’s Day, with the most popular boys returning home with mounds of chocolates. Then, one month later, on the March 14, or “White Day”, boys need to return the favor to whoever their admirers were. In schools and offices, there is also a tradition of “giri chocolate” or “giving chocolate as a favor” to co-workers or male friends, which means men have even more “White Day o-kaeshi“, “White Day return gifts”, to give back.
As the name suggests, gifts need to be white themed. Usually this involves white chocolate, marshmallow, white roses or even diamonds for a lucky few, but these Twitter users describe some of the more unusual white offerings they were given over the last few days.
From Naver Matome:
Things That Shocked You on White Day
なかむら！さん：
White Day’s here alright! Heard a pretty girl say “If you go buy some cheap cake from a small cake store, put it in your oven to burn it a bit, cover it with cheap looking sprinkles, stuff them into boxes from the 100 yen shop and give them to out to like, 8 guys, on Valentine’s Day, on White Day, you’ll get given lots of brand stuff all at once and it’s awesome” Yup, White Day has come!
梶尾真治さん：
Why is today called White Day? It’s because the word derives from “Why today?” [prounced using katakana: ho-wa-i-to-dei] as in what you say when a girl tell you “hey, where’s my White Day o-kaeshi?”
Trending crazy o-kaeshi on Twitter:
力フェモ力は静かに暮らしたいさん：
This was what a guy in my class gave back for White Day wwwwwww He put chocolate on a sardine wwwwwwwwwwww Whaaaaaaa wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Every girl’s dream…a chocolate covered sardine.
ねぷさん：
I thought the thing my little brother had been working on since morning was probably a White Day o-kaeshi. He managed to make something so gross with only caramel corn and chocolate, poor girl.
のしんさん：
Guess it was a White Day o-kaeshi, but this morning, my desk was stuffed with enokitake mushrooms!
黒あずさん：
This is the second time wwwwwww someone gave me a wwwwwww gave me a White Day o-kaeshi wwwwwww PINEAPPLE!wwwwwww
桂 つかささん：
“Here you are, a White Day o-keashi“. “Awww, Thank you ve— oh wow awesome, Godiva… oh wait… “Giva”? What’s that?!” “The ghost of Aichi“
キューピーさん：
I tried making this with chocolate and pancake mix, but what does this look like to you? [N.B. this “treats” is made to look exactly like Takoyaki, a kind of octopus fritter]
のりーだーさん：
Got this for White Day ♡ I feel loved! (笑) [N.B. These are potato chips]
Yukariiiiiiii♡さん：
A surprise from all the guys in the class(*´ω｀*)
Would be awesome if they were all for one girl, but the message says it’s for the entire class.
り えさん：
A bunch of White Day o-keashi arranged like offering near the girls’ lockers at work. Such a treat! Also, thanks for the choux cremes in the fridge (5 for each!).
Yahoo! JAPAN広報さん：
It’s White Day today♪ On the desk of one girl at work, there was a HUGE mountain of Umaibo snacks [they cost around 10 yen each]. There must have been about 2160! Even through the picture, you get an idea of the scale of it!～
藤原らんかさん：
It’s White Day today! I got a present with this message on it from a co-worker awnnn *\(^o^)/*
The card reads: “Women are not for teasing. They’re for hugging.”
There were also a few nice surprises like this:
The White Day gift from all the guys at work was a trip to Sweets Paradise. ♪♪♪Was such a treat! [N.B. Sweets Paradise is a famous all-you-can-eat desert buffet… yes, places like that do actually exist!]
I got was a chocolate bar as a White Dt o-keshi. I was all like (._.) but then I saw there was a ticket to go to Disney Land inside (*ﾟдﾟ*) I was SOOO surprised, but really happy. (;_;)♡ Thanks SO much! (´;ω;`) I love you ♡
