Why White Day?

As winter slowly passes and spring edges closer to the hills and valleys of Japan, Valentine’s Day has already come and gone. Perhaps some of us had cause to notice, perhaps some of us didn’t. While Valentine’s Day has never been a holiday of much consequence to me personally, I did find myself very curious about it when I got to this country.

“What is White Day?” I found myself asking. Valentine’s Day, much as Christmas, is an imported and inevitably warped celebration here – even earning a brand-new sister holiday one month later on March 14^th: White Day, or 愛に答えるホイトデイ(ai no kotaeru white day, or “answering love white day”).

Why has Valentine’s Day been split in two? Isn’t one enough? Curious, I asked Japanese coworkers, students, and friends. From what I’ve heard, the origins of Valentine’s Day in Japan dates back (unsurprisingly) to the 1950’s. American chocolate companies, hoping to add to their profits by moving the holiday overseas, ultimately got something very different than they intended – and all through a simple error in translation. The Japanese understood the marketing campaigns as implying that women should give chocolate to men. How this mix-up happened I don’t know, but it turned Valentine’s Day into a chocolate-making day. For years now, women have been making chocolate to give to their sweethearts, and mothers to their children. Chocolate companies still manage to make their money through Japanese obligatory gift-giving, selling cheap chocolate in mass quantities to be given in the work place.

So what about the women, you may ask? I know I certainly did. I even found myself a little indignant – Valentine’s Day is for us girls! We get the chocolates, the flowers, and the fancy dinners! But alas, that sort of date night holiday is already taken up by Christmas here. So, why not make a new tradition out of an old, foreign name?

Insert: White Day. At first I thought White Day (symbolizing white chocolate) was a simple reciprocation day, chocolate for chocolate. Though my proud (and I suppose slightly un-feminist) feelings are still hurt by the women having to proclaim their love first, on White Day, men have to give back gifts triple the worth of the gifts they received. “Ha!” I said to myself, “triple the chocolate!” But it gets better than that: men now not only give white chocolate, but jewelry, objects of sentimental value, even white lingerie. Much better. However, if a man gives back chocolate of the same value or amount to a woman, it means her love is not returned, and he is only giving it as an obligation. So watch out, ladies! This version of Valentine’s Day and the holiday of White Day are celebrated throughout East Asia – in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China.

But there are many of us that these holidays don’t concern. Where is the holiday for the singles among us? This question is asked by some every year back home. Well, there is finally an answer for you: South Korea! South Korea has an additional third holiday on (you guessed it) April 14^th, called Black Day. Sounds ominous, but it is just a day for singles to get together, eat some noodles, and celebrate their singleness. Seems like a pretty good idea! Maybe we should bring a little bit of that spirit back home with us.