Not So Much Valentine's Day

I was trying to write this last week but every time I would write, I became a bit too cynical and extreme. I won't be the first to admit that when I don't like something, sometimes I let it go too far and so I decided to let it set for a week and then write about it. Here's the deal. I don't like Valentine's Day. In the states, I never had a Valentine and so perhaps I am a bit bitter toward the holiday as a whole but I can't help but be a little upset when the first Valentine's day that I actually have a valentine, the tables are turned. Confused?... so was I. It turns out that in Japan Valentine's Day is a holiday where the women give men gifts, chocolate and so on. The men are not expected to do anything on this day, and not until March is it reciprocated, though only to the women who have given you something on Valentine's Day. This "new" holiday is called White Day, and from what I hear most men don't even remember it! From what I can gather, the Hallmark holiday making agency that was set out to conquer Japan realized that they could never sell a holiday like Valentine's Day to the men and had to market it to the women. And so it go that this is the story of my first Valentine's Day in Japan.