Japan’s White Day Custom
日本特有のホワイトデー風習
White Day (ホワイトデー) is a day marked in Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China on March 14, one month after Valentine’s Day. However, Japan probably takes the custom for this day to a different level. On White Day, men return gifts to women who gifted them chocolates on Valentine’s Day. Believe it or not, White Day has been celebrated in Japan since 1978: it was started by the confectionery company back then, promoting men to buy their marshmallows as the return gift for Valentine’s Day. Now, flowers, candies, and many other varied gifts are popular along with chocolates and marshmallows. Often, the color of the gift is white because of the name of the day (unsurprisingly). Again, department stores have *many* advanced reminders with gift displays so men will have no excuse to forget about this special day for the ladies. The term sanbai gaeshi (三倍返し, ‘triple the return’) is used to describe the generally recited rule for men that the return gift should be two to three times the worth of Valentine’s gift from the lady.
3月14日はホワイトデーで「バレンタインデーに貰ったプレゼントのお返しを贈る日」です。バレンタインデーと同じくこうした男性が女性にプレゼントを渡すイベントを楽しみにしている人も多いでしょう。でも、ホワイトデーに何を渡すかによって、相手に伝えたい気持ちの意味が変わると思います。ホワイトデーは日本で生まれた日本特有のイベントなので、外国人はあまり知られていないかもしれません。初めて聞く時、「ホワイトデーはなんで「ホワイト」なの？ 誰が3月14日って決めたの？ いつどんな風に始まった風習なの？」と考えていて、とても興味があったので、調査しました。
