Valentine’s Day has come and gone once again and it always amazes me how much more intense the chocolate-buying process has become. I went into the special event floor of two major department stores and was completely overwhelmed by the number of women in the process of choosing the right chocolates for their favorite men. Yes, in Japan only the women give chocolate to men for Valentine’s, and it isn’t the local, ordinary stuff either. Top-end chocolatiers from Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, France and of course Japan have seen this business grow into the hundreds of millions of dollars annually! Even my wife gets completely wrapped up in the fever!
While I am one of several teachers at my Smith’s Franchises in Fukushima and in Kotoen, I still see a fair number of female students. This year easily took a new all-time record for the amount of chocolate I received, from both schools and from my wife as well. I daresay I have received close to 10,000 yen worth of the fanciest chocolate you can imagine and I’m having a great time! I thought I was supposed to watch my weight!
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