The Post Valentine Problem

This is Y's VD haul.
It has always been slightly amusing to me that Valentines Day is celebrated here by the girls giving the boys chocolate.

The "how many did you get?" angst here refers to packages of chocs, not cards. And it is strictly for the boys. Only the Japanese could manage to take the actual romance out of the most romantic day on the calendar. It may seem like fairness that the girls get their own special day on March 14th, but only the men who get have to reciprocate, so once again the whole thing is weighted in favour of the convenience of the males of the species, so they don't have to lose face.

The romance is thinned even further by the waves of giri choco (obligation choc for colleagues) and tomo choco ( friendship choco ) and the newer sewa choco (for people you have some kind of business or mutually beneficial arrangement with) (no, not necessarily hookers, but i suppose they would count) that abound these days, creating nice little smoke screens for emotion allergic Japanese people to hide behind while they secretly give gifts to those they are truly obsessed with but don't have the guts to tell.

Clever? Yes, but kind of sad nonetheless.

Why do I smile? Well, ostensibly the choc is for the men, right? Yet the pretty pink packaging is clearly aimed at the girls who are buying it. Or, if my situation is anything to go by, the wives and real girlfriends who are the ones who are going to eat it ( or in my case throw half of it out in May, coz most of it tastes like keech). Another pretty high pitched pink fluffy funfest to keep the girlies happy and deflect attention from the lack of real romance in their lives. Cynical? Moi?

If you ever make the mistake of believing that things are actually about what everyone says they are about in this country, you're a goner!


(And of COURSE it's not really about the money that goes around in this country or my country!!!! What are you TALKING about!?!?!)

So, how many did he get?

9

Enough to hold his head up with manly pride at work, but not so many that the wife gets suspicious.....unless he only brought home the giri choco...