Valentine's Day in Japan is always a bit of a big deal. Women are expected to give out chocolates to friends and loved ones every year on this day. Handmade chocolates signify a lady's closest to their family, romantic partner and sometimes even friends. But often times, people just don't have time to make sweets.
So there is a HUGE culture around purchasing chocolates and sweets for your loved ones. So big, that every department store and sweets shop you walk by will have "Valentine's chocolates" for sale.
Of course, there's no shame in not participating in it. In all my years of living in Japan, I never really bought or made any sweets for any of my friends. I will gladly accept them if I get any, and also return the favour on "White Day" (March 14th) - but I always had a thing about the commercialization of this day. Well, that's another rant for another day.
But I wanted to show you what kinds of chocolates & goods you can find during Valentine's Day here in Japan.
If you're ever here during this time, I do recommend hitting a Department Store (like Daimaru, or Takashimaya, etc) - there is usually an Event Floor, near the top of the building, that will solely be devoted to sweets shops setting stalls to sell their chocolates. Some of them are quite beautiful, and even if you don't plan on buying any for anyone, it's still nice to treat yourself!!
This is the floor map of the Hankyu Department store, and you can see just the scale of this. All the stalls are mostly located on the 9th floor, but there are one or two shops littered on all floors.
Here are some of the chocolates I found interesting:
These are made to shape like wagashi - pretty cool!
I really love the animal chocolates myself. I always think they're super cute, but I don't have to buy and eat them until this year because they're too cute. I ate one of them, and they're pretty decent. A bit too expensive though...
What do you think? Would you like to buy any of these?