The day is finally here “Barentain Dei”, which is a version of Japanese-English. “Baren” is really “Valen” but because Japanese do not have “v” sound, it is “baren”, and “taiin” is because “tine” is hard to say, so it is shortened to “tain”. This is accordance with the Hiragana alphabet. The word “day” is a simple change, as no “y” exists, so it is “dei”, a simple to pronounce word in accordance with the Japanese alphabet. Da, Di, Du De Do.

The holiday was a craze as makers of 60 premium chocolate brands had set up special booths at Takashimaya Co., a well-known department store in Ginza Tokyo. Boxes of chocolates costing as much as 10,000-20,000 yen ($84-$168) sold briskly, and lines were kilometers long. The Japanese love to line up = time + people + expensive = quality

Valentines Day, women take the initiative to shower their honmei or sweethearts with gifts, profess their love, and humor their male classmates and colleagues with giri-choco or obligation chocolates. For teenagers it’s a bittersweet initiation into romance and courtship or simply Tomo-Choco.

Giri choco = obligatory chocolate. Chocolate that is given without any romantic feelings attached. Women usually give giri choco to classmates, coworkers, teachers or clients that they are not romantically interested in.

Tomo choco = friend chocolate. In recent years, many young women exchange chocolate gifts with their female friends.