It makes good sense that girls are queuing up for chocolates in Japan, this is a holiday where boys receive chocolates. Can you believe it! (yes)…but in less than a month comes white day! (girls day!)

I am not a chauvinist, so I purchased a box of the most outrageously “baka-takai” chocolates in the city. I had to try them and see how a single chocolate can be the cost of several boxes.

Bulgari chocolates cost as much as 2000 Yen per individual chocolate, or more. I think the box they came in, must cost more than the chocolates, as it is superbly executed, not to mention the hard plastic carry bag and ribbons.

This holiday is expensive for all Japanese women and it all depends on how is on the receiving end of the box. These gifts are divided into three types: “giri choco” obligatory chocolates, “honmei choco”, chocolate for the man the woman is serious about and “tomo choco”, chocolate for the woman’s female friends.

-“Giri choco” is given by women to their superiors at work as well as to other male co-workers. It is not unusual for a woman to buy 20+ boxes of this type of chocolate for distribution around the office, as well as to men, that she has regular contact with. A woman will normally purchase boxes of ‘giri choco” in the several hundred yen range so she can suffer little financial damges.

-“Tomo choco” is a fairly recent development having appeared on the scene in the past few years.

– “honmei choco” and another gift such as a necktie for her special someone” is often given. Or for her female friends, she generally chooses something in the medium price range that she would enjoy eating herself.