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<\/p>\nThere is a huge difference between how the Philippines and Japan celebrate Valentine’s.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What to give\/receive <\/strong><\/p>\n In the Philippines, Valentine’s is more on flowers – roses as the main star. With matching teddy bears and chocolates on the side. <\/strong>And love letters too.<\/p>\n In Japan, it’s mainly chocolate. Not very much on flowers.<\/p>\n Who give<\/strong><\/p>\n Ladies are feeling princesses on Valentine’s Day in the Philippines<\/strong> because they are showered with love. Boyfriends, husbands and admirers are expected to give something to their girlfriends\/wives. Teachers also receive presents from their students. And students are also encouraged to give something like a card to their parents as well.<\/p>\n In Japan, <\/strong>it’s the opposite. Girls give to boys, and ladies to gents. There are three types of chocolate given on Valentine’s Day in <\/strong>Japan:<\/p>\n 1. Honmeichoko <\/strong>– for the opposite sex you like\/love 2. Girichoko <\/strong>– from the word “giri”, meaning obligatory, like the subordinate to the boss. co-workers, not necessarily “love”, and 3. Tomochoko<\/strong>– from the word “tomo”, meaning friend, given between friends usually between girls. <\/strong>And this is getting more popular than honmeichoko.<\/p>\n The Craze<\/strong><\/p>\n In the Philippines, you can feel that “love is in the air” in February. Shops, malls, restaurants, schools and offices get decorated with cupids and hearts.<\/p>\n Come Valentine’s Day, red is the color. And many singles want to find “the one” to date or to settle down. Students celebrate by buying flowers and presents for their teachers. Sometimes, classes are canceled to give way to a Valentine Party.<\/p>\n That would never happen in Japan. No disruption of classes because it’s Valentine’s. Not that I know of so far. Valentine’s Day is a somewhat ordinary day.<\/p>\n Many couples go on a dinner date in the Philippines and many proposals happen too. I guess it’s similar in Japan but I just don’t see it or feel it.<\/p>\n In Japan, girls (and their mothers) get really busy on Valentine’s Day (or the day before) making the best homemade chocolate.<\/p>\n If you go to the supermarkets, the first thing you see on displays are arrays of chocolates and baking materials. It’s the season for chocolates. Actually, right after New Year’s, shops change to Valentine’s mood.<\/p>\n Of all these differences, the girls giving chocolate to boys and expressing their affection is one thing that is hard for me to do. It’s not that it’s bad but it’s just something I did not do growing up. I was taught to just wait and never express your feelings to the opposite sex.<\/p>\n But maybe it’s changing nowadays.<\/p>\n What do you think?<\/p>\n Would you rather be the one to give or receive?<\/p>\n How do you celebrate Valentine’s in your country?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There is a huge difference between how the Philippines and Japan celebrate Valentine’s. What to give\/receive In the Philippines, Valentine’s is more on flowers – roses as the main star. With matching teddy bears and chocolates on the side. And love letters too. In Japan, it’s mainly chocolate. Not very much on flowers. Who give […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,17,10,18],"tags":[150],"class_list":["post-1518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-japan","category-japan-living","category-philippines","tag-valentines-day-chocolates-roses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maryanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maryanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maryanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maryanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maryanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maryanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maryanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maryanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maryanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maryanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}