What Japanese Women Would Expect On White Day?
Posted by: kirin on 
Mar 12th, 2010 | 
Filed under: Uncategorized
I was asked to write about “White Day” by one of my blog readers. As I am leaving for Malaysia in the morning, I was going to reply to him only in the replying email. As it turned out, I found the content I was writing in the reply was good enough to make a blog post! (LOL) So…let me share with you what Japanese women would expect on White Day, generally. (I’m a little bit weird type who don’t care about these events at all. :p )
Let’s say you are a man who lives in Japan and is willing to follow our custom just as most of Japanese people do. Basically as you might know already, it’s a day to return something sweet to the women who gave chocolates to you on Valentine’s Day.
Don’t forget this includes co-workers.
If you work for a Japanese company, chances are that you received chocolates “for obligation” (Don’t misunderstand! This is part of very Japanese culture that is hardly understood by foreigners. ^ ^) from female co-workers on Valentine’s Day. You’re supposed to return something small just to be nice and polite. (Actually there are many male workers who ignore this, but that’s not nice. It’s a trivial thing but the difference between giving something back and totally ignoring that eventually leads to how you will be supported or treated well in the office by these women in the future.) For example, 500-1000 yen chocolates or cookies or candies are enough for “obligation”…Don’t worry, department stores and online malls always have nice collections. 
Examples of websites that feature White Day.
This website for example shows you groups of gifts: whether they are suitable gifts for someone special or only for obligation. (This is just a sample page, I don’t think their selections are kawaii or nice, personally. :p)
Disclaimer: Puchitto net
Another White Day page from Rakuten.
For your girlfriend or wife, please plan something romantic and nice. Because that’s exactly what most of Japanese women would expect on this day (in general)!! You can take her to a romantic dinner, or you can stay at a luxurious room at a city hotel to spend a romantic night, or you can give her flowers or an accessory or any present that she would be pleased to have. Whatever it is, please make the day special to you and your partner.
There are many shy guys in Japan, and in that sense White Day gives them a good reason to do something for their women without hesitation.
How do you like to spend White Day?
Me? No, I’ll be in Malaysia then! (LOL)
ps) Please note that your comments or massages sent to me during this period (about 10 days) may not be read or responded by me until I come back to Japan. As always, I have reserved some posts so you can still come back to read new posts while I am away.
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Tags: White Day
March 12th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Thanks for the post. I am very interested in a Japanese woman in Osaka. She sent me some very nice hand made chocolates for Valentines day and another friend instructed me to send her a gift for White day. I do not know the appropriate l gift to send her. She got a nice box of chocolates and a tiny white gold necklace. I hope I did the right thing. I don't want to seem cheap or too aggressive. I guess I will know soon.
March 12th, 2010 at 10:42 pm
Interesting. But surely it works both ways ? On white day the women can give gifts to the men that they received chocolates from on Valentin's day ?
Do you have a mother's day and father's day as well ?
March 22nd, 2010 at 5:12 am
Good for you! I believe you did it right! Hope it worked out on you. ^ ^
March 22nd, 2010 at 5:14 am
In Japan, Valentine's Day is basically for women to give chocolates to men. (Not from men to women except for the couples who want to celebrate the day like western way.)
We have both mother's day and father's day, too!
June 29th, 2010 at 5:55 pm
I am from the USA and I must say I never even heard of "white day" until I read a few mangas. Valentine's day is for men to give women chocolates and roses (traditional gifts for their g/f or wife. Personally I've always been a bit of a tom-boy… or if you don't know what that means its slang for a girl who likes to do "boy" things like play sports and get dirty and play with cars and blocks instead of dolls and dress-up). When we are young and in school, everyone has to give a card to everyone else in class (most school probably do this, I know in New England area – RI, CT, MA, etc, USA they do) and a common class activity is making a "valentine-card-holder" out of old tissue boxes and construction paper. The cards are usually thick paper/cardboard with prints of cartoon characters or movie characters that come in "kits" where there are sheets of these that you fold and rip apart and then put in included envelopes (some fold up though so no need for envelopes, just put a sticker). Many types also will have lollipops or a candy. Some classes will also have activities to make cards from construction paper and paper lace dollies, though these are usually then given by the kids to their parents or other family members. Overall, Valentine's Day is a day where guys feel uncomfortable and pressured to be romantic, or down because they are single (single girls will get down on this day too of course). lol Oh, and we don't have a day where girls give anything to guys! Sure on Valentine's Day many girls like to give out cards to friends and maybe chocolates (I have never heard of anyone actually making chocolates before though! Once again, until I read manga I didn't even know it was possible, haha), and couples usually exchange gifts to each other, but the guy is definitely expected to do a lot more, like plan a date in addition to the flowers and/or chocolates. I guess it's just a way to get guys to do something nice for girls? lol :0D
June 30th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
Valentine's Day in Japan is a bit different from the one from western culture like yours. On the day Japanese guys don't have to do anything. They can be totally passive. They are to be given chocolates and/or gifts on the day. On White Day, those guys return candies or sweets or gifts. I hear that White Day is only available in Japan, Korea, and some asian countries…
February 18th, 2011 at 2:21 pm
By the way, it is the first time for me to hear about "the White Day". I just read more about it on the internet and it is very interesting.
You know? In Egypt, there is actually another "Valentine's Day". It is on the 4th of November, proposed by the deceased Egyptian journalist Mustafa Amin. But in fact, this day is to express love in a general way (between family, relatives,colleagues, etc.) rather than between a couple or lovers. The "couple or lovers" love is usually celebrated on the 14th of February as it is globally.
As for the kind of presents the Egyptian lovers exchange, especially for females, it is not that different from those exchanged in Japan, but mostly, accessories and roses are exchanged more than chocolate.^_^
February 19th, 2011 at 12:12 am
Hi Salma,
Thank you for your comment. I think it's nice to have a day to express love among family members or friends. In Japan, many people buy chocolates to exchange among friends on Valentine's Day as well as among lovers. Because it's a good chance to buy many great chocolates especially imported from Europe before Valentine's Day, we sometimes buy them only for ourselves to enjoy. ^ ^;
August 24th, 2011 at 3:30 pm
Never heard of this White Day since a couple of weeks ago.
In fact, I made a japanese girl really sad because she expected something from me, but she didn't recieve a thing. Dumb me!
She stop talking to me since then :'(
Any suggestion on how can I approach her after my dumb mistake?
August 25th, 2011 at 8:16 am
Oh I'm sorry to hear that.
But then she may not know that it's our own custom that we have White Day.
I don't really know how you can fix that, but what about writing her a sincere letter with belated candies or chocolates? I wish you found this post earlier.
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