History of Valentine’s Day and Japan’s White Day

Jessica Quach

Valentine’s Day has been around for decades and is widely celebrated around the world. Curious as to how February 14^th became the “day of love” I did some digging around.

            As it turns out, Valentine’s Day is a western holiday dedicated to a Saint Valentine—although different stories describe how the holiday and the sayings came to be. This holiday’s origin is shrouded in mystery but all point to the same idea: a Saint who was sympathetic and a romantic.¹

            One story claimed that in the 3^rd century of Rome, there was a priest named Valentine who opposed the emperor’s decree of banning marriage for young men. The emperor made this decree because he believed single men made better soldiers. Valentine defied the emperor and continued to sanction marriages and was eventually sentenced to death.²

A possible portrait of Saint Valentine?

            Another story involved Valentine being imprisoned because he attempted to help Christians escape from Roman prisons. While in prison himself, he fell in love with the jailor’s daughter and sent what could be the first “Valentine”. He had allegedly signed the letter with the words “From your Valentine”—a saying still used today. ³

            Fast-forwarding through history, Valentine’s Day made its way to Japan. In the 1950s, companies in Japan tried to cater to foreigners and advertised chocolates for Valentine’s Day. The idea caught on and other companies embraced the holiday.⁴ However, there was a huge difference between how the holiday was celebrated. In western cultures like the one in the U.S., Valentine’s Day is usually a day dedicated to men expressing their love to women. In Japan, Valentine’s Day is a day for women to express their love to men—as well as being polite and giving gifts and chocolates to friends, family, and coworkers. There must have been a mistranslation about the traditions of Valentine’s Day.⁵

            Men are expected to give gifts in the U.S. for this holiday when women usually aren’t. Why is this? I believe it is because the time and place of the origin of the holiday influenced the gender roles. Valentine’s Day was born in the West during a time when men completely dominated over women. Men had the jobs and the money. Women did not. As a result, only men had the capability to spend money on gifts to give to women. Japan learned about this holiday much later in history and perhaps as a result of a mistranslation, there was a change in gender roles. 

White Day shopping in Japan--see all of those men and boys?

            But wait! Japan also has a unique holiday called “White Day” celebrated exactly one month after Valentine’s Day. On this day, men are expected to return the gesture and give gifts back to women.⁶ I used to believe that this was because Japan was much more advanced in terms of social equality between men and women than the West was. However, upon further research, I discovered that White Day was born for commercial reasons. Chocolate companies—under the pretense that men should also have the chance to express their love—created this holiday.⁷ Although it came about under commercialization, I still find White Day to be a good idea. Maybe we should have a day dedicated to women giving back to men in the United States. However, I must admit, I can’t imagine what it would be like if Valentine’s Day started out as a day dedicated to women giving gifts to men. 

If gender roles were reversed on Valentine's Day... ⁸ Check out this amusing video!

Citations

¹ A&E Television Networks, "History," Accessed March 30, 2014,   http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/history-of-valentines-day.

² Same as l.

³ Same as 1.

⁴ Koichi, "Valentine's Day, Japan," Tofugu (blog), February 14, 2011, http://www.tofugu.com/2011/02/14/valentines-day-japan/.

⁵ Same as 4.

⁶ Hashi, "White Day: Japan's Answer to Valentine's Day," Tofugu (blog), March 14, 2012, http://www.tofugu.com/2012/03/14/white-day-japan/.

⁷ Michael Facius, "A Second Valentine's Day: Japan's 'White Da'y," Notches (re)marks on the history of sexuality (blog), March 13, 2014, http://notchesblog.com/tag/valentines-day/.

⁸ Diaz, Jay, "The Flip Side: Valentine's Day," The Flip Side, Cinematography by Tony Joun. Produced by Brian Thomas Smith, Daniel Marcha, Tony Joun, and Jay Diaz, Web, https://screen.yahoo.com/flip-side-valentines-day-000000989.html.