Back to Loving Fridays

Happy Chocolate Day! What's not to love about a Friday that is filled with chocolate? OK, so I know Valentine's Day isn't until tomorrow, but as with most things, things are done a little differently here in Japan.

In Japan, on Valentine's Day, only women give presents, usually chocolate. They give them to not only their loved ones, but also co-workers and any such. It's not really considered a day of romance. The men give return presents of cookies and candy on White Day, March 14th.

As a teacher, I'm given lots of chocolate treats. As V Day this year falls on a Saturday, it is today that I'm scoring lots of goodies, some even homemade. I even got a sweet (pardon the pun) little letter from one of the students too. I'm starting to get teary already about leaving.

I also have a piece of exciting news. DH arranged tickets to Cirque Du Soleil in Tokyo for my birthday in a few weeks time! Two of his friends are in the circus, one in Vegas and one now in Tokyo. The friend in Tokyo got us free tickets. That also means, I will get a final trip to Tokyo before we leave. Yah to that!

Photo from the Cirque Du Soleil Site.

Lots to love about this Friday. Thanks to TinnieGirl for the Friday inspiration!

Some Japanese Sweetness

I'm all sugared out! I was given so many handmade chocolates, cookies, cakes and sweets today from students for Valentine's Day.

Rather than being the day of romance as it's promoted in other countries, in Japan, on February 14th, Japanese women (not men) give chocolate and handmade sweets to the men in their lives, be they family members, teachers, workmates or supervisors. While quite obviously not a man, as a teacher I recieved many little presents from my some of my students.

The men recipricate on "White Day", which is held on March 14th. The Japanese twist on Valentine's Day is clearly a commercial one, but hey, I'm not complaining, I love chocolate and was pleasantly surprised at how much I was given today!

Do you celebrate Valentine's Day? If so, what did you do? Did you give or get any lovely surprises? Hubby and I don't make a big deal of it. We really only use it as an excuse to give each other chocolate and go out on a date. Mind you, we do that quite often anyway. Tonight, my boy had to work so we're going to the "big city" for dinner and a spot of shopping (I believe he's getting part of my birthday present - apparently the other part arrived from Amazon the other day.....) tomorrow night instead.

With so much sugar running through my veins, I thought I'd share some more Japanese sweetness with you, these adorable Otoshidama envelopes.

Otoshidama is money that is given as a gift to children in the New Year. Money in Japan is always given in an envelope and so around New Year's super cute designs are released. I grabbed a bunch of them and have finally got around to putting some up in the store. Every year, I try to get some of them for my cousin to use as packaging when selling jewellery at the markets. I have also planned on using some myself on cards, but haven't gotten around to that yet.

Well, my sugar bubble has now burst, time to brush my teeth and go to bed! Happy Chocolate, oops, I mean Valentine's Day!