How Many Ways to Give Chocolate on Valentine’s Day in Japan?

Understanding the Different Categories of Chocolate Giving and What They Mean

Photo by Nico Wijaya on Unsplash

As some of you might have read Japonica writer Yuko Tamura-san’s article “Do You Hate Obligatory “Giri” Chocolates in Japan as Much as Me?”- do you know how many different “categories” we have to give chocolates on Valentine’s Day? How many do you know? Let’s start with the controversial “Giri-choco”.

1. Giri-choco (義理チョコ）
   Chocolates given by women to men as a gift to their friends who are not their lovers. Often times it is given to office co-workers or school colleagues. Some guys may wonder if the gift is Honmei-choco or Giri-choco. According to Rakuten Insight research, Giri-choco’s average price is around 500 yen to 1000 yen. And sometimes it says “Giri-choco” on the box so men won’t misunderstand….
2. Honmei-choco (本命チョコ）
   Chocolate given by a woman to a man as a confession of love. It is the standard Valentine’s Day chocolate in Japan. It is also called hon-choko. Honmei-choco’s average price is around 1000 to 2000 yen, which costs double Giri-choco.
3. Tomo-choco (友チョコ）
   Chocolates given between people of the same sex (mainly women). The number of friends giving chocolates to each other is increasing faster than Honmei chocolates.
4. Gyaku-choco (逆チョコ）
   Chocolates given by a man to a woman as a confession of love. In Japan, Valentine’s Day is considered to be an opportunity for women to confess their love to men, and vice versa. Chocolates given by men to women are called Gyaku (reverse) choco.
5. My Choco (マイチョコ）
   Chocolates that you buy and enjoy yourself. It is also called Jiko-choco (自己チョコ) or Jibun-choco (自分チョコ). There are also other names such as “Gohoubi-choco” — self rewarding chocolate (ご褒美チョコ) and “hime-choco” — princess chocolate (姫チョコ).
6. Fami-choco (ファミチョコ）
   Chocolate given to family members. Many people give Valentine’s Day chocolates to their fathers, but family chocolates include those given to family members other than fathers (regardless of gender).

Other types of categories include social chocolates “Shakou-choco”(社交チョコ) given to men at work, “Osewa-choco” given to people who have been helpful, and “Fan-choco” (ファンチョコ) given to celebrities. There may be more ways of giving chocolates in the future.

Valentine’s Day chocolates are now used not only as to show love, but also as a way to show friendship and gratitude. Both givers and receivers want to understand the exact meaning of the chocolate. It is important to know at least one type of Valentine’s chocolate so that you can give the right kind of gift.

For me, I only give Fami-choco and My-choco.

I made sake-kasu chocolate truffle for myself today for Valentine’s Day. What? You are not familiar with sake kasu? Sake kasu is full of nutrition, super healthy and yummy.

Treating myself with love. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Just these ingredients: 100g sake kasu, nuts and dried fruits, 3 tbsp honey and cacao powder. Photo by Author.

You can read the guide to sake kasu which I wrote for Japanese Food Guide here.

A Guide to Sake Kasu and How to Use It

Sake Kasu, dried fruits, nuts and honey mixed together with cacao powder — Photo by Author

Itadakimasu! Happy Valentine’s Day and have a nice day!