Japanese Women Treat Themselves on Valentine‘s Day
Sunday, February 12, 2006 Posted: 10:45 PM JST
At a major department store I observed many women buying chocolate for themselves today. I was wondering if what I saw was an aberration. It turns out it is not.
"There‘s been a trend the past two or three years for women to buy chocolates for themselves, as a sort of pat on the back for having worked hard," says Takashimaya spokeswoman Yoko Yanagisawa in an article about Japanese women treating themselves on Valentine‘s Day.
Even though women may have started to buy chocolates for themselves, Japan still consumes relatively little chocolate compared with other countries. It comes to just 2.2 kg per person each year. Compare this with countries like Switzerland and Germany where they down respectively 11.3 and 10.5 kg of the stuff.
But only in Japan more than half of the yearly consumption is sold and eaten just around Valentine‘s Day. A unique situation.
Keywords: national_news
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