Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day was on Saturday and I spent the day as usual; I went to the supermarket to do some grocery shopping and watched a DVD at home. I saw some Asian people selling roses on the road and it was the only difference I noticed all day. I didn’t plan anything special on Valentine’s Day, I borrowed “Memento” which wasn’t a good choice for a special day, still I enjoyed watching it with my husband. If my friend who loves romantic events knew this is what I did, she would kill me. She told me she made a reservation at a fancy restaurant for Valentine’s Day, perhaps it’s the typical fancy way to spend Valentine’s Day in England. I remember many restaurants were fully booked last year.

On the other hand, I didn’t forget Japanese custom; I sent chocolate to my father. Thanks to a wonderful idea from a chocolate factory in Japan, on Valentine’s Day “women send a chocolate to men”. In England, many shops started to sell fancy gifts for Valentine’s Day at the beginning of February, not only women but men buy chocolates, wine, flowers and perfume. It surprised me when I bought chocolate for my father, two other gentlemen bought wrapped chocolates. According to NHK radio news, the custom is gradually changing and now some boys send chocolates to girls and it’s called “reversed chocolate” 逆チョコ in Japan. Perhaps Japanese custom used to be reversed and now it may be becoming more normal.
I’m not good at shopping, especially presents for people take me a long time to choose and even then I can never find satisfactory ones. However I like purchasing chocolate so I miss the Valentine’s Day chocolates phenomenon in Japan.