A one-of-a-kind Valentine’s spent in Japan

As far as Valentine’s Day is concerned in the United States, I consider it to be the day mostly manufactured by Hallmark and Hershey’s, the day when I can expect to see at least one embarrassed girl carrying around a teddy bear bigger than herself.

Surprisingly enough, Valentine’s Day is also a hit in Japan, though how the Japanese celebrate it differs slightly from how Americans celebrate it. Or maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised, considering that it isn’t uncommon for Japanese to celebrate Christmas with KFC.

One difference between how Japanese celebrate Valentine’s Day and how Americans celebrate it is that in Japan, following convention means that only women give Valentine’s gifts. There’s a separate day referred to as “White Day” in March, when roles are reversed and men give gifts to women.

This Valentine’s Day, just a few days ago, a friend and I decided to make small packages with short Valentine notes and green tea KitKats and hand them out to the other students in our program. While the purpose of the valentines weren’t to express any romantic feelings, we figured they would be a convenient way to convey our appreciation for the moments we had all enjoyed together since meeting each other for the first time, less than two weeks ago.

The notes contained cheesy puns, so my friend and I ended up having to explain what phrases like “you’re the cat’s meow” meant to the Japanese students who received them. From “you’re the cat’s meow” to Mean Girls references to “hella dank,” one of my favorite aspects of spending time with the Keio University students has been sharing American slang with them.

It has resulted in laughs for Japanese students and international students alike, proving that cultural exchange doesn’t necessarily have to be stiff and formal.