What’s Current: Japanese women protest Valentine’s Day tradition, buy chocolates for themselves

  • Japanese women are protesting a decades-old Valentine’s Day tradition that obliges them to give chocolate to men. CNN reports.
“On February 14, the nation’s female workers are expected to give ‘giri choco,’ or obligation chocolates, to their male colleagues. Women are also expected to buy heartfelt chocolates, “honmei choco,” for their crushes or loved one. But this year, women are calling time on the financially draining practice … A recent survey by a Tokyo department store found about 60% of women will instead buy chocolates for themselves on Valentine’s Day.”
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Meghan McCarty

Meghan McCarty is an undergraduate student and aspiring journalist living in the United States.