In which I was a boy, probably

The other night I had a dream. In my dream, I think I was a boy.

I never saw myself in the mirror so I don't know if I really turned into Habib but the dream leads me to believe so. The dream was like this: I'd received chocolates from Fatin and Raja Syazwani on Valentine's Day so I was shopping for their White Day presents. How appropriate for me to have this dream on the night of March 14. I'll explain, but to explain White Day I have to explain Valentine's Day first.

Valentine's Day in Japan
During the 1960s, numerous campaigns by Japanese confectionery companies made Valentine's Day popular in Japan. A translation error during the initial campaigns, however, led Japan to believe that only women give chocolates to men. They couldn't correct this error so to this day, Valentine's Day in Japan is a day where only girls give. But no matter, the Japanese confectionery companies still achieved their objective; to make money. Half of their annual sales are from the week before Valentine's Day because the custom is to give chocolates. Gifts such as flowers, greeting cards, stuffed toys and romantic dinner dates are uncommon.

There are different types of chocolates depending on whom they're given to.

Giri-choko （義理チョコ）
Giri means obligatory so giri-choko are chocolates that girls give because they have to. Recipients are usually bosses and co-workers. The chocolates are cheap. Nothing special because they have no special feelings towards them.

Cho giri-choko （著義理チョコ）
Ultra obligatory chocolate. These are super cheap chocolates given to someone that girls really hate and would rather not give but must because they have to. For example, an unpopular co-worker.

Honmei-choko （本命チョコ）
Favourite chocolate. These are chocolates girls give to the boy they like. They are expensive chocolates but it's also common for girls to give handmade chocolates and these are chocolates that boys really want to get. They're special because the girls poured their heart into making them (this reminds me of a story Nino once told but I already said no Arashi for this blog...).

Tomo-choko （友チョコ）
Friend chocolate. A recent trend where girls give chocolates to their female friends (because the girls want chocolates too).

Gyaku-choko （逆チョコ）
Reverse chocolate. Where boys give chocolates instead (because girls feel stressed due the fact that they have to give chocolates to everyone they know). There's also the term chokomen （チョコメン）used to refer to men who give chocolates on Valentine's Day.

White Day
Seeing the success of chocolate companies, a marshmallow company tried to get the men to reply by giving marshmallows to the girls on March 14. This attempt failed but the idea of a "reply day" was widely accepted. For the men who received chocolates on Valentine's Day, a day was made one month later, March 14, when they are expected to return the favour: White Day. The official website of White Day (yes, it has a website apparently) claims the colour white was chosen because it is the colour of purity, evoking "pure, sweet teen love", and because it's also the colour of sugar (but I think it could also be because marshmallows are typically white). As the name suggests, white chocolates are usually given but clothes and other things are also common.

Black Day
I think the custom of only girls giving chocolates and the types of chocolates are only seen in Japan (at least, I think it's only taken so seriously in Japan because I've read somewhere that Valentine's Day in Korea is no big deal, which is odd seeing how romantic Koreans are) but it's worth mentioning that Korea takes White Day a step further by introducing Black Day. A day when singles wear black and eat jajangmyeon, noodles with black bean sauce.

In conclusion, that was a weird dream.