First off, nobody here at City-Cost has seen the movie, What Women Want (it just matches the W in White Day)

Second; the prospect of White Day now looms large for gents all over Japan.  Those with relationships to tend to, that is.  White Day is on March 14th, should you need reminding.

Back home, the blame for ‘days’ such as White Day is usually laid at the feet of whichever card company came up with idea in order to boost sales.  But Japan knows nothing about decent ‘greetings’ or ‘celebration’ cards so it must be something else.  Apparently it is.  Apparently it’s the brainchild of a confectioner looking for a chance to flog a few more marshmallows.  

So, are marshmallows the order of the day then?  Honestly, we’ve no idea.  That’s why we’ve turned to our hosts to help us out with what women want on White Day.

恋愛jp / renai jp - renai = love or romance

恋愛jp is an online romance resource here in Japan that gathers together over 50 column writers who are experts in matters of dating, relationship troubles, male/female attitudes to romance, and marriage goals.  Between Feb 25, 2015 and Feb, 27 2015 - they carried out a survey entitled,

女性に質問！ ホワイトデーのお返しは何がベスト？

A question for women.  What is the best White Day ‘return’ gift? 

(‘Return’ because this is a gift to return the favor of the gift ladies gave to their fellas on Valentine’s Day).

The preamble to the survey results reads thus; みなさまのお知恵をお貸しください / Everyone, please lend us your wisdom.  By wisdom I think they mean base desire to receive presents.

Anyway the ten things that came out (and their percentages) are as follows:

1. 1) 小物やアクセサリ - Lit. ‘small things’, and accessories (56%)

2. 2) お花 - flowers (27%)

3. 3) 旅行（国内・海外問わず) - travel (domestic or international) (21%)

4. 4) そもそもお返しはいらない - don’t need/want anything (21%)

5. 5) 高級なお菓子 - expensive confectionary/sweets (20%)

6. 6) 彼氏の手作りお菓子 - homemade confectionary/sweets (15%)

7. 7) プロポーズ - a proposal (13%)

8. 8) ブランド品 - designer goods (12%)

9. 9) その他 - other (9%)

10. 10) 現金 - cash (2%)

You can find the survey results (Japanese) here.  And a detailed explanation (Japanese) of the choices here.

If you want to have a bash at making your own chocolates take a look at our earlier post: Valentine’s Day in Japan: Make Your Own Chocolate

For some flashy chocolates, maybe some of these will suit:

Where to buy expensive chocolates in Tokyo, Japan

You can also find a website/blog the name of which seems to be simply ホワイトデー (White Day).  We can’t find any introduction about who’s responsible for this resource and how they’ve gathered the ‘rankings’ that they publish.  Still, in the interests of covering all bases, ホワイトデー have published the following:

彼氏からのホワイトデーのお返しで正直ガッカリしたものランキング

kareshi kara no White Day no okaeshi de shoujiki gakkari shita mono ranking

Things that you would be disappointed to receive as a White Day ‘return’ gift.

The ranking has 20 entries.  Let’s look at the best (sorry, worst) ten.

1. 1) お返しがない（忘れられていた）- nothing (because partner forgot)

2. 2) 安物のアクセサリー - cheap/poor quality accessories

3. 3) こちらが渡したものよりも明らかに金額が低いもの - something that is clearly of less (monetary) value than that Valentine’s Day gift

4. 4) よく知らないキャラクターの小物 - unknown ‘character’ goods

5. 5) 好みではない服 - poor choice of clothing

6. 6) ぬいぐるみ - stuffed toy

7. 7) 他の子と同じお返し - the same thing that someone else got

8. 8) 好みではないアクセサリー - poor choice of accessory

9. 9) ギャグ要素のあるギフト用のお菓子 - joke type of confectionary

10. 10) 好みではないハンカチやタオル - poor choice of handkerchiefs or towels

If anyone out there is wondering, lingerie enters this ranking at No.11.  Not that it’s rejected altogether; 彼氏好みの下着 translates as ‘lingerie to my partner’s liking’.  Interestingly at No.17 comes 手作りのもの - homemade/handmade stuff.  Yep, it’s a tricky business is gift giving.

So, help us out.  Whether you’re a giver or receiver (in terms of gifts, we mean) this White Day, let us know what works, has worked, or didn’t work for you.

Twitter: City_Cost_Japan

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Image (blurred a little/cropped)

mrhayata Flickr license