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TrendSeven
02-06-2006, 10:07 PM
Valentine's Day is coming up and I was thinking of asking someone on here to pick up some flowers and chocolates to send to my girl in Kobe... but then I remembered I shouldn't actually do it until White Day. So, I guess my question is, do any of you know of something like 1800flowers.com... but for Japan? I'll need it to be in English as my Japanese reading is quite poor. If not, anyone willing to get some ordered for me when the time comes?

Thanks in advance.
NERD
02-06-2006, 10:32 PM
You are certainly asking for a lot... from what I am aware, such service can be done in the States but will cost you your kidney, and for the Japanese service probably local.
Kuri
02-06-2006, 10:36 PM
You aren't able to give her the flowers in person?
atomiton
02-06-2006, 10:47 PM
i used http://www.flora2000.com/international.asp?AID=027582 and they got the flowers from a local high-quality shop. It was a little expensive, but reasonable, considering the service. a 60-70$ bouquet here costed about $100. So it wasn't that bad. The flowers were really good too.

And I wouldn't wait for white day. YOu shouldn't have wait for a holiday as an excuse to send flowers...
crow-kun
02-06-2006, 10:54 PM
So how bad are the consequences if you don't give anything to the girls that gave chocolate on valentine's day, do they even care.
h2orowe
02-06-2006, 10:58 PM
White Day?

@______@


There's a black history month, but only a white day?
Pfft, no fair.
atomiton
02-06-2006, 11:51 PM
So how bad are the consequences if you don't give anything to the girls that gave chocolate on valentine's day, do they even care.

dunno. We don't do Valentines day... I really don't need a Roman tribute to the wolf god to tell me when I should buy flowers or chocolates.
http://www.techdirect.com/valentine/origin.html
hanacker
02-07-2006, 12:01 AM
I used www.RightFlorist.com/International a couple times. Expensive, but it seemed to work ok.

And I wouldn't wait for white day. YOu shouldn't have wait for a holiday as an excuse to send flowers...

Well, you're going to be sending crap on White Day anyway (or suffer the consequences). How often do you need to send flowers to your girlfriend?
mawande
02-07-2006, 12:15 AM
I thought Valentine's Day was invented wholesale by the candy companies?
atomiton
02-07-2006, 12:25 AM
Valentine's day (St. Valentines) was an excuse for the Catholic church to get the pagans to become Christian. (Okay, you can still worship your gods, just call him St. Valentine, and we'll call you Christian, okay?)

Same with mostly all current holidays, actually... from Easter to xmas.
Azrael
02-07-2006, 12:32 AM
Here's the problem with V-Day/White Day. You can say to your girlfriend "Hey, we don't need one day to do stuff for each other! Let's not buy into the system" and while that's all well and good, it won't fly. Because all her friends would have gotten stuff, and her excuse of "we don't need one day" won't fly when her friends are bragging about their loot.

And for White Day, chocolate > flowers. If nothing else, make sure you send some nice chocolate.
kitsunepixie
02-07-2006, 12:47 AM
White Day?

@______@


There's a black history month, but only a white day?
Pfft, no fair.

In Korea they have a Black Day. I really like the idea of that holiday...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Day
atomiton
02-07-2006, 01:02 AM
Here's the problem with V-Day/White Day. You can say to your girlfriend "Hey, we don't need one day to do stuff for each other! Let's not buy into the system" and while that's all well and good, it won't fly. Because all her friends would have gotten stuff, and her excuse of "we don't need one day" won't fly when her friends are bragging about their loot.

And for White Day, chocolate > flowers. If nothing else, make sure you send some nice chocolate.

I've never done it. Depends on the girl.
yellow nectarine
02-07-2006, 02:05 AM
hehe. Speaking as a girl, Valentine's Day is a gimmic. A nice mushy gimmic that I enjoy very much. So don't disappoint her!
*big smile*
:chu:
JusenkyoGuide
02-07-2006, 02:15 AM
hehe. Speaking as a girl, Valentine's Day is a gimmic. A nice mushy gimmic that I enjoy very much. So don't disappoint her!
*big smile*
:chu:
It's the Evil Day I tell you, EVIL!
yellow nectarine
02-07-2006, 02:21 AM
evil? :confused:
Is it evil to recieve a cute ring which I wear 24/7...?
I'm not saying go nuts, but it's definately the thought that counts.
Rogue_7
02-07-2006, 02:24 AM
oh no, its Evil. Bringing nothing but pain and suffering to this world. *begone evil creature*

I sure hope I get some chocolate tho!
Pierrot le Fou
02-07-2006, 02:46 AM
My girlfriend quizzed me on what chocolate I got from her last year. She is cruel. I can hardly remember last week due to the liquor I consume, she expects me to remember chocolates from a year ago?

Remind me to take a photo of them this year for documentary evidence.
TrendSeven
02-07-2006, 07:12 AM
You aren't able to give her the flowers in person?
See... it's like this: She came to my University in Ohio to get better at English. I met her here and we hooked up. She wanted to transfer here to finish her schooling, but her 3 years worth of Japanese credits would count as 1 year here. So, she went back to Japan to finish her last year. Right now, she has been busy applying for jobs which you apparently do over a year before you graduate in Japan.

I was planning on going to Japan for my spring break, March 9th-19th... but she said I would hardly get to see her as she'll be going to career fairs and the like all day, everyday. I was even thinking of skipping a week of class and going a week early so I could be there for her birthday. Then she emails me and says she'll be busy job searching and taking classes until June. I still want to go, but I don't want to get there and end up watching tv all day.

In any case, thanks for all the links and advice.
mikem
02-07-2006, 07:26 AM
I was planning on going to Japan for my spring break, March 9th-19th... but she said I would hardly get to see her as she'll be going to career fairs and the like all day, everyday. I was even thinking of skipping a week of class and going a week early so I could be there for her birthday. Then she emails me and says she'll be busy job searching and taking classes until June.

I really hate to point this out, but she's pre-arranged to blow you off for the next five months. :bang: I would re-think the whole flowers thing.

With that being said: I highly recommend going anyway. Just plan the whole trip assuming you'll never see her and change your plans if she does find the time. If you don't base your trip around one person you'll probably have a good time no matter what happens. She's just one grain of sand. Japan is a whole beach!
erbiumfiber
02-07-2006, 08:24 AM
In some traditional companies, chicks have to give chocolate to a BUNCH of guys who are their superiors. I love the way gift-giving here is from the bottom up rather than the top down (not!). I think in one of my Japanese lessons it was called giri-chocolate (obligation chocolate- please don't jump on me if I'm wrong, I'm the one who retakes Japanese classes because I suck so much).

The US attorneys here (both of us) rank high so my co-worker gets TONS of chocolate on Valentine's Day. On white day, I get jack. Yeah, engineers are socially clueless the world over...
hanacker
02-07-2006, 08:29 AM
In some traditional companies, chicks have to give chocolate to a BUNCH of guys who are their superiors. I love the way gift-giving here is from the bottom up rather than the top down (not!). I think in one of my Japanese lessons it was called giri-chocolate (obligation chocolate- please don't jump on me if I'm wrong, I'm the one who retakes Japanese classes because I suck so much).

The US attorneys here (both of us) rank high so my co-worker gets TONS of chocolate on Valentine's Day. On white day, I get jack. Yeah, engineers are socially clueless the world over...

Do you give out chocolate on Valentine's Day? In general guys only give chocolate, cookies, etc. to girls who gave them chocolate on Valentine's Day. Hence the "obligation" part. Your coworker should be handing out a bunch of treats on White Day as well.
six-eight-ten
02-07-2006, 08:33 AM
I love the Valentines day/ White day split. When White day comes around, I know exactly who I'm supposed to give stuff to- the people who gave me stuff on Valentines Day (I say "people" instead of women because I've occassionally received stuff from little boy students, too). Sort of the return giri-chocolate. Then occassionally I give stuff to people (co-workers) who didn't give me anything for Valentines day. I refer to that as "guilt chocolate".
erbiumfiber
02-07-2006, 08:36 AM
I put out a large box of chocolates because of the "love" overtones in American culture and I'm trying not to send out the wrong message. My coworker can be culturally tone-deaf at times- I warned him about white day...but he still got chocolate again the following year...

I think, in general, more chicks give out chocolate than guys give out white chocolate- just a specific observation from my office...
Bagpuss
02-07-2006, 08:43 AM
Wait a minute. I have to give chocolate to my superiors? How much says 'I a mwilling to respect this custom' and how much says 'I have a strange crush on you and now working with you will forever be uncomfortable'.
erbiumfiber
02-07-2006, 08:47 AM
Yeah, that's why it's mostly OL's giving it to salarymen. In most Japanese companies, there aren't going to be very many women higher than a large pool of men...
TrendSeven
02-07-2006, 04:05 PM
Wait, on White Day you give white chocolate?
Lisa M
02-07-2006, 06:17 PM
That's why it's called White Day.
Zensouken
02-07-2006, 07:17 PM
OK, I've been reading all of Az's stuff and been reading the board and sadly my first post is...

WTF is "White Day"?
Lisa M
02-07-2006, 08:58 PM
On Valentine's Day in Japan, girls give guys dark chocolate. A month later, on White Day, guys return the favor and give white chocolate to girls.

That's the gist of it.
gyoza
02-07-2006, 09:25 PM
That is pure awesome. In my opinion, guys are getting the better end of the deal here. :)
Zensouken
02-07-2006, 09:32 PM
So Valentine's Day / White Day is actually decent there. V-Day is like D-Day here, haha!

So basically, guys don't give girls anything on V-Day in Japan?
jindojim
02-07-2006, 09:52 PM
Well, White Day is an entirely commercial scheme by some candy companies to improve sales by having not one but two days of chocolate buying.

White Day and Valentine's Day seem to be mainly a workplace sort of thing, where female workers give their male coworkers chocolate and stuff on Valentine's Day and males give their female coworkers chocolate back on White Day. I don't think it's necessarily white chocolate though.

I think it's up to the couple whether they want to seperate White and Valentine's Days tho.
Kuri
02-07-2006, 10:22 PM
Having ne'er been to Japan a question just crossed my mind. On white day do you give chocolate even to those who gifted you out of obligation?
I thought white day was to recompense your lover type, but I realize I may (probably was) have been mistaken.
Varion
02-07-2006, 11:10 PM
On Valentine's Day in Japan, girls give guys dark chocolate. A month later, on White Day, guys return the favor and give white chocolate to girls.

That's the gist of it.

What happens if you don't much like dark chocolate and would rather be picky and ask for milk chocolate instead?

Black Day... great idea. Shame they don't really do anything interesting on it I guess.
TrendSeven
02-07-2006, 11:23 PM
That's why it's called White Day.
For some reason... I never made that connection.
Moone
02-07-2006, 11:26 PM
White Day and Valentine's Day seem to be mainly a workplace sort of thing, where female workers give their male coworkers chocolate.

I don't really agree with you, I think it's also (but not only..) an opportunity for younger kids to give a box to someone they're interested in.
jindojim
02-07-2006, 11:28 PM
It doesn't have to be white chocolate...any nice candy is pretty much suitable.

Oh, and if you're a guy w/ a Japanese gf (or Korean gf for that matter), opt only to give chocolate on Valentine's Day and White Day. Or just celebrate Valentine's Day. Cuz if the girl does something extra nice for her bf on Valentine's Day, the guy is expected surpass (or at least match) that on White Day.

EDIT: True, it's for younger school children too. But it's a little more obligatory in the workplace I think.