Valentine’s Day in Japan is chocolate, given by women, answered a month later by men. Every guide says so. Fewer say where that came from, and the answer is not folklore: it is in the corporate histories of three confectioners. Morozoff of Kobe says it introduced the idea in 1932 and ran Japan’s first Valentine chocolate advertisement on February 13, 1935. Mary Chocolate records the first department-store Valentine sale in Tokyo in February 1958. Ishimura Manseido of Hakata records launching, in 1978, the Marshmallow Day campaign that became White Day.
This page uses those three timelines as published by the companies themselves, explains the words you will hear in a Japanese shop in February, and is clear about what nobody official has counted: how much is given, to whom, and why the direction settled the way it did.
Valentines Day in Japan at a glance
| Item | What the companies’ own records say |
|---|---|
| Date | February 14. Not a public holiday |
| Reply day | White Day, March 14. Not a public holiday |
| Direction | Women give on the 14th; men return on White Day |
| First introduced | 1932, Morozoff, Kobe |
| First advertisement | February 13, 1935, Japan Advertiser, by Morozoff |
| First department-store sale | February 1958, Tokyo, by Mary Chocolate |
| White Day’s origin | 1978, Marshmallow Day campaign, Ishimura Manseido, Hakata |
| The vocabulary | Honmei (romantic), giri (obligation), tomo (friends), jibun (for oneself) |
1932: how a Kobe chocolate shop started it
Morozoff opened in 1931 as a chocolate shop on Tor Road in Kobe, at a time when, in the company’s words, chocolate itself was still a rarity in Japan. The following year, 1932, it introduced the idea of giving chocolate on Valentine’s Day. The founder had heard from an American friend that in the West people gave gifts to loved ones on February 14, and wanted to bring the custom to Japan. The company’s catalog from the time lists two Valentine gifts: Sweetheart, fancy chocolates in a heart-shaped chocolate container, and Bouquet d’Amour, chocolates arranged like a bouquet in a basket.
What is the earliest evidence?
A newspaper advertisement. Morozoff states it has newly found its Valentine chocolate advertisement in the English-language Japan Advertiser dated February 13, 1935, earlier than any advertisement it had previously known of, and that it then advertised every February for six years until February 1940, before the Pacific War. The 1935 ad, the day before Valentine’s Day, showed a heart box of chocolate, a man’s and a woman’s hands, and cupids.
Was it aimed at women giving to men?
Not according to the material Morozoff describes. Its own summary of the message was “give chocolate to the one you love on Valentine’s Day”, addressed to Kobe’s English-reading, Western-leaning public. The gendered direction that Japan is now known for is not in the 1930s story as the company tells it, and we are not going to supply a date or a reason the sources do not give.
Why Terni, and why is there a plaza in Kobe?
In 1984 Morozoff went looking for the roots of the day and settled on Terni in Umbria, the town that keeps February 14 as the feast of Saint Valentine. In 1993 Terni gave Kobe a statue of love, now in the Nunobiki Herb Garden, and Morozoff began supporting UNICEF the same year. In May 2013 a Valentine Plaza opened at the south side of Hanshin Mikage Station with a monument and a chocolate-styled bus stop, and Terni’s mayor attended. Our Kobe map shows where Mikage sits on the Hanshin line.
1958: the department-store era
Mary Chocolate, founded in Aoyama, Tokyo in October 1950 and incorporated in 1952, records in its company history: February 1958, the first Valentine sale held at a Tokyo department store. That single line is the hinge of the modern custom. What Morozoff had introduced to a small Kobe clientele became, from 1958, a seasonal event on a department-store floor, and the department-store Valentine floor is still where the season is most visible.
Which department store?
Mary’s official history says “a Tokyo department store” and does not name it on the page we read. Other accounts name one; we are quoting the company’s own words.
When does the season start in shops?
Department-store Valentine floors open in the second half of January and run to the 14th; convenience stores and supermarkets carry seasonal chocolate over the same weeks. We have not surveyed opening dates and are not printing one. What 7-Eleven and Don Quijote stock in general is covered in their own guides.
1978: White Day, invented in Hakata
Why March 14?
One month after Valentine’s Day. The company’s pages we read give the date and the “return gift” concept but not a stated reason for the choice of day, so we leave it at that.
Why marshmallow?
Because that was the product. The campaign was named Marshmallow Day after Tsuruno-ko, and the company’s White Day page still sells flavored marshmallows for it. The generic name White Day came later and is now used for any return gift, chocolate included.
Did White Day catch on immediately?
The company’s timeline records the 1978 start and, later, the opening of its combined shops and the 2021 renewal of its main store, but it does not chart the custom’s spread year by year, and neither will we. What can be said from the record is that a regional confectioner’s campaign became a national reply day with a generic name, which is the same arc Morozoff’s idea followed four decades earlier.
Is there a rule about how much to give back?
You will read of a “triple return”. It appears on no official page we read, including the originating company’s, so we are not repeating it as a rule.
The vocabulary you will hear in February
| Word | Meaning | What it looks like in a shop |
|---|---|---|
| Honmei-choco | Chocolate for the person you mean it for | The single boxed gift, often a named brand |
| Giri-choco | Obligation chocolate for colleagues, bosses, classmates | Multi-packs of small wrapped pieces |
| Tomo-choco | Chocolate exchanged between friends | Handmade kits, small assortments |
| Jibun-choco | Chocolate bought for oneself | The premium counter, no gift wrap |
| Okaeshi | The return gift on White Day | Sweets, often white: marshmallow, cookies, white chocolate |
Is giri-choco still a thing?
The word is, and the multi-packs are on the shelves every year. Whether a given office still expects it is a workplace question, not a national fact, and there is no official survey we can cite. Treat it as a custom in flux rather than a rule.
Do men give chocolate on the 14th?
Some do, and shops sell to them. The established direction is woman to man on the 14th and man to woman on March 14, which is the structure the 1978 campaign was built on. Nothing prevents a visitor from giving on either day; nobody will be confused.
What about Hello Kitty and the character tie-ins?
February is one of the two big seasonal windows for character goods, and Sanrio’s shops run campaigns around it; our Hello Kitty stores guide covers where the tax-free flagged shops are, and the tax-free guide the rules, if you are buying gifts to take home.
Valentines Day for a visitor in Japan on February 14
Is anything closed or special?
Nothing is closed. It is not a holiday: the Cabinet Office list has February 11, National Foundation Day, and February 23, the Emperor’s Birthday, and nothing on the 14th. Restaurants may run couples’ menus; that is commerce, not calendar.
Where is the best chocolate?
We do not rank confectioners. The department-store basement floors are where the season concentrates, and the three companies on this page all still trade: Morozoff from Kobe, Mary from Tokyo, Ishimura Manseido from Hakata.
Can I see the history?
In Kobe: the Valentine Plaza at Hanshin Mikage and the Terni statue in the Nunobiki Herb Garden, both described on Morozoff’s site. In Hakata: Ishimura Manseido’s main shop, renewed in July 2021 per its timeline. Neither is a museum; both are the places the story attaches to.
Three things travelers get wrong about Valentines Day in Japan
“It was invented by a chocolate company as a marketing trick”
Half true, and the half that is true is documented by the company itself. Morozoff does not hide that it introduced the custom to sell chocolate; it is proud of it, and it has dug up its own 1935 advertisement to prove the date. What the sneer misses is that the same company spent the 1980s and 1990s tracing the day back to Terni and building a civic relationship between two cities out of it. A marketing idea that lasts ninety years and gets a plaza is a custom, whatever it started as.
“Women have to give chocolate to everyone at work”
Giri-choco is a real word for a real practice, but no official body counts it and workplaces differ. The multi-packs on the shelves prove the market exists; they do not prove your office expects anything. Visitors are outside the system entirely. If you are working in Japan, ask a colleague what your particular office does rather than a website what the country does.
“White Day means triple the value back”
The originating company’s pages describe a return gift and name no multiple. The figure circulates widely and appears on no official page we read. Give what you like; the custom as documented is the reply, not the ratio.
Valentines Day in Japan FAQ
How is Valentine’s Day celebrated in Japan?
Who started Valentine’s Day in Japan?
When did it become a mass custom?
What is White Day?
Is Valentine’s Day a public holiday in Japan?
Where do people buy Valentine chocolate?
What is giri-choco?
Is there anything to see in Kobe connected to this?
Bottom line (2027). Japan’s Valentine’s Day is chocolate from women on February 14 and a return gift from men on White Day, March 14, neither a holiday. By the companies’ own records it began with Morozoff in Kobe in 1932, first advertised February 13, 1935, reached Tokyo department stores with Mary Chocolate in February 1958, and got its reply day from Ishimura Manseido’s 1978 Marshmallow Day. Honmei is for the one you mean; giri is for the office. Nobody official counts either, so neither do we.
Sources
The 1931 founding, the 1932 introduction, the Sweetheart and Bouquet d’Amour products, the February 13, 1935 Japan Advertiser advertisement, the annual advertising to 1940, the 1984 Terni research, the 1993 statue, the 2013 Valentine Plaza and the UNICEF support are from Morozoff’s official page on Valentine’s Day and the company. The October 1950 founding, 1952 incorporation and February 1958 department-store sale are from Mary Chocolate’s official company history. The 1905 founding, the 1918 Tsuruno-ko sale, the 1978 Marshmallow Day campaign and the “return gift” concept are from Ishimura Manseido’s official profile, concept and White Day pages. Holiday dates are from the Cabinet Office. All read on September 14, 2026.
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