Tops Tuesdays: Valentine's Day

Japan is ready for Valentine's Day! (Follow me on Instagram!)

Better late than never eh?

Today's Tops Tuesdays post is dedicated to everyone's favourite time of the year... St. Valentine's Day.

Here in Japan, Valentine's Day is celebrated with the practise of girls giving small chocolates to their male friends. As opposed to Western customs surrounding Valentine's Day, the giving of chocolate to associates other than one's boyfriend is called "giri-choco" (obligatory chocolate) as most girls feel obliged to extend the act of giving beyond their current love interest. 

The boys' turn comes on White Day in March, when receivers of Valentine's Day chocolates are expected to reciprocate in kind to the girls in their lives. 

Happy Valentine's Day! (Bah, humbug!)

T.G.I.F.: Yuki Matsuri

Hokkaido's famous tourism draw-card is drawing to a close this Monday the 11th of February. The annual Yuki Matsuri (Snow Festival) is famous in Hokkaido's capital, Sapporo, for its gigantic ice sculptures that stand several storeys tall. Click the image below for more details.

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Are you going to the Snow Festival this weekend? Happy Long Weekend!

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Tops Tuesdays: Setsubun

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Setsubun falls on the day before the first day of spring in Japan. This year, Setsubun occurred on February 3rd. The people of Japan usually eat dried soy beans and try to eat the same number of beans as their age. This makes it difficult for the elderly members of the community to keep up with the Setsubun tradition. Eating soy beans is said to attract health and happiness to the lives of the consumer over the course of the following year. The soy beans also serve another purpose, because as it turns out, local demons called "oni" are terrified of soy beans. Who'd have thought? Children are encouraged to pelt someone dressed in an oni costume with soy beans while shouting, "Demons out! Luck in!" to scare demons away from the house. The idea is to force bad luck out, and encourage good luck into the home. Entrance-ways are sometimes decorated with sardines and holly to prevent evil spirits from entering the dwelling. 

Additionally, it is tradition to eat a makizushi (a giant sushi roll) in silence while facing the year's lucky direction as determined by the zodiac (2013 is the year of the snake) on this day. You may have noticed an abundance of huge uncut makizushi rolls in the sushi section of many Japanese supermarkets last Sunday. Ginger sake is also customarily drunk on Setsubun. 

These days, the people of Japan usually visit a shrine on Setsubun where various sweets and treats are handed out to the visitors. Some shrine's invite celebrities and sumo wrestlers to visit on Setsubun and these events are usually televised nationally. 

T.G.I.F: Lantern Festival, Nara

At the oft photographed Kasuga Taisha shrine in Nara, more than three thousands stone lanterns in the surrounding temple grounds will be lit up for a truly stunning festival. This is definitely going to be one for all the amateur photographers out there so why not set a course for Nara this February the 3rd? For more details, click the image below...

Image Source: http://jin.jcic.or.jp/en/travel/nara/kasugataisha/kasuga_taisha/