TOKYO (Reuters) - It used to be Japanese women gave men a gift of chocolates on Valentine's Day.
These days, they're more likely to buy pricey chocolates costing up to $200 a box as a treat for themselves.
"It's a small luxury that I allow myself," said 39-year-old Reiko Nozawa, who usually buys champagne truffles for herself and a few other chocolates to share with her husband.
Nozawa is not alone.
Makers of 60 premium chocolate brands have set up special booths at Takashimaya Co., a department store in central Tokyo, where boxes of chocolates costing as much as 10,000-20,000 yen ($84-$168) are selling briskly, helped by Japan's economic recovery.
"There's been a trend the past two or three years for women to buy chocolates for themselves, as a sort of pat on the back for having worked hard," said Takashimaya spokeswoman Yoko Yanagisawa.
That can be on top of what they spend on others.
"I think I'll buy some premium chocolates for myself," said Yoshiko Okajima, a fashionably attired working mother, as she checked out chocolates for herself after spending 7,000 yen on her husband and 8-year-old son.
Tokyo is filled with Valentine Day chocolate adverts in the days leading up to February 14, and some manufacturers rake in about 20-30 percent of their annual sales in a few short weeks.
Until recently, most Japanese women bought cellophane-wrapped sweets in bulk from drugstores to give to colleagues or school friends as an "obligatory chocolate" on Valentine's Day.
A month later on "White Day" men return the favor by giving women gifts -- usually sweets but sometimes lingerie.
Comments