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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
The Hallmark Holidays are holidays of dubious historical or religious origin that are often primarily characterized by some form of consumption activity. I was originally writing a post about which Hallmark Holidays can and should be resisted and which ones we have to give into, but after writing 90% of it I decided it was terrible so I'm going to make fun of the strangeness of the Japanese version of the Hallmark Holidays instead. When lacking in imagination, go for cheap predatory humor!
Mother's Day
Mother's day is all about the carnation. This is true in the States as well, but while the flower is somewhat optional in the States, they make a much bigger deal about it in Japan. Maybe the flower lobby flexed its muscles on this one.
Father's Day
Father's Day is all about daughters giving their dads a tie, and the fathers proudly wearing the ties to work. Young boys also give such gifts to their dads, but the imagery for some reason is dominated by teenage girls giving the gift (maybe because in the typical family, the father is detested by the adolescent daughter going through the mood swings of puberty).
Valentines Day
The holiday consists literally of girls giving boys chocolates and get this, boys giving gifts to these girs a month later on 3/14 worth 3x the price of the chocolate they received. There's even a cultural expectation on how much the guy should spend on the return gift! Fantastic work by the chocolate industry and the teddy bear and jewelry industries.
There is also a nebulous expectation that small chocolates are "courtesy chocolates" devoid of significance, while elaborate, large, expensive or hand made chocolates are "the real thing", and are synonymous with the girl's confession of admiration. For further information on this subject, please refer to any number of romantic comedy manga and anime.
Christmas
In the West, Christmas is a mixture of religion, family, and consumerism. When we hop over the pond, we take away religion and family and in put food and sex in its place. You heard me right! Fantastic holiday!
All those stories you hear about Japan eating cake and fried chicken for Christmas are totally real. KFC even runs special ads during the season! On top of that you're seen as a loner if you don't have a house party to go to with friends or a boyfriend / girlfriend to spend the night with. Girls become utterly desperate to be in a relationship during Christmas, which I find quite amusing. Oh, and the hours between 9pm 12/24 and 3am 12/25 are called "The Six Hours of Sex", and is the time of year with the highest amount of copulation in the entire year. I don't have the numbers but I bet the kids of young couples are disproportionately born in October and November.
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I guess it makes sense that these western holidays have very heavy consumerist bias, even heavier than those in the States. After all, if you're going to take the trouble to import another culture's holiday, you might as well make sure that you can maximize your monetary returs for your troubles!
This post was brought to you with all sorts of biases and prejudices.
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originally posted here
  
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I just despise all holidays, I like weekdays the best, people just do their thing while leading their life without and bloated media imposed crap. also, I never congratulate people on their birthday because I'm annoyed if they actually expect me to give a damn. People who use their birthday as a special "ME ME ME!!!" attention day makes me cringe.
note: this post might be overly cynical because I'm hungry
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For some reason I just cannot picture having KFC on Christmas. I'm sure Japanese people think I'm equally weird for having a Ham, but something about the Kentucky Colonel just doesn't feel very "in the spirit" to me, haha.
Great post though, it really shows how different the cultures are with regards to supposedly "universal" holidays.
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
On August 01 2013 07:18 MarklarMarklarr wrote:
I just despise all holidays, I like weekdays the best, people just do their thing while leading their life without and bloated media imposed crap. also, I never congratulate people on their birthday because I'm annoyed if they actually expect me to give a damn. People who use their birthday as a special "ME ME ME!!!" attention day makes me cringe.
note: this post might be overly cynical because I'm hungry
I agree with you wholeheartedly (I redacted my birthday from Facebook for similar reasons -- I just don't think it's a big deal) and my original post was along similar lines of how all these holidays are bad but that some of them can't be resisted for good reasons. The one that I would have to follow if I had a kid is Christmas. I don't really believe in the present buying but my hypothetical kid would probably feel bad at school when he finds out that all his classmates got these shiny new toys, so I'd probably go along with the whole Santa nonsense for a while. That being said the last time our family did Christmas gifts was back when I was about 11.
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v-day has two types of chocolates.
giri-choco (obligation chocolate) that you must give to bosses, co-workers, etc.
honmei-choco (feelings chocolate) that you must give to your significant other.
guys aren't really required to do jackshit on v-day in japan. however, the second holiday you are referring to (white day) is when they are required to reciprocate. why have one holiday businesses, when you can have two???
fun fact, on white day, you give underwear (also, chocolate, but fuck that, its lingerie day baby!!!)
not so fun fact, i never got honmei choco even from my significant other because she felt that i am american and that i should follow the american tradition of showering her with gifts on v-day instead of the reverse despite the fact that we were in japan. thats as much bullshit as these made up holidays.
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oh, also, new years day is about the family. its like the reverse of christmas.
american christmas = family. american new years = friends, significant other.
japanese christmas = couples. japanese new years = family.
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
On August 01 2013 08:44 dAPhREAk wrote:
not so fun fact, i never got honmei choco even from my significant other because she felt that i am american and that i should follow the american tradition of showering her with gifts on v-day instead of the reverse despite the fact that we were in japan. thats as much bullshit as these made up holidays.
hahahahah she is a clever one! sucks for you though T_T
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doesn't japan have an aging population problem? They should extend the six hour of sex thing to six weeks.
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I wonder when and who started the Christmas fried chicken thing.
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dam i wanna go to japan and eat fried chicken on christmas instead of turkey
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wow this thread is full of ragey angst about the "consumerism" and "shallowness" of holidays. Baha. (edit: not the OP ofc, interesting post).
Consider the idea that people enjoy them, not because of advertising, but because of the traditions that build on doing the same fun things with friends and family year after year. Giving gifts, having meals with family/friends, going to the movies, going on vacations, etc, are fun things without a holiday, so why does it annoy people to do them with a theme and a tradition? There's nothing to be gained from being a pooh-pooher of holidays other than an obnoxious sense of superiority, but there's a whole lot of good times to be lost.
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On August 01 2013 07:18 MarklarMarklarr wrote:
I just despise all holidays, I like weekdays the best, people just do their thing while leading their life without and bloated media imposed crap. also, I never congratulate people on their birthday because I'm annoyed if they actually expect me to give a damn. People who use their birthday as a special "ME ME ME!!!" attention day makes me cringe.
note: this post might be overly cynical because I'm hungry
I hate any form of spending money on unnecessary items (like chocolate/flowers or presents). For my birthday, I just go out to eat with my family, nothing special. Now I understand not liking birthdays, but congratulating people (whether you mean it or not) and saying "happy birthday" is just common courtesy. Who cares if you really don't give a damn whether it's their birthday or not? You could just say "happy birthday" to be nice.
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2nd Worst City in CA8938 Posts
Chocolate is never unnecessary. I wish people would give me chocolate every day of the year. ;(
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you should work at a candy store than, they'll let you eat as much as you like
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On August 01 2013 12:50 Epishade wrote:Show nested quote +On August 01 2013 07:18 MarklarMarklarr wrote:
I just despise all holidays, I like weekdays the best, people just do their thing while leading their life without and bloated media imposed crap. also, I never congratulate people on their birthday because I'm annoyed if they actually expect me to give a damn. People who use their birthday as a special "ME ME ME!!!" attention day makes me cringe.
note: this post might be overly cynical because I'm hungry I hate any form of spending money on unnecessary items (like chocolate/flowers or presents). For my birthday, I just go out to eat with my family, nothing special. Now I understand not liking birthdays, but congratulating people (whether you mean it or not) and saying "happy birthday" is just common courtesy. Who cares if you really don't give a damn whether it's their birthday or not? You could just say "happy birthday" to be nice.
I just pretend I don't know its their birthday, if I for some reason find it out by someone else congratulating him/her I will say happy birthday. But I will assure you, most people I know are aware of my view on birthdays and holidays
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Baa?21244 Posts
On August 01 2013 12:50 Epishade wrote:Show nested quote +On August 01 2013 07:18 MarklarMarklarr wrote:
I just despise all holidays, I like weekdays the best, people just do their thing while leading their life without and bloated media imposed crap. also, I never congratulate people on their birthday because I'm annoyed if they actually expect me to give a damn. People who use their birthday as a special "ME ME ME!!!" attention day makes me cringe.
note: this post might be overly cynical because I'm hungry I hate any form of spending money on unnecessary items (like chocolate/flowers or presents). For my birthday, I just go out to eat with my family, nothing special. Now I understand not liking birthdays, but congratulating people (whether you mean it or not) and saying "happy birthday" is just common courtesy. Who cares if you really don't give a damn whether it's their birthday or not? You could just say "happy birthday" to be nice.
chocolate is something you eat too, how is it different than eating out =o
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On August 01 2013 14:59 Carnivorous Sheep wrote:Show nested quote +On August 01 2013 12:50 Epishade wrote:On August 01 2013 07:18 MarklarMarklarr wrote:
I just despise all holidays, I like weekdays the best, people just do their thing while leading their life without and bloated media imposed crap. also, I never congratulate people on their birthday because I'm annoyed if they actually expect me to give a damn. People who use their birthday as a special "ME ME ME!!!" attention day makes me cringe.
note: this post might be overly cynical because I'm hungry I hate any form of spending money on unnecessary items (like chocolate/flowers or presents). For my birthday, I just go out to eat with my family, nothing special. Now I understand not liking birthdays, but congratulating people (whether you mean it or not) and saying "happy birthday" is just common courtesy. Who cares if you really don't give a damn whether it's their birthday or not? You could just say "happy birthday" to be nice. chocolate is something you eat too, how is it different than eating out =o
eating out costs more.
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On August 01 2013 12:46 bumwithagun wrote:
wow this thread is full of ragey angst about the "consumerism" and "shallowness" of holidays. Baha. (edit: not the OP ofc, interesting post).
Consider the idea that people enjoy them, not because of advertising, but because of the traditions that build on doing the same fun things with friends and family year after year. Giving gifts, having meals with family/friends, going to the movies, going on vacations, etc, are fun things without a holiday, so why does it annoy people to do them with a theme and a tradition? There's nothing to be gained from being a pooh-pooher of holidays other than an obnoxious sense of superiority, but there's a whole lot of good times to be lost.
agree with this.
some of these holidays are really important for me because it's a rare chance that family will have an excuse to just eat out as a family and give them a present to show my care.
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EPT
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