Where it all began in 1958 (Photo: Joshua Rappeneker)

(Writer: J. Hawkins)

In the late Meiji, throughout the Taisho and into the early Showa period – roughly from 1900 – 1930, Japan adopted a great many forms of foreign culture, entertainment and dietary habits. Meat and bread became staples as did several types of vegetable but one dietary fancy that really took hold around this time was chocolate.

Whilst chocolate and Valentine’s Day are not directly connected in their appearance on the Japanese scene, it was the Japanese adoption – albeit in half-hearted form at first – of the Valentine’s Day traditions of gift giving to express romantic intention soon after WWII that really kick-started the chocolate industry in those lean years following defeat in the Pacific.

According to a Time Magazine report in 2007, initial sales of chocolate as part of a ‘Valentine’s sale’ occurred in 1958 – just 13-years after the end of hostilities. At the time, a local, and still popular Japanese chocolatier named ‘Mary’ successfully sold three (yes three) bars of their finest – over three days!