Learn about Valentine's Day Japanese style
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Peter: Stop by our website japanesepod101.com for all the latest and greatest features, line by line audio, iPod on the go plus much more. Stop by and see what’s going on at japanesepod101.com |
| Sakura: おはよう、秋田。第五回、日本文化レッスンです。さくらです。 |
| Peter: Peter here and we are back with another addition of Japanese culture class, the 5th edition. |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: Again they are starting to add up too. Everything is adding up. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay as always, we are brought to you by Erklaren, the translation and interpretation specialists. Today we have another great, great lesson for you. This is a very, very interesting one. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: I was quite surprised when I first heard about it. |
| Sakura: Really? |
| Peter: Yes before we give you that, we just want to remind you to stop by www.japanesepod101.com. Again we have supplemental material. We have more things about it plus your fellow listeners are there to help you out. |
| Sakura: Yeah. |
| Peter: If you got a question, you got something, they will help you out, we will help you out. We have a new final authority. |
| Sakura: Yes, yes, yes! |
| Peter: 笹原先生 |
| Sakura: 笹原さん |
| Peter: She is where the buck stops. Grammar questions, anything else |
| Sakura: Yes. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: Bring it by. Okay so back to today’s topic. Sakura, can you give us today’s topic in Japanese? |
| Sakura: バレンタインデー |
| Peter: What! One more time. |
| Sakura: バレンタインデー |
| Peter: One more time. |
| Sakura: バレンタインデー |
| Peter: Okay and what is this in English? |
| Sakura: Valentine’s Day. |
| Peter: Yes okay and what day is this? |
| Sakura: February 14th. It’s chocolate day. |
| Peter: Yes now before I came to Japan, I didn’t know that they celebrate a valentine’s day in Japan. |
| Sakura: Ah we do. It’s such a great – it’s an important event. |
| Peter: Really, you like it? |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: That’s even more interesting. Some of you out there might know already but the ones who don’t know, this is when I first found out, it blew me away. |
| Sakura: Umm… |
| Peter: Now Sakura, you know about our Valentine’s Day right? |
| Sakura: Ah well but I am not really sure. |
| Peter: Okay I will break it down for you. |
| Sakura: Yeah, yeah… |
| Peter: In America, on Valentine’s Day, all the men are out scrambling for roses. |
| Sakura: Really? |
| Peter: Prices of roses triple. |
| Sakura: Yeah. |
| Peter: Well I don’t know about that but yes, we are out buying roses, we are out buying chocolate, we are out buying cards. We top it off with dinner and maybe a present. |
| Sakura: Men! |
| Peter: Men do all of this for the affection of their loves of their lives. |
| Sakura: Ah I want to go to United States. It’s such – the situation is so different in Japan. |
| Peter: How is it different? |
| Sakura: Opposite. Well and okay - |
| Peter: Wait! Wait! What was that keyword there? |
| Sakura: Opposite. |
| Peter: Opposite? |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Tell us more. |
| Sakura: Okay so girls do things for men and this is like chocolate day. So we don’t really buy cards or roses. It’s just chocolate. So girls give chocolates to and boys. |
| Peter: Ah! |
| Sakura: Yes so… |
| Peter: I want to be Japanese. |
| Sakura: I heard that a quarter of chocolate company sales are on this Valentine’s Day or you know just before Valentine’s Day. |
| Peter: Big business. |
| Sakura: Big business… |
| Peter: A quarter? |
| Sakura: Yes, yes! |
| Peter: Unbelievable. |
| Sakura: Oh! |
| Peter: Now what are some of the famous brands – chocolate brands in Japan? I know in the US, we have Hershey’s and Ghirardelli's. |
| Sakura: Ah like Japanese brands? |
| Peter: Japanese brands yes. What’s your favorite chocolate? It’s okay to say Hershey’s. |
| Sakura: Umm 日本の well okay casual ones, ロッテ. |
| Peter: One more time. |
| Sakura: Lotte. |
| Peter: Yes and this is a very famous brand in Japan. |
| Sakura: And they are more famous for chewing gums I think. |
| Peter: Yeah chewing gum. |
| Sakura: Yeah but like you know, all these sweets in general and also 明治 |
| Peter: Okay. |
| Sakura: Yeah 明治 |
| Peter: 明治 |
| Sakura: Is famous for chocolate but you know, all these ones are the ones you can buy in like convenient stores. |
| Peter: Yeah like at the local 7-Eleven or… |
| Sakura: Yes, yes, yes… |
| Peter: These are like – we are giving you right now the common ones that are found everywhere. |
| Sakura: Yeah that’s right. |
| Peter: They also have Kit Kat, they also have Cadbury. |
| Sakura: Yeah, yeah, yeah. |
| Peter: Which is very, very good by the way. |
| Sakura: I know. I know it too… |
| Peter: We better stop talking about this. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: We are going to have to leave the studio and come back. |
| Sakura: Yes but on Valentine’s Day, we buy like all different kinds of all these different levels of chocolates. |
| Peter: Levels? |
| Sakura: Yes or like expensive ones and cheap ones depending on who you are giving it to. |
| Peter: But still the guys are getting it right? |
| Sakura: Yeah. |
| Peter: Yes ah I like it. Tell me one more time Sakura, who gets the chocolate? |
| Sakura: Men. |
| Peter: Yes. Happy day. |
| Sakura: Yeah. |
| Peter: Okay so tell me about the levels of chocolate. |
| Sakura: Okay. The really expensive ones are given to the loved ones or – and the ones you want to go out with you know. |
| Peter: Ah go out in the sense go out, go out. |
| Sakura: Yeah, yeah. |
| Peter: Dating. |
| Sakura: So, so, so… |
| Peter: Now so what kind of price range, $5, ¥500? |
| Sakura: Well ¥1000, ¥2000 yeah will be for that level you know. |
| Peter: Ah… |
| Sakura: So… |
| Peter: Well not too bad. |
| Sakura: Umm… |
| Peter: And what kind of chocolate? |
| Sakura: ゴディバ |
| Peter: Hah what was that? |
| Sakura: ゴディバ |
| Peter: ゴディバ |
| Sakura: Yeah. |
| Peter: ゴディバ |
| Sakura: ゴディバ |
| Peter: Break it down. |
| Sakura: ゴディバ |
| Peter: What does this mean Sakura? |
| Sakura: It’s the brand. |
| Peter: The brand Godiva? |
| Sakura: Yes, yes, yes. |
| Peter: Ah… |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Now I got it. |
| Sakura: That’s one of the you know famous ones. |
| Peter: Godiva. |
| Sakura: So, so expensive ones. |
| Peter: And there is no holding it in there, just ゴディバ |
| Sakura: ゴディバ |
| Peter: Ah I want some ゴディバ |
| Sakura: Well… |
| Peter: Okay so we have the higher levels. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: And what about the lower levels. |
| Sakura: Yeah lower levels are like ¥300, ¥500. |
| Peter: What is the shape? Did you give them a chocolate bar or… |
| Sakura: Actually their case is like that where it’s you know for like it have joking ていうかね. It’s have joke and yeah. |
| Peter: Like I have Kit Kat. |
| Sakura: Umm but actually they sell like ¥500 chocolates in this box. |
| Peter: Ah box… |
| Sakura: Yeah and you know nicely wrap box. |
| Peter: Yes. |
| Sakura: And really popular ones are トリュフ. Do you know? |
| Peter: No, one more time. What was that? |
| Sakura: トリュフ |
| Peter: What’s that in English? |
| Sakura: トリュフ is truffles. |
| Peter: Truffles! |
| Sakura: It is round. It is round and its covered in like coco powders and it’s ガナッシュ…ガナッシュ inside. |
| Peter: Garnish inside. |
| Sakura: Yeah. |
| Peter: Wow a truffle! Can you give me that? Break that down for me one more time. |
| Sakura: トリュフ |
| Peter: トリュフ |
| Sakura: トリュフ |
| Peter: トリュフ |
| Sakura: Yeah. |
| Peter: トリュフ That’s a tough one. |
| Sakura: Yeah. |
| Peter: We are going to have a special section just breaking this word down. |
| Sakura: And this one is the same as the one you use in French cuisine you know. |
| Peter: Ah the truffles, the black yes. |
| Sakura: Truffles, yes, yes it’s the same sound. |
| Peter: Yeah, same pronunciation. |
| Sakura: Yeah トリュフ yeah. |
| Peter: Thank you very much for that. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay so we got, let’s just kind of like sum up where we are. |
| Sakura: Umm… |
| Peter: So on Valentine’s Day, the guys get the chocolate. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: And there are a few ways to give it. There is the lower level of chocolate which you give to kind of friends or who do you give this to? |
| Sakura: Okay. Friends, colleagues at work. |
| Peter: Colleagues at work. Yes this is a big one. |
| Sakura: Yes, yes very important. |
| Peter: Like secretaries or office ladies. |
| Sakura: Oh yes. |
| Peter: Like although it’s like only ¥300, ¥500 |
| Sakura: Yes, yes. |
| Peter: They might need a credit card if they work at Toyota. |
| Sakura: Yeah and like to their boss, they might choose like ¥700 one or maybe ¥1000 you know and to colleagues maybe ¥300. |
| Peter: So it’s very big in the office. How about in school? |
| Sakura: In school… |
| Peter: Classmates like… |
| Sakura: Classmates, if you have like good friends, you might give it to them like not as you know really serious ones but just you know as friendly present and you might give like ¥500 one or… |
| Peter: Got it but yeah the office is kind of – I think that the office is the cash cow where they are making the money. |
| Sakura: Yeah I think so. |
| Peter: Yeah. Okay so we have that one and then we have the upper level. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay now let’s just take one more. Let’s step back one more time and just look at this. Now, you said these levels, are there certain names for these levels? |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay what are the names? |
| Sakura: Okay the – like serious ones, the one you give to like the loved ones you would say 本命チョコ |
| Peter: One more time. |
| Sakura: 本命チョコ |
| Peter: Break it down. |
| Sakura: ほんめいチョコ |
| Peter: And this is the chocolate you give to… |
| Sakura: Loved ones or the one you want to date with. |
| Peter: Ah… |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: 本命 I’ve never heard of this one. |
| Sakura: Yeah. |
| Peter: I think you’re wild Sakura. I’ve never heard of this one. |
| Sakura: Just you are getting the other ones only. |
| Peter: Yeah just the other ones. |
| Sakura: Oho! |
| Peter: I’ve heard of the other one. |
| Sakura: あ、本当。 |
| Peter: But I’ve never heard of this one. |
| Sakura: Really? |
| Peter: This is some things about me Sakura? |
| Sakura: I don’t know. |
| Peter: Now the other one which is called |
| Sakura: 義理チョコ |
| Peter: Now can you give us this one, one more time slowly. |
| Sakura: ぎりチョコ |
| Peter: Now I’ve heard of this one. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: But I’ve never heard of the other one. |
| Sakura: I think more people get it like you know 義理チョコ。 |
| Peter: Sakura, you are not helping. |
| Sakura: You might get one this year. |
| Peter: Oh! From my wife. |
| Sakura: You never know, yes. |
| Peter: Okay now there is something we want to point out about saying chocolates. I think some of you might have caught the ending. Can you give us the two words one more time. |
| Sakura: 本命チョコ |
| Peter: And |
| Sakura: 義理チョコ |
| Peter: You notice anything similar about them. Can you give us the last parts of both words? |
| Sakura: チョコ |
| Peter: And |
| Sakura: チョコ |
| Peter: Sounds familiar. Now what is this word? |
| Sakura: It’s chocolate. |
| Peter: Chocolate. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Again mini size. |
| Sakura: Mini size. Yes. |
| Peter: Cute word, can you give it to us one more time. |
| Sakura: チョコ |
| Peter: And break it down. |
| Sakura: チョコ |
| Peter: Yes. Now this is the word for chocolate. |
| Sakura: Yes and we also say チョコレート |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Sakura: But actually チョコ is much more popular. |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Sakura: Yeah. |
| Peter: And it’s just easier to say. |
| Sakura: Yeah. |
| Peter: Cute, fun, interesting word. Okay so 本命 chocolate and the 義理 chocolate. Now I did get of course as 義理 chocolate. |
| Sakura: …..義理ね。 |
| Peter: Yes. 本命 chocolates. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Now rather than buying chocolates in the stores, some Japanese girls actually make…. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: The chocolate or make something. |
| Sakura: Handmade yes. |
| Peter: Cook something, handmade some kind of sweets. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: So why do they do this Sakura? |
| Sakura: Okay so they want to convey their real feelings you know put it in the chocolate. |
| Peter: Ah. |
| Sakura: And give it to them. |
| Peter: It’s very nice like I was quite surprised to see so many girls actually making the chocolates and making the - |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: It was very impressive and it’s very good. |
| Sakura: Well then, you are lucky. Yeah but and those handmade ones are called 手作りチョコ |
| Peter: Okay one more time please. |
| Sakura: 手作りチョコ |
| Peter: And this is |
| Sakura: Handmade chocolate. |
| Peter: Yeah can you break this down for us? |
| Sakura: てづくりチョコ |
| Peter: Yeah handmade. The first part is handmade… |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: And again we have the chocolate at the end. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Uh very interesting. |
| Sakura: Yes and because this event is really exciting event when you are students, so it’s you know, sometimes it’s the first sweets girls make yeah. One of the first ones like they bake chocolate cookies or you know, make truffles or yeah it’s often their first time you know. |
| Peter: I think it’s so nice. |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: It’s really sweet. |
| Sakura: Yeah. And when you go to Tokyu Hands. |
| Peter: Ah famous shop in… |
| Sakura: In – like there are branches but they sell all these tools for all hobbies, right. So they also have kitchen tools and baking tools and ingredients and just before this Valentine’s Day, you just can’t get near the items. |
| Peter: Really? |
| Sakura: Yes. And also… |
| Peter: It’s kind of like Christmas. |
| Sakura: Oh yes, it’s really – all girls, girls, girls around these tools and ingredients and also boxes as well. You know, they want to buy boxes too. |
| Peter: Wow that’s presentation. |
| Sakura: Umm… |
| Peter: That’s impressive. |
| Sakura: Yes. You can’t go near. |
| Peter: You know what, I might have to go check that out but… |
| Sakura: You might like to… |
| Peter: Okay so it’s all win for the guys. Win, win, win, win right? |
| Sakura: Yes well on Valentine’s Day yes. |
| Peter: But I didn’t like that well sound. What was that Sakura? |
| Sakura: Well they have to give something back you see on later date. |
| Peter: It’s always a case. |
| Sakura: Yes one month later. |
| Peter: Okay explain. |
| Sakura: Okay and there is a day called ホワイトデー. |
| Peter: I don’t like that day already. |
| Sakura: When boys or men have to give back something to the girls. |
| Peter: Okay. |
| Sakura: Who gave you something, who gave you chocolate. |
| Peter: And this is white day? |
| Sakura: ホワイトデー |
| Peter: And white day is one month later on March 14th. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Right. Now you usually give the same kind of thing. |
| Sakura: Not chocolates. |
| Peter: What do you usually give? |
| Sakura: You give cookies or marshmallows or candies. |
| Peter: Marshmallows! |
| Sakura: Umm… |
| Peter: But I also see boxes of chocolate. |
| Sakura: Really? |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Sakura: Umm it’s not very… |
| Peter: Maybe I am shopping at a different place. |
| Sakura: Chocolates are not so popular on white day. |
| Peter: Got it. Okay and again, you kind of reciprocate and I heard the guys wind up paying a little bit more. |
| Sakura: Yes you are expected to pay a little more. Yeah… |
| Peter: You know but it’s still great because you know usually in Valentine’s Day, the guys usually make the first move. You know, we have secret admirers, secret valentine. You know, so the guy is the one who has to get the courage up. |
| Sakura: Yeah. |
| Peter: And make the first approach. |
| Sakura: That’s nice. It should be that way in Japan too. |
| Peter: Sakura, don’t go changing, don’t go changing. |
| Sakura: Right. Yeah but it’s an exciting event. |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Sakura: And like when you are students, it’s the day to you know – day for 告白 |
| Peter: Ah! |
| Sakura: What do you say – how do you say 告白 in English? |
| Peter: I think this translates into like confession. |
| Sakura: Ah! |
| Peter: But it’s a confession of one’s love. |
| Sakura: Yes, yes, yes. |
| Peter: I know what all you guys are thinking. Not the confession, not 5-10 confession. This is confession of love. |
| Sakura: Yes, yes, yes. So, like as you say, secret admirer is you know, buy chocolate or make chocolate and give it to the boy you like and maybe put little letter or something, love letter and they leave it in his desk or you know, or give it to him, you know hand it to him. It’s very exciting event. |
| Peter: Wow! You girls have a lot of courage. It takes a lot of courage to do this. |
| Sakura: Umm but sometimes you know, you don’t have someone to give homemade choco, they you give just Giri choco or sometimes we exchange chocolates with friends and girlfriends. |
| Peter: Really? |
| Sakura: And that’s called 友チョコ |
| Peter: Okay break it down. |
| Sakura: I think I think… 友チョコ |
| Peter: And what’s 友 |
| Sakura: 友 is friend. |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Sakura: Yeah. |
| Peter: As you can see, that’s why a quarter of the sales are in this one season. |
| Sakura: Yes, yes. |
Outro |
| Peter: Okay well that’s going to wrap it up for today. I thought that you would like that interesting, interesting story because… |
| Sakura: Wait. Do you mind if I just add one thing. |
| Peter: Go right ahead Sakura. |
| Sakura: This is an important point because at office, as you mentioned earlier, giving chocolate is you know, something to get like human relationships smoother. |
| Peter: Ah really! |
| Sakura: Yeah. So it’s not like you know love something for confession, that kind of thing but it’s just a tool. Event itself is a tool to make things easier for everybody |
| Peter: Smooth over the working environment. |
| Sakura: Yes, yes. |
| Peter: And you know we – it’s a good thing you said this. What’s the word for the chocolate again? |
| Sakura: Giri choco. |
| Peter: Yeah and what does Giri translate into? |
| Sakura: Obligation. |
| Peter: Yeah so it’s kind of like an obligatory chocolate. |
| Sakura: Yes obligatory. |
| Peter: So you know, it kind of smoothes over the relation to – it’s nice you know… |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: To get something every once in a while. |
| Sakura: Yeah, yeah, yeah…. So when you get older, when you are in 20s or 30s or you know, the event has more of that kind of character to smoothen up relationship. |
| Peter: I think not older, marry. All right, oh boy! I’ve got to watch myself. |
| Sakura: Yeah, yeah. |
| Peter: It’s exciting you know these kind of holidays and something. You know, its nice okay. So now, we also have a special bonus track for you. Now what we are going to do is we are going to have on the website right under this link, we are going to have a special Valentines vocab download and what this is, it is just an MP3 file with all the vocabulary. Download it and all it is is vocabulary. So you can practice the words we gave you in today’s lesson. Okay? |
| Sakura: また、明日ね。 |
| Peter: See you tomorrow. Be sure to stop by japanesepod101.com and check out the premium learning center. Inside we have material to bring everything you learned in the lesson together. Flashcards, quizzes really consolidate what you learned in today’s lesson. Stop by, say hi and be sure to leave us a post. |
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