Japanese sour on holiday candy tradition

TOKYO: Nozomi Hashimoto, a 26-year-old insurance worker, used to buy dozens of boxes of giri choco, or obligation chocolates, on Valentine’s Day to distribute to the men in her office. The tradition would set her back US$150 or so, but it was all but obligatory in Japan’s gift-giving culture. 

Nowadays, she and a few colleagues chip in and buy a single box of chocolates for the office at a fraction of the cost.