Heartless Timing

An inexpensive bar of chocolate found in our cupboard.  Cold and heavy snow dampened my enthusiasm for going out to take a photo of fancy chocolates.

Roppongi Hills on Valentine's Day

Along with many cities in the U.S., snowfall arrived in Tokyo with heartless timing.  It is February 14 on this side of the dateline and tonight is the evening when youthful multitudes of Japanese lovers celebrate Valentine's Day with the exchange of gorgeous chocolates, lavish dining and perhaps a stroll past the red lights of Roppongi Hills.   On this day women give dark chocolates to men.  Some specialty chocolate shops (like the one next door to our apartment building) have lines of women for several days trailing out the door and down the side walk.   If women do not consider the chocolates a gift of true love, they often make the chocolates themselves and wrap them in beautiful paper.  One month later on March 14, men return the gifts on "White Day" with a package of white chocolate.