プロジェクトリーダーの小川典子さんから「小川先生、(わたしたちを)ほめてください!」のメールが来た。彼女たちの努力で、フラワーバレンタインの記事やニュース報道が、毎日のようにメディアに露出している。昨日は、日経MJとウォールストリートジャーナル(英文)に掲載されていた。
「日経MJ」のコラム記事(昨日)を読まれて方は、かなり多かったようだ。わたしのところにも、何人からFVのキャンペーンが広がっていることを喜んでくれている。
考えてみると、3年前から、バレンタインの一週間前から当日(2月14日)にかけて、わたしはたくさんの女性たちに花をくばっている。たぶん、累計で200人は超えている(そのほかに、誕生日にも花を贈っている)。そのときに受け取った女性たちが、この行事(フラワーバレンタイン)を覚えてくれている。
たとえば、元学部生(川口えり)や元秘書(本村ちなみ)からは、「先生、小川典子さんが、ラジオに出演していましたね」(川口)とか、「名古屋の花屋さん(坪井花苑)で、フラワーバレンタインやってましたよ」(ちなみ)。
じわじわと、その効果(花をもらったという記憶)が、女性たちに積もってきている。それが、口コミを生み出しているのだ思う。女性は、花を贈られると、やはりうれしいものなのだ。当たり前のことに、日本人の多くの男性はまだことに気がついていない。
さて、ここでは、「ウォールストリートジャーナル」(英文)の記事を紹介する。WSJが、わたしたちのために、かなりのスペースを取ってくれている。
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February 10, 2014, 8:58 AM
Chocolate or Flowers on Valentine’s Day?
Chieko Tsuneoka/The Wall Street JournalFlower shop Floreal in central Tokyo
The less romantic in Japan have long complained about Valentine’s Day, saying it is little more than a commercial ploy to sell chocolate during a quiet time of the year for the economy.
In a cultural quirk, Valentine’s Day has become an occasion in Japan when girls and women approach boys and men with chocolate gifts as a token of their love. The boys are supposed to wait one month to reciprocate in what some see as an even more manufactured holiday, White Day on March 14.
The nation’s fresh-flower industry sees an opportunity in all this. It has been on a quest to involve men and to turn Valentine’s Day into an occasion to give flowers instead of–or as well as—chocolates, a common custom in other countries.
Chieko Tsuneoka/The Wall Street JournalFlower shop Floreal in central Tokyo
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“We’ve been encouraging men to give flowers to their girlfriends and wives. Japanese men hardly buy flowers. By educating them, we can expand our market base,” said Noriko Ogawa, a florist who has been managing a long-running campaign called Flower Valentine. Roughly 8,500, or more than a third of Japan’s some 20,000 flower shops, have participated, promoting the men-giving-flowers-to-women custom since 2011.
The campaigners don’t have much numerical data on progress, but Ms. Ogawa said she and other members of the campaign have received positive feedback from fellow florists.
On the campaign’s official website, its appointed Mr. Flower Valentine, famous soccer player Kazuyoshi Miura, smiles at visitors with a big red rose bouquet in his hands and popular actor Show Aikawa talks about the time he met his wife. “I gave her flowers frequently. At that time I didn’t know what she liked. So, I chose flowers because flowers make everybody happy.”
With this year’s Valentine’s Day coming up, flower shops are in high spirits, decorating shop windows and counters with heart-shaped ornaments, ribbons and red roses, putting up posters of a man giving flowers to a woman, and handing out results of a survey showing that 85% of 500 female respondents said men who give a bouquet as a gift would make a very good impressions on them.
Chieko Tsuneoka/The Wall Street JournalA florist arranges flower baskets at the flower shop FLOREAL in central Tokyo.
But despite three years of campaigning by the florists, chocolate still accounts for roughly half of the estimated ¥130 billion ($1.24 billion) Valentine’s Day-related spending, according to figures by the Chocolate & Cocoa Association of Japan and the Japan Anniversary Association.
“We are yet no match for chocolate when it comes to sales. Still, we are developing new customers by using the Valentine’s Day as a gateway,” Ms. Ogawa told Japan Real Time.
Mary Chocolate Co. says on its website that it started Japan’s tradition of chocolates for Valentine’s Day in the late 1950s. Until then, women approaching men had been frowned upon. However, Mary Chocolate rolled out a heart-shaped chocolate with the message: “Girls, Confess Your Love to Your Guys. This Is a Once-a-Year Occasion.”
More than six decades on, girls are less inclined to wait for Valentine’s Day to confess their love. Instead, Valentine’s Day has evolved into an extravagant, all-generation chocolate festival. Girls give chocolate to their grandparents or to their friends at school. Wealthy Japanese buy fancy European chocolates for themselves or exchange them with friends. There is no need for romantic love to enjoy the occasion, said a spokeswoman at high-end department store Takashimaya8233.TO -0.53%.
Yasuko Fujita, deputy director general of the Chocolate & Cocoa Association, said that unlike the hot and humid Japanese summer, winter is a good season for chocolate. “Valentine’s Day serves as a great occasion to consume good chocolate at the best time of year,” she said.
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chocolate,
flowers,
Valentine’s