[chajin]

Talking about Japanese logic, March 14 in Japan is White Day.

[Vigilanteman]

White Day in Japan is for the guys to reciprocate by buying chocolate for the ladies who gave them chocolate on Valentine's Day. This is often white chocolate and its sales are a tiny fraction of VD.

In a previous life, one of my jobs was to send a random box of imported chocolate over to the Japan FDA for testing who would then pick a random piece, test it for approval and return the rest of the box. We collected them and sold them to employees for 500 yen a bag which would include several boxes worth about 10 times that much retail. I'd always take a bagful home to the wife and kids who would share it with friends and neighbors.

I always thought it amusing that the Japan FDA returned all those boxes minus one piece and once worked up the nerve to ask them why.

"If we did not," the bureaucrat told me sardonically, "it might be seen as a bribe." Makes sense when you think about it and explains why their government is much less of a kleptocracy than ours.