By: Nicole Sato, GVJCI Program Manager 

March 14th is infamously known in the US as Pi Day. The punny holiday has taken a good commercialism with pie stores and pizza places celebrating Pi Day with their own pies.  

But in Japan, March 14th is known for a completely different holiday - White Day.  White Day??  If it weren't for this holiday, Japan may be celebrating Pi Day too. After all, they too like their pun holidays (November 11 is known as Pocky day because the 11/11 look like Pocky sticks.) 

aSo what's White Day? Let's back up a little. In the US, traditionally, chocolates, flowers, and gifts are given from a man to a woman. However, in Japan, the tradition's been reversed. Girls and women of all ages stay up the night before crafting their best handmade chocolate sweets to give to men, whether it be friends (tomo-choko), someone they want to confess their love to or someone they love (honmei-choko), or just someone as a polite V-Day gesture (giri-choko).  Different, right? 

Now, White Day. March 14th? Does the date seem kinda familiar? That's right, it's exactly a month after Valentine's Day. There are several theories on how and why this holiday actually started, but the most popular theory is that in the 70s, the confectionery industry started it up as "return day" for men to say thank you to the women that gave them chocolates (and their hearts, maybe) a month before. Hallmark Holiday, much? Totally.  

Their plan worked though, because White Day is still a thing now. Originally, it was called "White Day" because it was marketed to sell marshmallows. From there, it evolved to white chocolate, and now today, there's everything from regular chocolate to jewelry as a return gift. Now, White Day is celebrated not only in Japan, but in many Asian countries, including South Korea, Vietnam, and China. 

Speaking of South Korea...Didn't receive anything on either days? Don't worry, there's always Black Day next month on the 14th where singles who didn't receive anything on the past two months eat jajangmyeon (I'll give you a hint - it's black-ish looking) in misery ​😉

By Christy Wong, GVJCI Social Media and Community Outreach Intern

I bet your mouth will drop when you open the weather app in your phone and saw the temperatures in the coming week… 93 Degrees!? Serious?! And even 100 degrees if you are up north.....

Need something to cool down yourself but lazy to go out? Beat that late-summer heat with this homemade Japanese coffee jelly!!

Coffee jelly, or Kohi Zeri in Japanese, is a light gelatin dessert that is served in many coffee shops in Japan, particularly during summer. It is very cold, refreshing, and not so sweet that makes it a great snack to help people cool down in this hot summer weather. Coffee and gelatin desserts are also very popular in Japan. Combining the two things together makes coffee jelly THE awesome dessert. Besides, it only takes a few easy steps to make it at home! So let’s get started!

To make this Japanese coffee jelly, you will need: 3 tablespoons of water, ½ cup of sugar (The amount of sugar needed depends on how sweet you want your jelly to be!), 1 ½ tablespoons of unflavored gelatin, and 16oz of hot coffee. It is important that you use hot coffee so that you can combine all the ingredients together!

Step 1: In a large bowl, pour water into the gelatin and let it soak for around 2 minutes.

​​​Step 2: Add the hot coffee into the gelatin and mix thoroughly.

​At this point, you may see some clumps of gelatin not dissolving into the mixture. The mixture will also have a lot of bubbles on the surface due to constant stirring. But don’t worry! We will take care of this in the next step!

​Step 4: In this step, you will need a sieve, a thin pan/dish, and a soup ladle. Hold the sieve on top of the pan and carefully pour the coffee gelatin mixture through the sieve to get rid of the clumps of gelatin! 

​Step 6: Cover the mixture with a plastic wrap and let it refrigerate for at least 4 hours to let the liquid set and become jelly. We know this is hard since the food is so attracting… But be patient everyone! 

​Step 7: 4 hours later… the wait is over! It’s almost time to enjoy! Use a knife the cut the jelly into small squares. 

​Step 8: Scoop out the jelly into the small bowl and you are ready to serve!

​And there you go! A refreshing and cooling Japanese coffee jelly! You can lightly whip up some heavy cream with sugar and pour the cream over the jelly. You can also pair up the jelly with sweetened condensed milk! You can even cut the jelly into very small rectangles to make “coffee boba” and add them into your cup of ice coffee!

May 5th is...?
If you said Cinco De Mayo, okay, okay, you're not wrong, but we wanted Kodomo No Hi! as the answer. 
That's right. Every May 5th is Kodomo No Hi in Japan! What's Kodomo No Hi? It directly translates to: Kodomo (子供): Child(ren) No(の): 's  Hi(日): Day. Yup, it's a day to celebrate children's health and happiness as well as thanking and celebrating mothers 🤰

Maybe you're like, "Wait. I thought today was Boy's Day???" Well, you're right and wrong. Boy's Day or Tango (that's with a short A not the long A like the smooth South American dance you all like 💃) No Sekku (丹後の節句) was officially changed into a Japanese holiday since 1948, when it became Children's Day. Boys are still celebrated though, as the means of celebrating (the koinobori, kabuto, etc) is still in tradition. Read on to find out! 

Feel like celebrating yet? Good! We'll talk about some things to get your Kodomo No Hi celebrations on the road! 

Do you celebrate Kodomo No Hi? How do you celebrate it? Did you learn something new? We hope so! 

Ah plum blossoms, hinaningyo, chirashi sushi, and hina-arare. Sounds like it's March 3rd, Hinamatsuri! 
Hinamatsuri is celebrated in Japan and in many Japanese families around the world in celebration of young girls' health, happiness, and prosperity. Japanese Heian style dolls known as Hinaningyo (雛人形) are displayed in homes, cultural centers, and schools, parents are busy cooking chirashi for dinner, and sweet and salty hina-arare are eaten as snacks on this day. Plum blossom season is right around the corner and are often on display near the dolls as well. 

"Hey! I want to celebrate it too," you say? Well, you can!
Follow this blog post so that you can celebrate at home! 🍴 (Where's the chopsticks emoji, huh!?)

Most ingredients can be purchased at a normal grocery store. If they don't carry a specific ingredient, a Japanese market like Marukai or Mitsuwa will have it!
Easy enough, right? But let's get into more detail!

3. ​Cut spam into 10 slices and cook in heated pan.

4. ​Cut 5 large nori sheets in half to make 10 sheets.

5. Place musubi mold onto nori and then place about a half spatula amount of rice into the mold. (All pictured below).

6. ​Dip cooked spam pieces into the sauce and then place in the mold on top of rice layer.

7. ​Sprinkle furikake on top of spam in the mold.

8. ​Put another layer of rice (same size) on top of furikake.

9. ​Use second musubi piece to press down and compact all the layers so it doesn't fall apart.

10. Pull up the mold piece in order to free the musubi (which should slide out easily), as you continue to press down on the second piece.

11. ​Fold nori around the musubi.

12. ​Serve and enjoy!

Not the prettiest but just as delicious!