Another type of ‘festive food’ invented during the 1970s by Japanese companies producing Western-style sweets are Valentine’s Day chocolates (Ito 1995: 113–114). At first ‘love chocolates’ were given by women to men they were potentially interested in, but soon they turned into what most of my female informants dismissively called ‘obligation chocolates’. In other words, women ranging from Office Ladies to female students felt obliged to give chocolates to men in positions of power whom they were indebted to. On Valentine’s Day 2003, some women in my sample bought ‘obligation chocolates’, but many decided to make their own batch at home. The ubiquity of shop displays promoting key ingredients to make chocolates during the first two weeks of February highlights the popularity of this new practice. Some home-made chocolates were given to a special person, but most were consumed with the whole family at home.
The changing practices surrounding Valentine’s chocolates illustrate how consumers might actively appropriate and transform ‘annual events’. Some aspects might become obsolete, while others might be (re)produced in different forms. Many new ‘festive foods’ such as cakes or chocolates resemble ‘traditional’ food offerings because they can be easily employed in the creation of domestic sociality either by dividing them up or because they already consist of a number of parts. However, the durability of old and new types of festive foods differs significantly. Christmas cakes covered with whipped cream and chocolates perish relatively quickly, while foods such as pounded rice cakes remain edible for a very long time. Preservation enabled women to take a deserved break from cooking during the festive period when shops were closed.
Conclusion
In previous studies, I have challenged the assumption that commercialization negates spiritual power by arguing that the commodification of Japanese religious forms enables democratic access as well as personal interaction with the Divine in the home (Daniels 2003). In this chapter, I have expanded on this argument by demonstrating how commerce might actually be an active force in facilitating but also invigorating a variety of spiritual practices. My ethnography reveals that in contemporary Japan the spiritual continues to be part of all domains of life.<sup>5</sup> In times of need, most Japanese visit temples and shrines to ask deities for assistance, whether to recover from illness, pass exams or become prosperous in business.
Seasonal and Commercial Rhythms
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