Japanese Increasingly Splurging on Themselves for Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day Gifts

In Japan, Valentine’s Day on February 14 is a very chocolate-centered celebration, with different categories of choko gifts being given. Tokyo-based department store Matsuya Ginza recently conducted a Valentine’s Day survey that sheds light on trends in chocolate purchases.

The survey, conducted in December 2025 and targeting subscribers to the department store’s online newsletter, found that of the 1,328 respondents, 65.0% said they would buy chocolate for themselves this year, in what is known as jibun-choko. Chocolates for romantic partners or significant others (honmei choco) accounted for 53.7%, followed by chocolate given to friends (tomo choco) at 28.5%, and obligatory gifts for coworkers or bosses (giri choco) at 20.1%. With the exception of giri choco, all categories exceeded last year’s figures.

Respondents of the survey were aged 17 to 84, with the average age being 54.9.

Early in its history in Japan, Valentine’s Day centered on the custom of women giving chocolates to men to declare their affection. In recent years, though, it has evolved into a celebration of chocolate as more and more people reward themselves or delight close companions with cocoa-based confections. The survey reflected this trend, with over half of respondents choosing jibun-choko and tomo-choko compared to only around one-fifth giving chocolate to express feelings to an important someone.

Splurging on Choko

The average amount people spent on jibun-choko exceeded ¥10,000 for the first time in the survey’s history, reaching a record high of ¥10,662. Average spending on honmei-choco was about half that, at ¥5,573, and was even less for giri-choco at ¥2,205 per item.

The rising cost of raw cocoa has pushed chocolate prices up in Japan, with around 65% of respondents saying that prices were noticeably higher compared to last year. This has not proved to be a deterrent, though, with 16.7% of people saying they intended to splurge and 55.2% saying they had no plans of cutting back their chocolate spending, clearly indicating the willingness to go all out to enjoy the holiday with their favorite chocolate treats.

Data Sources

• Data from chocolate survey (Japanese) by Matsuya Ginza.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner image © Pixta.)