30 Pct of Men in Japan Interested in Own Valentine’s Day Treats

Tokyo, Feb. 12 (Jiji Press)–Some 30 pct of men in Japan are interested in sweets sold as Valentine’s Day gifts for themselves, a survey by LY Corp. showed ahead of this year’s Feb. 14. In the survey conducted on about 2,000 men in late January, 27 pct of the respondents said that they are interested in Valentine’s Day sweets, while some 30 pct said they had no interest. The survey also found that about 24 pct of the respondents had already bought or were considering buying Valentine’s Day-related items on the internet company’s Line Gift service. These figures are “higher than expected,” an LY official said, expressing surprise at men’s high demand for Valentine’s Day treats. “We often see men come to our Valentine’s Day event spaces to buy alone,” said an official at Sogo & Seibu Co., a department store chain. “I like sweets,” said a company executive in his 40s who splurged 5,000 yen on Italian chocolate for himself at an event space at Matsuya Co.’s department store in Tokyo’s Ginza district on Feb. 4., showing no hesitation to visit the space alone. Another survey, by Hakuhodo Institute of Life and Living, showed that 34 pct of men treated themselves to a gift in 2024, double the figure of 1998. Yuka Kondo, a senior researcher at the institute, said that people in a wide range of generations are used to making themselves happy on their own, regardless of gender. Even amid soaring prices and uncertainty about the economy, people seem to convince themselves that they deserve gifts as a reward for their daily slog, Kondo said. “The concept of reward consumption will spread.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]