You know about Valentine’s Day(Febuary 14), and you might have heard of White Day(March 14). The two holidays are paired together as days on which couples exchange chocolates/candies; on Feb.14 Japanese women give Japanese men chocolates, on March 14 Japanese men give Japanese women candies/chocolates. It seems to work out fine. But for some, namely citrus fruit farmers, April 14th needed a consumeristic holiday as well.

Say hello to Orange Day; the day when men and women exchange Oranges/other citrus related goods! Department stores and fruit companies are attempting to popularize this lame new holiday by bombarding consumers with stupid orange-related crap. Sadly, it might just work.

Determined not to miss out on a new aspect of Japanese consumer-whorism, Disney has even created a Tokyo Disneyland Orange Day Promotion involving a character called “Orange Bird”. Knowing the Japanese obsession with stupid Disney crap, it is sure to be a success.

Here’s a recent article on the Orange Day menace:

 After Valentine’s Day and White Day comes Orange and Partner Day on April 14
By Ayumi Kawaguchi

Wednesday, April 12, 2006 at 07:23 EDT

SAGA — Feb 14 is St Valentine’s Day and March 14 is White Day. Then, what day is April 14? The answer is both Orange Day and Partner Day, as attempts to make the day a popular holiday are under way.

The idea is that Orange Day is a day for boyfriends and girlfriends to confirm their love by exchanging oranges or orange-colored gifts, while Partner Day is a day when men and women show their mutual respect for each other.

According to the Japan Anniversary Association of Saku, Nagano Prefecture, central Japan, the idea for Orange Day was hit upon by a group of citrus fruit growers in Ehime Prefecture.

About 10 years ago, Kiyoshi Kase, 53, the association’s representative, received an inquiry from the group which said, “There should be something on April 14, a month after the White Day. We wonder whether we can make an appeal for our farming produce on the day.”

In Japan on St Valentine’s Day, women give gifts to men, and on White Day, men give gifts to women. So, why not have a day for lovers to confirm their affection in April?

Kase told the group, “In the language of flowers, oranges represent the ‘happiness of a bride’ and are suited to the day.” Orange Day was also featured on the association’s Internet home page, and inquiries have been increasing in the last few years.

For this year’s Orange Day celebrations, Hankyu Department Stores Inc of Osaka city is selling cakes using oranges, and Sunkist Growers Inc, a U.S. group of citrus fruit shippers, will distribute oranges and a recipe book on April 14 in Tokyo.

On the other hand, the idea for Partner Day was born in 1998. A group in the western Japan city of Saga to create plans for both men and women to jointly take part in originated the idea to make April 14 a day to familiarize people with the concept of gender equality.

The day is meant to be a time when men and women mutually recognize each other’s efforts in families, places of work and regional communities, and support each other. Each year, female organizations and municipal government officials, believing that thought is more important than things, distribute cards with messages that express gratitude to partners to the public. A message contest also began this year.

But according to a survey of Saga city residents by the municipal government in fall 2004, only 15% of them were aware of the day — and Partner Day was almost unknown nationwide.

Mieko Baba, head of the gender-equality section of the municipal government, said, “After all, ‘goods’ appear to be more important. Merchants do not jump at the day.”

But the Japan Anniversary Association’s Kase said, “The idea is good. The day will become popular if we tackle various things on the commemorative day.”

In South Korea, April 14 is Black Day on which men and women, with no relation to St Valentine’s Day or White Day, wear dark clothes and eat noodles covered in a dark sauce.

© 2006 Kyodo News. All rights reserved. No reproduction or republication without written permission.

Orange Day will probably be somewhat successful.  But ‘Partner Day’, a day devoted to gender equality?  Maybe that is a bit ahead of its time…