Celebrating Valentine's Day as the Japanese Do

We decided we should celebrate Valentine’s day this year the traditional Japanese way. This means that the girl is in charge of the wining and dining. The girl is supposed to shower the guy with gifts, and take him on a nice date. Doesn’t sound quite as nice as the American Valentine’s day, but when in Rome! 

I put together a cute, I mean manly, Vday gift. I think Nathan was pretty excited to see some of his old favorites like Doritos and Corona. Bet you didn’t think you could find that in Japan! 

I read up on a restaurant on some of the blogs I follow about Osaka called Chibo. It is a famous Okinomiyaki restaurant, which has quickly become one of Nathan’s favorite foods. Okinomiyaki is an authentic Japanese dish that originated here in Osaka. It is a pancake thrown together will all kinds of meat, fish, vegetables, and sauces. Chibo was highly reviewed on all of the blogs, so I knew it would be the perfect place to surprise him with. Although, holding in where we were going and actually keeping it a surprise was the hardest part. 

Each table at Chibo is centered around a very hot hibachi-type grill. We weren’t entirely sure what we were in for, or whether or not we would be cooking our own dinner. 

We started out with some teppan-gyoza. An absolute must get for anyone who visits Chibo. Its extremely different from gyoza anywhere else we have been. It was a lot like eating nachos. So delicious. 

We ordered 3 okinomiyaki’s. Our waiter gave us a really shocked stare when we placed our order. He advised us that most couples share one because they are “large size.” But most couples are not me and Nathan. We stuck with 3. 

Good decision. 

Dinner was awesome! We will be returning to Chibo very shortly! We finished the night walking up and down the Dotonbori canal, jumping in and out of all the Japanese shops and restaurants. 

I kind of enjoyed being the guy/date planner this Valentine’s day. We might make this our annual tradition. On March 14th, however the guys are expected to repay the favor by buying gifts and taking the girl out for a nice date. It is known as White Day, and the phrase used on white day is sanbai gaeshi which means “triple the return.” The boys are expected to do something 3 times as nice as the girls do for them on Vday. Yeah, I think I could get used to that.