Office Ladies Bitter About Keeping Bosses Sweet

When Japanese "office ladies" give their male colleagues Valentine's chocolates today, most will do so not out of love or even affection, but through gritted teeth.

In a survey by iBridge, an internet content provider based in Osaka, 70% of female office workers in their 20s and 30s would be happy to see an end to the singularly Japanese custom of giving "giri choco" - literally, obligation chocolates - to their male superiors on Valentine's Day.

Men are supposed to reciprocate a month later on White Day, an event dreamed up by chocolate makers in the early 80s to boost sales.

Both days have become an exercise in not causing offence. The survey found that 46% of women start thinking about what to buy, and for whom, several days in advance, while almost a quarter start planning more than a week before the big day.

Giving chocolate as Valentine's Day gifts took off commercially in Japan in the mid-1950s and has since grown into a market worth ¥50bn (£240m) a year, providing some manufacturers with up to 30% of their annual sales in just a few days.

But not all treats will find their way on to bosses' desks. Instead, industry watchers say, many women who buy them have a special someone in mind: themselves.