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When wishing a woman a happy White Day, would I say ハッピーホワイトデー, or ホワイトデーおめでとう, or are both ok? If both forms are used, do they have a slightly different nuance, such as "have fun on White Day today [said to a platonic friend]" versus "I in particular am wishing you a happy White Day [said to someone special]"?

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    It's not really something you wish to someone actually.
    – oldergod
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 13:01
  • Is there such word as White Day? I thought that ホワイトデー was a wasei-eigo.
    – user458
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 13:47
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    @sawa: Although ホワイトデー is a wasei-eigo, it is usually translated as White Day in English. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Day
    – Tsuyoshi Ito
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 13:50
  • @Downvoter: I tried googling before asking my question, and got many hits for both forms, and didn't come across anything saying that people don't greet each other that way. Is there any other form of research I should have done before asking my question?
    – Golden Cuy
    Commented Mar 14, 2012 at 0:49

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I agree to the comments by oldergod and sawa: we do not usually greet in a special way on White Day (or on Valentine’s Day for that matter).

Although I think that it is uncommon, some people say ハッピーホワイトデー and (even rarer) ホワイトデーおめでとう.

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＞would I say ハッピーホワイトデー, or ホワイトデーおめでとう
Probably you could say the former but I don't think I've ever heard or seen the latter.

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    @AndewGrimm ホワイトデー is nothing that needs to be greeted in the first place, and so both expressions are bad expressions, but I agree with Chocolate that if you were to choose from either, ハッピーホワイトデー is less worse because ハッピー can be used to greet a holiday whereas おめでとう is greeting someone for the good achievement or good luck, and ホワイトデー has nothing to do with that.
    – user458
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 13:40
  • @sawa so the expression for the new year is more "good luck for the new year" rather than "happy new year"?
    – Golden Cuy
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 21:43
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    @AndrewGrimm I think you took it slightly wrong. 明けましておめでとうございます does not mean (I wish you a) good luck for the new year, but it means (it is) good luck (for you) that you are able to face a new year, (and hence become a year older), or merry good year.
    – user458
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 22:04

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