Valentine’s Day is a well-known holiday in many countries. In Japan, it’s celebrated a little__ 41__ from elsewhere, though. It’s not a day when men buy their loved ones chocolate and flowers and take them out to dinner. __42__ , it’s a day when women are expected to buy chocolate for their male colleagues as well as their boyfriends or husbands. Chocolate for male workers, called giri choco, or “obligation chocolate,” is not a practice__ 43__ every Japanese woman is fond, however. Many think it’s unfair and expensive. The practice started in 1958, created by a company trying to sell more of their sweets and chocolate. The company was very successful in this marketing scheme. Today, 25% of all the chocolate sold in Japan is purchased around Valentine’s Day. In 2019, though, many Japanese women said they’d __44__ giri choco. A majority of Japanese women said that they __45__ purchase the sweet stuff for themselves on Valentine’s Day.

       Anton has jumped right to the top of the ridiculous lawsuit rankings with his legal action. The one that started it all was Stella Liebeck’s lawsuit against McDonald’s. She accidentally spilled a cup of coffee in her lap, and suffered third-degree burns. She ended up being awarded around US$500,000. Another amusing lawsuit is the case brought against the Warner Bros.studio by the mayor of a Turkish city called Batman. The mayor said there is only one Batman in the world, and it’s his city. Warner Bros., of course, owns the rights to the popular Batman movies that star Christian Bale. There is one more to marvel at. In 2004, a woman decided to sue a shopping center because she was attacked by a squirrel in the parking lot outside. According to the woman, the shopping center encouraged the squirrel and didn’t warn customers properly that “squirrels live outside sometimes.” 

      Crazy lawsuits such as these are both funny and sad. As for Anton Purisima’s case, even if he wins, all one can say is good luck for collecting.