St. Valentine's Day is a key occasion for confectioners as consumers snap up an estimated 50 billion yen worth of sweets to give to friends and loved ones on Feb. 14.
But the country's large-scale chocolatiers are feeling a crunch as more and more fancy chocolate boutiques sprout up in major cities and take a bite out of the market.
Last week, workers at Le Chocolatier Takagi in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward were in a last-minute frenzy preparing 150,000 fancy chocolates for sale in their shop, which can only hold three customers at a time. The shop expects 300 visitors a day this week.