Enjoy your night alone, and also some sweets.

Much to the chagrin of premium chocolatiers Godiva, the giving of giri choco, or “obligation chocolate,” continues to be a common custom in Japan. In Japan, women give gifts of sweets to men on Valentine’s Day, and not just guys they have romantic feelings for. Classmates, coworkers, and other men with whom women have platonic relationships also get a modest present of obligation chocolate as an all-purpose thank-you for the help and/or friendship they’ve given the women over the course of the year.

However, obligation chocolate can sometimes entail a tricky balancing act. No one wants to look stingy, but chocolate that’s too grandiose can have the guy thinking the girl is coyly expressing her desire for a relationship that goes deeper than just friendship. One way to ensure that a guy knows you’re not coming on to him would be to give him chocolate from a brand that proudly wears its giri choco stigma on its sleeve, but another would be to imply that he’s going to be spending his nights alone by giving him chocolate from masturbatory aid manufacturer Tenga.

Yes, Tenga, Japan’s premier maker of reusable self-pleasuring devices for men, has begun taking offers for what it calls the Tenga Sweet Love Cup. The festively decorated items have the same contours and exterior dimensions as the company’s signature product, but in unique colors and with illustrated ribbons to further denote their present-worthy status.

However, these containers aren’t for making deposits into, but withdrawals from. While they might, at first glance, look just like Tenga’s man-juice receptacles, they’re actually pre-filled with individually wrapped chocolates, in the purchaser’s choice of milk, white, or strawberry chocolate flavors.

Each Tenga Sweet Love Cup is priced at 540 yen (US$4.80) and contains 12 pieces. However, perhaps being aware that the company largely owes its existence to mens’ inability to restrain their indulgent impulses, Tenga is also offering multi-flavor bundle packs. The Tower Mini, consisting of 30 Sweet Love Cups, is already an impressive 63 centimeters (24.8 inches) in height and priced at 16,200 yen. Stimulating Tenga’s order system more vigorously with 50,000 yen grows the spire to 100 units and 95 centimeters, and if you’re willing to blow a wad of 150,000 yen, Tenga will erect a 300 Sweet Love Cup-strong shaft of 140 centimeters.

▼ Aside from providing different total amounts of chocolate, each has a slightly different length/width ratio.

As for who the target market for the towers is supposed to be, Tenga says they’re perfect for people wanting to share interesting photos on social media, as well as those looking to decorate a place of business or party venue (though we imagine they’d be more appropriate for certain industries/social gatherings than others). And in any case, having that much chocolate on hand should keep the recipient fully snack-supplied until Tenga launches whatever crazy summer promotion they’ve got planned.

Tenga hasn’t said whether or not they’ll be producing any similar sweets for White Day (March 14), when men give return gifts to women who gave them Valentine’s Day chocolate, though their zen-inspired products for women seem like they’d be ideal candidates. What the company has made clear, however, is that though the Sweet Love Cups may look like Tenga’s male masturbatory aids, they are not. “Sweet Love Cups are not to be used as Tengas,” reads the company’s rock-hard prohibition on the chocolates’ order page, and this a case where we’d definitely recommend following the fine print.

Source: Tenga via IT Media
Images: Tenga

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he’s kind of surprised there’s no matcha-flavored Sweet Love Cup.