it is indeed true that valentines day was made by gift card, flower, and chocolate companies. but i think that the spirit of the holiday is true. exchanging gifts is not a bad thing, in fact it shows that they are friendly. when one is buying a gift the one has to keep in mind of who is receiving the gift.

valentines day in america their is no grounded rules of exchanging gifts so if any one were to give a gift to friend on valentines day their is a high chance that the action is misinterpreted and ruin the relationship. and if the action is interpreted correctly others who would look in on the action misinterpret it and spread rumors thus threatening the relationship.

then their is the act of responding after the gift is given. in america responding to gift being given is vary vage. no one knows how to respond in a way that would not hurt the others emotions. and some times their is no response at all.

in conclusion the comparison of a culture with ground rules of valentines day to a culture with no ground rules is like comparing apples to oranges. but if i had to choose between the two i would choose japan over america. at least in japan one can get the full idea of how to communicate with gifts in this matter.