I'm Korean. The etiquette of bowing is all the same though. I've seen plenty of elders bow in greeting to one another. Never have I seen anyone bow like Obama did. It's just completely the wrong thing to do. It's like a goofy white dude trying to fist bump with black guy and completely screwing it up.
What if the Japanese Emperor didn't shake The President's hand? It's a greeting you ****tards! bow=handshake. Don't ya got no hometrainin' !?!
Good grief, vlaurelio. But you did make me laugh when I thought of you in this quote: "Silly caucasian girl likes to play with samurai swords."
I just heard Norm Coleman bring up the bow as a threat to American democracy in a speech at all place's Harvard University. He must be planning on going for the Michelle Bachman vote if he runs for governor.
okay even Japanese emperor himself has bowed almost as low Obama and many other Japanese even lower :grin:
Yes, but those are not 1-to-1 face-to-face greetings. Different scenario. If you find a 1-on-1 picture showing the same deep bow, I'll STFU. :grin: BTW, my knowledge of bowing is by no means textbook (and I don't think yours is either). We really need a Japanese etiquette expert to set the record straight.
Fair enough I'll keep on googlin' :grin: just like you said it's just a bow I just hate it when people start analyzing it and making assumptions on how the Japanese people feel embarassed about it and how Obama looks weak like they're an expert on Japanese culture/etiquette
You talking out of your azz because you don't know me or my relatives in Japan. You insist on judging people by what you think is right. That is going to come back and bite you one day.
I'm not an expert but in Judo bowing ettiquette is important and I've seen people get tossed from matches for not bowing properly. I'm not surprised that there are pictures of Japanese, including the Emperor, bowing low but a lot of that depends on context and posture. Players will bow much lower to a coach as a sign of respect, and inferiority, to the coach, while even the Emperor might bow low as a sign of respect at shrine. A head of state doesn't need to but at the same time his form looks poor not just because it is a low bow but it looks like he is about to topple over. None of this should be a big deal. You bow to the Emperor of Japan because that is proper ettiquette just like you bow to the Queen of England. As I said earlier this is about as bad a faux pas as having a weak handshake or grasping the fingers instead of the palm in a handshake.