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| ‘Obama’s bow appropriate show of respect’ |
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Wednesday, November 18, 2009
TOKYO: President Barack Obama’s deep bow to Japan’s emperor has been castigated by US critics as kowtowing to a foreign leader, but experts in Japanese etiquette praised it as an appropriate show of respect.
Visiting Tokyo last week at the start of his first presidential tour of Asia, Obama bowed down almost at a right angle as he shook hands with Emperor Akihito, the son of Japan’s wartime Emperor Hirohito.
The gesture went largely unnoticed in Japan but has sparked intense debate in the United States about whether Obama had disgraced his country by showing excessive deference. Experts in Japanese etiquette think not.
“Bowing is an expression of respect and open-mindedness as a person greets someone,” said Reiko Kasai, chief instructor at JAL Academy, an intercultural training school.
“It is part of a greeting with which one shows his or her willingness for the meeting,” she said, adding that given his height, Obama may have chosen to bow so low to make eye contact with the emperor.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
