I think what Steve wants to see is Obama one up what Bush I did back in 1992 to the Prime Minister and see Obama puke on the Emporer. That would have been real classy.
Facepalm times ten, Steve. Think how positively this reflects on us with the Japanese people! This is good PR from their perspective. Showing respect and humbling yourself is not seen as a sign of weakness, but as a sign of a cultured and well mannered individual. Sure, in body language in the Japanese culture he is giving a ritual gesture of "I'm deeply honored to great my betters," but that does not mean that people will automatically assume that the emperor of Japan is his boss. They will assume merely that he is a polite leader who has respect for their culture and heritage, embodied their emperor. By bowing like this he is sending the message of "I respect Japan," rather than "whatever, Japan."
It's the same thing as when I give my Japanese friend a gift and say "It's only a boring little thing." They don't think that it really is boring, but merely that I am using humble speech as is good manners.
Facepalm times ten, Steve. Think how positively this reflects on us with the Japanese people! This is good PR from their perspective. Showing respect and humbling yourself is not seen as a sign of weakness, but as a sign of a cultured and well mannered individual.
Why then is Obama also engaged in a handshake? Isn't it taboo to mix a bow with a handshake regards the emperor? Why is the emperor smiling nervously as if he is trying to ignore a great embarrassment?
1. Stand straight with your feet together forming a V with your heels. Your hands should be clenched at your sides. 2. Bend at the waist, keeping your back straight. As you lower open your hands and bring your feet together. 3. if you are bowing to someone who is your elder or who you give respect to bow looking down, other wise look them straight in the eye (look up). 4. Than straighten up and close your hands and split your feet back into the V.
Note that step 3 is to bow looking down. Obama is significantly younger then the other people you have shown, I bet his cultural officer decided that he should give the proper respect for the age difference. Why don't you look these things up.
Taboo? Where did that come from? Isn't the bow-handshake combo a way of each culture acknowledging and respecting the other?
I googled "handshake while bowing Japanese taboo" to make sure. Many results came up describing this combo as customary, particularly with American-Japanese interaction. It is a show of mutual cultural respect. That is not what came up as taboo. Although, apparently doing this with the other hand in your pocket is taboo. Obama doesn't have his hand in his pocket.
Regardless of all that, why does it matter to you so much?
Er. Did you even read the source you linked to? They note that, while this looks odd to Americans, Japanese people, particularly elders, will love this. This is one of those things I would expect my grandma to whine about because someone on Fox News also whined about it.
Fucking hell, Obama is huge. He's bowing almost at right angles and he's only just shorter. If he was in England, he would probably also bow to the Queen and if the Queen went to America, she wouldn't expect anyone to bow to her. When in Rome..
Fucking hell, Obama is huge. He's bowing almost at right angles and he's only just shorter. If he was in England, he would probably also bow to the Queen and if the Queen went to America, she wouldn't expect anyone to bow to her. When in Rome..
Nope, he already visited the Queen of England and got many people extremely upset over his and Michelle's actions in that encounter.
Nope, he already visited the Queen of England and got many people readers of The Daily Mail extremely upset over his and Michelle's actions in that encounter.
Added some extra context.
Anyway, I'm not that concerned about trivial gestures. Usually taking the time to visit people is more important than whether or not you wipe your feet when you come in.
Now here's a thought for everyone. In any given diplomatic trip, there is probably at least one event the media could glomp onto as being disrespectful to party A and another that could be focused on as disrespectful to party B. Such is the folly of worrying about such small incidents.
I heard that Obama once offended a restaurant owner by putting hot sauce on her prized chili, because he likes hot sauce on everything. I mean, where will this offensive rampage finally end?
Can we get an "I am Grasper -- Please do not offer me straws" banner for Steve?
And here I thought the thread had descended into playful humor?
For those who appear to be ignorant of the rules of playful humor when one drops a line such as "Obama respirates oxygen! Methane breathers outraged!" without including some sort of image of the methane breathers in question it is only to be expected that someone would call out the person making such a statement as a methane breather. For it is quite clear that by not showing what methane breather is outraged the obvious methane breather must be the one leaving such a comment as no other example is given.
Comments
Does this man not know that he is the President of the USA???
link
Steve, seriously? /facepalm
It's the same thing as when I give my Japanese friend a gift and say "It's only a boring little thing." They don't think that it really is boring, but merely that I am using humble speech as is good manners.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
King of Morocco
Dick Cheney
Prime Minister Slovenia
President South Korea
President Kazakhstan
Prime Minister India
Vladimir Putin
President Obama...
1. Stand straight with your feet together forming a V with your heels. Your hands should be clenched at your sides.
2. Bend at the waist, keeping your back straight. As you lower open your hands and bring your feet together.
3. if you are bowing to someone who is your elder or who you give respect to bow looking down, other wise look them straight in the eye (look up).
4. Than straighten up and close your hands and split your feet back into the V.
Note that step 3 is to bow looking down. Obama is significantly younger then the other people you have shown, I bet his cultural officer decided that he should give the proper respect for the age difference. Why don't you look these things up.
Isn't the bow-handshake combo a way of each culture acknowledging and respecting the other?
I googled "handshake while bowing Japanese taboo" to make sure. Many results came up describing this combo as customary, particularly with American-Japanese interaction. It is a show of mutual cultural respect. That is not what came up as taboo. Although, apparently doing this with the other hand in your pocket is taboo. Obama doesn't have his hand in his pocket.
Regardless of all that, why does it matter to you so much?
If he was in England, he would probably also bow to the Queen and if the Queen went to America, she wouldn't expect anyone to bow to her. When in Rome..
Anyway, I'm not that concerned about trivial gestures. Usually taking the time to visit people is more important than whether or not you wipe your feet when you come in.
Now here's a thought for everyone. In any given diplomatic trip, there is probably at least one event the media could glomp onto as being disrespectful to party A and another that could be focused on as disrespectful to party B. Such is the folly of worrying about such small incidents.
For those who appear to be ignorant of the rules of playful humor when one drops a line such as "Obama respirates oxygen! Methane breathers outraged!" without including some sort of image of the methane breathers in question it is only to be expected that someone would call out the person making such a statement as a methane breather. For it is quite clear that by not showing what methane breather is outraged the obvious methane breather must be the one leaving such a comment as no other example is given.