Last month president Barack Obama made a 9 day visit to Asia. On this trip, like most of his foreign policy, he was received well but didnt get much actually done. However, this is not what I would like to discuss. Or maybe it is, but only in relation to something else that happened. On his tour he made a stop in Japan. Unfortunately the discussion he had with the prime minister, Hatoyama, did not make big headlines in the U.S. What did make headlines is that he bowed to the emperor of Japan.
I first learned about this from a forum of JETs here in Japan. We all came to the same decision as to what the bow meant. I then heard a bunch about news stories in the US and when I was in Hawaii bought Time, 2 issues of Newsweek, and the Economist. All three magazines mentioned the trip and the bow. Time and Newsweek both mentioned that it was not received well by people in the US, but failed to go furthur. The Economist, however, commented not on the media attention it was getting exactly, but the bow itself and its impact in Japan. I think they hit it right on the head by saying, "There was all the customary talk-show outrage over what much of the rest of the world would view as a gesture of cultural courtesy".
The first thing that people in the US should realize is that they live in the US and while a bow may mean something to them it is entirely different here in Japan. The people of Japan did not see this as the president of the US losing face in front of the emperor, but gaining it. This bow wasn't meant for the people of the U.S. to analyze, it was meant for the Japanese people, in a Japanese context. In Japan bowing is respectful and those who dont are considered arrogant and rude.
For me, and I think much of the rest of the world, that bow was a symbol of respect that went a long way in restoring what was lost in the past 10 years. The world is expecting change from Obama and in matters of foreign diplomacy at least, it seems, that it is happening.
4 comments:
Being a part of the "rest of the world", we also regarded Obama´s bow as a gesture of cultural courtesy and we also agree with you Kevin that Obama was showing respect and "gained face" by doing so. Why do people always waste so much time discussing trivial matters just to critize the president?
what about the depth of the bow? Seems Obama's is a lot lower than the emperor? Does that mean anything?
Well... depth does mean something in a bow and he probably should not have gone so low, that bow is pretty deep. So yes, you could take that into consideration. Personally I don't think it matters though. As I see it, while Obama was probably coached on how to bow, he just went too deep. I know my first bows in Japan were too deep just because I wasnt sure how far was too far.
I read somewhere that it wasn't really a bow, as much as he was telling Fox news to kiss his ass. Lots of interesting insight Americans have into something as simple and symbolic as a bow. I am usual more of a head nodder than a waver, makes me wonder what that says about me?
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