How low will he go? Obama gives Japan's Emperor Akihito a wow bow

Los Angeles Times ^ | Novembe 14, 2009 | Andrew Malcolm

[libstripper]

How low will the new American president go for the world's royalty?

This photo will get Democrat President Obama a lot of approving nods in Japan this weekend, especially among the older generation of Japanese who still pay attention to the royal family living in its downtown castle. Very low bows like this are a sign of great respect and deference for a superior.

To some in the United States, however, an upright handshake might have looked better. Remember Michelle Obama casually patting Britain's Queen Elizabeth on the back during their Buckingham Palace visit? America's royalty tends to make movies and get bad reviews and lots of money as a sign of respect.

[libstripper]

The absolute disgrace continues and gets even worse. This individual is pure evil.

[jimbo123]

[Edgar3]

Did he give him an iPod too?

[LibWhacker]

You can take the boy out of slavery but you can’t take the Uncle Tom out of the boy.

[svcw]

no, he didn't bow. Remember he is sooooo tall and all the other world leaders are sooooooo short he has to shake hands like this to be face to face.
/s/
Disgrace, vile, evil, narcissistic, pychcopath - those are good words to describe this lunatic.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

I have never seen another Pres do that.

[Hot Tabasco]

“I found a penny...”

[rawhide]

I do not have a problem with this. To me it is showing a sign of honor and respect.

[Bulldawg Fan]

An American President bowing to the Japanese Emperor. I bet Roosevelt, Truman, McArthur and a million dead American veterans are rolling in their graves.

[kjo]

Truth is...culturally speaking, this guy is not an American...he's a fish out of water. Maybe, born in Hawaii, brought up as a Muslim, living a good part of the time abroad he has few culturally learned instincts. As a young man, a student of Marxists...he does not really know our economic system. He constantly misinterprets cultural clues.

[Former Proud Canadian]

He bows to “royalty”. Wow, I have never seen a US president do that. I thought the revolution was about getting rid of royalty and making everyone equal under the law to pursue their own happiness. Oh, well, so much for old, stale ideas.

[Mac from Cleveland]

Akihito’s saying “Where’s the martini I ordered?”

[WaterBoard]

1) You don't bow and shake hands at the same time according to Japanese tradition.

2) You give a slight bow and both parties do so as a sign of respect.

3) Obama is bowing from the waist in subservient manner.

[Nakota]

I am glad my father didn’t live to see this. He spent over 3 years fighting the Japanese.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

Truman should have hung Hirohito!

[Cailleach]

“To me it is showing a sign of honor and respect.”

And superiority... he just said, without speaking a word, that Japan is superior to the USA.

[libstripper]

A proper handshake is all the respect an American President needs to show or should show to any foreign head of state. Bowing should be reserved for the Judeao-Chirstian God, not that vile fabrication, Allah.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

I do. In the Japanese culture how each person bows when meeting is important. Men of equal rank exchange equal bows. In this case, one is an actual head of State while the other is the figure head of State, but close enough that they are kind of equals.

But the bow that Obama gives is, again, a subservient bow. It lowers the U.S. to being beneath Japan.

It is a very big diplomatic problem.

[IbJensen]

This communist-muslim actor is such an ass!

[Bringbackthedraft]

Customary greeting in Japan, like shaking hands,I don’t see it as anything outrages.