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Complete Idiots Guide To Bowing in Japan: Special Copy For the White House (My Translation)
Dictionary of ABCs of Japanese Culture (in Japanese language) ^ | 16 November 2009 | AmericanInTokyo

Posted on 11/16/2009 2:04:04 AM PST by AmericanInTokyo

While the book of that precise title has yet to be written (and might be a good book albeit a rather short book), the poor, bumbling White House only need to look at the following online information in order to be corrected once and for all and to also appreciate just what and what is not done in Japan, as they may continue to presumptuously assert that the "first Asia-Pacific President" schooled in these cultures was somehow being polite and sticking to protocol with the Emperor of Japan.

Here, we will be kind enough to translate it for them--spinning, apologetic, damage-control libs in the USA might also want to keep this advice straight out of Japan directly from the Japanese in mind before they sound off on topics they know little or nothing about.

It is currently located of all places as a link, temporarily up, on the Yahoo! Japan news page, below one of the top breaking stories on Obama's Tokyo "bowshake" (sic) with the Emperor.

The authoritative source which Yahoo! Japan uses is "The Dictionary of the ABCs of Japanese Culture" ("Nihon Bunka iroha jiten")[日本文化いろは事典 ], in Japanese. You cannot perhaps get a better authority on the matter than this. Even liberal professors of Japanese Culture in the US who may have donated to Obama and are now called upon to back them up in the midst of this cultural, international faux pas, may have this book on their shelves or resource on their laptops. By the way, did the US State Department or US Embassy in Tokyo have access to this material? That would have been nice.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Japan; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bow; japan; obama; obowma
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To: AmericanInTokyo
Photobucket
41 posted on 11/16/2009 7:12:22 AM PST by RetSignman (Townhalls ..."We have seen the Patriots and they are us")
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To: AmericanInTokyo
Lots of fond memories there. You might get a chuckle out of this "hen-na-gaijin" site.

FWIW, I got the "Nihongo ga o-jouzu desu ne?" comment quite often -- probably because I spent hours listening to Japanese radio at work -- and because I'm a natural mimic...

One of my favorite stunts (when traveling in Japan with a group of "typical" noisy Americans) was to separate myself and act as if I had nothing to do with them, then sidle up to a Nihonjin who looked offended, do the suck-through-your-teeth "hiss", look askance at the Americans, and whisper, "Hen-na-gaijin desu, ne?". I can't count the times that it completely cracked one of them up -- because that is exactly what they were thinking... and were surprised at hearing it come from a gaijin ;-)

Thanks for the link!

42 posted on 11/16/2009 7:22:20 AM PST by TXnMA ("Allah": Satan's current alias...!!)
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To: AmericanInTokyo

43 posted on 11/16/2009 7:32:47 AM PST by paulycy (Demand Constitutionality.)
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To: BykrBayb
Well there you have it. Too bad the president doesn’t have anyone to advise him on matters of protocol. Maybe he’ll initiate such a position, and become The First Protocol President, Deluxe.

He already has such a position, and such an advisor - the State Department's Chief of Protocol.

Obama's trouble, though, is that the person he appointed to that position back in May is a 17-year Clinton insider, who served as the Social Secretary of the Clinton White House for a full eight years, after working closely with Hillary during the 1992 campaign.

Is Obama Getting Punk'd by the Clinton Department of State?

"Oh yes, indeed, Mr. President, absolutely everyone bows to the emperor of Japan! Especially while shaking his hand at the same time! I promise, you'll look fabulously culturally adept!"

44 posted on 11/16/2009 8:08:35 AM PST by mvpel (Michael Pelletier)
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To: AmericanInTokyo

Thanks for the info;confirmed what I had thought I remembered about the etiquette of the bow. I too think he’s trying to cover up for the Saudi bow but I also think he’s so arrogant he wouldn’t ask for or listen to any info from the state department or the protocol people.


45 posted on 11/16/2009 8:17:23 AM PST by JoyjoyfromNJ (Psalm 121)
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To: mojitojoe

;-)

46 posted on 11/16/2009 8:19:33 AM PST by Condor51 (The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits)
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To: mvpel

Zero could have made a better choice for Protocol Czar. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087951


47 posted on 11/16/2009 8:20:31 AM PST by BykrBayb (Somewhere, my flower is there. ~ Þ)
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To: paulycy
Nice gif, but it stops short of reality. Could you please add the final frame?


48 posted on 11/16/2009 8:29:28 AM PST by BykrBayb (Somewhere, my flower is there. ~ Þ)
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To: Condor51

Feel free to seize. I do it all the time. :)


49 posted on 11/16/2009 9:03:34 AM PST by mojitojoe (“Medicine is the keystone of the arch of socialism.” - Vladimir Lenin)
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To: ricks_place

” When the actual photo is examined President Nixon and the Emperor are leaning in, probably to hear each other!”

And even if it was a bow it was mutual not the genuflection that Obama displayed.


50 posted on 11/16/2009 9:22:29 AM PST by Lurkina.n.Learnin (Waste and fraud are synonymous with gov't spending)
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To: maggief

I think Barry thinks that all these feet up pictures make him look relatable or something. I can’t imagine doing it out of comfort, because the implications of using White House furniture, which belongs to the American people and is mostly comprised of expensive antiques, as your personal footstool are highly problematic and unsettling.

Then again, I’m not surprised.

We’re dealing with Barry—the joint-passing, coke-snorting, baby-murderer.


51 posted on 11/16/2009 9:44:47 AM PST by Feline_AIDS (Boop boop hoop yeah!)
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To: BykrBayb

My developing theory. Obama wants the world to eventually bow to him—it’s part of the savior thing. So he’s doing it now, hoping to get people thinking about bowing again as a way of showing respect. Then, when he maneuvers his way into world power, which he believes he’s going to do, he will expect everyone to bow to him. Everything this man does suggests danger.


52 posted on 11/16/2009 10:02:46 AM PST by twigs
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To: twigs

You may be right. My theory is real simple. He bows to those he feels subservient to. He doesn’t show any respect at all to our closest allies, but he puts on the full “I’m not worthy” routine for anyone he perceives to be a potential threat to us.


53 posted on 11/16/2009 10:09:28 AM PST by BykrBayb (Somewhere, my flower is there. ~ Þ)
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To: BykrBayb

I don’t think he feels subservient to anyone. It’s all a show.


54 posted on 11/16/2009 10:16:25 AM PST by twigs
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To: AmericanInTokyo

Great post. You rule, AmericanInTokyo.


55 posted on 11/16/2009 11:34:35 AM PST by GOPJ (ObamaCare - slush fund scam that would make Bernie Madoff blush.)
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To: BykrBayb

Are Obama’s Protocol Czar and Michelle’s Fashion Czar related?


56 posted on 11/16/2009 11:44:07 AM PST by Fu-fu2
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To: Fu-fu2

I don’t know, but I kind of doubt it. It seems if they were, then when obama starts to bow real low to some foreign dictator, the protocol czar would get the fashion czar to tighten the boob belt and lift him back up.


57 posted on 11/16/2009 12:25:46 PM PST by BykrBayb (Somewhere, my flower is there. ~ Þ)
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To: GOPJ

thanks for the kind words. you and many others. i had to post and run yesterday. sorry. wanted to stick around on this fun thread earlier!!


58 posted on 11/16/2009 4:56:35 PM PST by AmericanInTokyo (Major Hasan: One American "clinging to guns and religion" Obama couldn't have cared less about!!)
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To: dennisw

thank you for those excellent points engendered in those fotos!


59 posted on 11/16/2009 5:11:31 PM PST by AmericanInTokyo (Major Hasan: One American "clinging to guns and religion" Obama couldn't have cared less about!!)
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To: dennisw
That is a national historic treasure which belongs to the American people. Yet for 0bama it exsists merely to put his feet on.
60 posted on 02/06/2010 8:35:13 PM PST by anglian
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