Japanese Mortified By Obama's Bow

Maybe his depth perception is off a little? The people he is bowing to, look like midgets next to him! I am wondering if his back was sore after that?

As another person mentioned, at least Obama did not puke on the Japanese Prime Minister!

Entertaining American presidents must be like a night out at the comedy club for the Japanese people!

Originally posted by buddhasystem
I'm really wondering where the schmucks were when President Obama was wearing a yarmulke when visiting holy Jewish places. I think that was indeed a sign a weakness. Or was it? Why does the American President have to cover his head at all? Do you say "cultural sensitivity"? Why does it only work for Jews and not for the Japanese?




[edit on 17-11-2009 by buddhasystem]

This. Funny how the media blow things out of proportion sometimes

Obviously they couldn't do it when he went to Israel because then it would sound as if they were against Jews...and we all know that the slightest criticism against Jews makes you a Nazi

I really don't think the whole bowing or kissing is a big deal...

Also, it's still better than what might happen if Palin decides to run for president and wins. I bet she couldn't even pinpoint Japapan on a map.

[edit on 17-11-2009 by MrXYZ]

Originally posted by FlySolo
Ahh its no big deal to the Japanese. They will just smile politely and then laugh behind his back saying "baka gaijin....cho omoshiroi"

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the did lol!

Obama-wa, Baka gaijin da yo!

reply to post by MrXYZ

I bet she couldn't even pinpoint Japan on a map.

Thank you for helping me end my morning laughing. No matter how much I hate on Obama sometimes, I just have to hate on Palin more.

Regardless of the party & leader (Bush, Nixon, Clinton, Carter etc.) No American should bow before a monarch (or any foreign leader for that matter).

I think sometimes we forget what our ancestors fought and died for. Would George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, etc. bow before King George? No they told him to stuff it.

Although bowing can be a sign of humility and gratitude, when one does before any type of leader I think it is a sign of submission and inequality. If our leaders truly believe we are created equal then they should bow to no one.

reply to post by andrewh7

Why do you ask her to make up her mind? You don't care what her answer is because you intend to frame it negatively.

Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion.
I could care less what the response is, as long as it's consistent. It doesn't read consistent when one writes "f*ck the Japanese culture" in the same frame as "bowing is respectful"

You neocons

Who, me?
Far, far from it.

manufacture a false controversy and claim it came from the Japanese. This never happened - the Japanese who did report on it were reporting on the absurd response of America's right wing media.

Great. Glad to hear that it wasn't a cultural flub and the Japanese population isn't hung up on it. Neither am I and never said I was.
I did say the Pres. should be aware of cultural norms.

Let me save you some time, and tell you what your responses will be:

Looking forward to it...

If your opponent states that the bow is simply a sign of respect that should not be given all this scrutiny, you're going to say that we are denigrating Japanese culture.

No, what I said was the Pres. should be versed on cultural norms.

If your opponent emphasizes the importance of the bow in terms of showing respect, you're going to say that the President should not have bowed because it shows weakness.

See above

So, there is nothing Obama can do that won't be met with more "townhall" rhetoric.

That's probably true in the same way that it was also true for Bush.
Such is the case for the Pres. and comes with the job. They seem to be aware of this, why aren't you?

Neocons are a joke and your deductive reasoning skills are no better than a fifth grader's.

Can't speak to this, as I've stated above, I'm not one.

Oops - now you're going to say that I hate kids!

I hope you don't hate kids.
I think they are great.



[edit on 17-11-2009 by LadySkadi]

reply to post by SLAYER69


I for one dont see anything wrong with President Obama showing respect to one of our allies. So he bowed, big flippin deal. It seems that no matter what President Obama does there will always be folks trying to shoot his actions down.

lol who cares
i want me 20 seconds back, nice slideshow though.

Personally, I couldnt care less...

But I do know that since Japan elected a new Party into power, the first for 50 years, a few months ago, the US / Japan relationship has changed, and not in US favour...

Japan, formally subservient to the US, is becoming more assertive towards the States, choosing to rather build stronger ties with Asia rather than America.

From next year, Japan will no longer be refueling warships in the Indian Ocean as part of Japans support for the US led war in Afghanistan...

Also, four DPJ members from Okinawa won parliamentary seats with promises of reducing the US troop presence on the island of Okinawa...something America does not want...

Earlier this month the State Dept. warned that Japan should decide before Obama got there what it had chosen to do with the US troops stationed on the island...
In his response, the PM Yukio Hatoyama said he would not be hurried into a decision and he did not believe he should make his decision before Obama arrived....

You see it seems the Japs dont want you there any more and are making noises to that effect....

Maybe Obama was sucking up because he had no choice.....superpower or not!!

Slowly but surely the US's influence on the world is slipping.....Phew!!



edit:

Oh erasurehead, sorry mate, let me be clearer, to avoid your obvious confusion...

I AM SAYING YOU AND YOUR TYPE ARE SHALLOW....OK??

And that I say to you with a straight back, head held high, looking you in the eye...no bow from me....you dont deserve my respect given your perspective.

Mine was a very small post of a few lines...you amaze me that you didnt understand my point.....clearly some of americas people do not have the same superpower status afforded to its country....geezzz!!

[edit on 17-11-2009 by benoni]

[edit on 17-11-2009 by benoni]

[edit on 17-11-2009 by slatsmandu]

reply to post by chuckk




I tried to laugh at that, but it seriously lacks taste.

If you want you should look through some Chinese news. What they are saying is not too far from what you said.

This perfectly articulates just how incompetent Obama really is on foreign matters. He goes soft on Russia and drops the missile defense, and now this. People character assassinated Palin over her foreign policy experience, but something tells me she wouldn't make such a ridiculous display to a head of state.

Pitiful and disgusting, terrorists might as well use this as propaganda to recruit more killers. Yeah I bet they're happy with softy Obama in office.

reply to post by tamusan

SLAM DUNK. oooOOOhhh. well ya know, you sometimes have to try to understand people mentality, even if it seems to come from the trailer park. They're people too

yes i know it doesn't really matter if president Obama bows down to Japans head, but that's only in our perception what do you think the Japanese people think? I believe it would be along the lines of "Ha look the US president is bowing down to our president"

If you guys didn't know that when a person who has respectable power and extreme influence over other people like the president of the U.S.A. they also deal with a lot of gestures and ways of communicating indirectly. like when Dwight D. Eisenhower, sat in the middle of the two allied commanders, this signifies the importance of that character it makes Eisenhower superior to the others. Even a simple pat on the back could mean something, and Obama generously bowed down... Personally I don't want the person who represent my country seem inferior, and this action IMO makes him seem just that.

reply to post by itguysrule


EXACTLY!!!! thank you for being the voice of reason.
People don't seem to understand its a big deal due to the shallow depths of their understanding of Japanese culture.
These people used to disembowel themselves for honour crimes.
No one made them do it.
let that sink in for a minute.
think about the conviction of that man who would kill himself in such a way & for such reasons.

itguysrule, is it also because he did not maintain eye contact?

When I studied Shotokan karate (what a waste of time/money, should've been doing Akido) We were taught that to bow low to your sensei is not ever a sign of submission, always of respect, as so long as you remember to maintain eye contact no matter what.

The Idea goes, that everyones a potential adversary, so if you are to bow your head to the enemy, and you aren't paying attention to what they're doing, if they choose to lop off your head with a katana, then thats your own fault.

If myself, an australian english speaking high school drop out who studied karate for less than a year & watches too much anime, IF I can know this stuff, then yes, as itguysrule said, Obama SHOULD have known what to do.

Makes me wonder if the power has shifted behind the scenes?

B.Fulford Is being protected by a Japanese SS atm, and these SS's are in a 'war' of sorts with the masons/bankers & others.

Nothing against the decent people in the free mason society, thank you for building creepy tombs everywhere ;P

-B.M

well one Japanese newspaper surely is a critical mass. wtf?
surely just more BS from the Bush apologists.

Hey here's a conspiracy for you - if your giggling idiot of an inbred scion of the Bush family didn't screw up our country so bad we wouldn't be reading this poor excuse for a political hit job. Nice try.

First of all, a lot of people seem to be in a time warp, confusing this modern-day wreck of a country with the late-great U.S. of A. Big mistake. America has changed dramatically over the years. Sure, we've still got the biggest baddest military on the planet, but look around: it's cost us just about everything else. And things are hardly looking up!

Analyzing Obama's bow is just another piece of media tripe to be thrown onto the dunghill of public opinion. Doesn't anyone remember Bush 41 vomiting on the Japanese prime minister? Talk about being a hard act to follow.

Now I speculate that Obama was at least tempted to ask the Japanese emperor to pull his finger, but then he must have thought about the 3/4 of a trillion dollars that we now owe Japan. And when you realize that about $1500 to $2000 per person of debt for each person in the U.S. is carried by Japan, well it gives one pause. Maybe we should all be bowing to the Japanese emperor. Why is this idea any more repugnant than the U.S. taking into all of this foreign debt in the first place?!

They should just feel lucky that we didn't nuke them again and we're protecting them from the Chinese.

Originally posted by mrsoul2009
well one Japanese newspaper surely is a critical mass. wtf?
surely just more BS from the Bush apologists.

Sounds like you're being an Obama apologist.

The pot and kettle are typically the same color.