Obama gives a speech to an audience of Japanese VIP’s and dines with the Emperor
A short clip showing some highlights of what Barack Obama did in Japan yesterday:
In the late morning, President Obama gave a speech at the Suntory Hall in Tokyo. Beat Takeshi, Jero, the mayor of Nagasaki, the mayor of Obama city, and the families of the Japanese people abducted by North Korea were among the 1,500 guests invited to listen to the president speak. The part of his speech in which he mentioned the abductee issue received the greatest applause form the audience. (For more details, check out this article in the Telegraph.)
Afterwards, Obama had lunch with the Emperor and Empress. It was the first time an American President had dined with the imperial family since Clinton’s visit in 1998.
At around 2:30PM, Obama got on Air Force One to fly to the APEC meeting in Singapore.
Update: I Just noticed that the Drudge Report and some American bloggers are attempting to twist Obama’s polite greeting to the Emperor as a extraordinary display of an American president groveling before a foreign monarch:
“To those arguing that in Japan bowing is a friendly gesture akin to the holding of hands in Saudi Arabia: the Emperor did not return the bow. Also, if my memory serves me correctly, the Queen of England did not receive a bow. This President’s habitual bowing is a manifestation of his anti-Americanism. He bows to all things foreign to us.” -J.R., in a comment left on the LA Times Top of the Ticket blog
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Oh wow some people are just… wow.
From what I can tell, that old man gave a little bit of a nod in return which is pretty much a half-assed bow. If he tried what Oboma did his back would probably give out.
But even then, the accusations Obama is “groveling before a foreign monarch” is just silly.
It’s even more perverse when you ponder who Bush figuratively (and probably literally) bowed to while in office while screwing over America. Meanwhile Obama is simply being polite in a foreign country….
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Yes, I agree. His being polite is dearly costing us. With a high unemployment record, only 8% of Americans feel that now is a good time to find a job. Some areas in the US its around 50%. Obama is still dithering on Afghanistan, the cash for clunkers program and the wasteful stimulus package gave very, little results. Already Obama has spent more money over 1.8 trillion USD in 9 months than Bush did in 8 years and Bush was NOT fiscally Conservative.
Now he wants to spend even more money and even possibly put American lives in Jeopardy by trying the 9/11 suspects on US soil! Where will this madness end with this President.
All the while, going around the world being apologetic and bowing down to foreign leaders, polite or not. It’s really not the appropriate thing to do. This President needs to worry more about what is going on in the states and work on fixing problems at home, then he can worry about what the rest of the world thinks.
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“Yes, I agree. His being polite is dearly costing us.”
Do you? Because that, and the rest of your comment is the complete opposite of my position.
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I was merely just stating the facts. You were talking about GW Bush and what misery he brought throughout the world, but then again, Obama is bringing Joy to the world, but unhappiness and anxiety to the US.
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Your facts are out of context, at the least. Don’t get me started (and I won’t considering this isn’t the place for it).
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You can get started if you want, last I heard, it was a free world. My facts are not out of context, but as I can see by your answers your thinking clearly is out of context.
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Carlos, the bow and Obama’s fiscal policies have nothing to do with each other. You were obviously looking for a place to rant. Kudos to NPC for self-restraint.
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“…last I heard, it was a free world.”
You heard wrong. It isn’t.
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“George”, NPC did NOT show any restraint. WTH are you talking about. He gave his opinion and I gave mine. If you think I’m ranting because I am just stating my opinion, then you are a loon.
You see what you want to see. Obama’s policies have everything to do with it. But I guess, its Ok for you to rant in favor of the all-mighty anointed one, as long as we agree, right? Nice try.
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Yup, kudos to NPC for not letting himsel get trolled by “Carlos”.
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Carlos,
What does your perception of how Obama should behave in front of foreign heads of state have anything to do with the facts you ran off? Him either licking the boots of foreign leaders or giving them the finger should have just about zero relevance on the validity of his domestic fiscal policies.
Some the things you stated might be subject to debate in a discourse completely unrelated with Obama’s choice of manners in meeting the Japanese Emperor (as NPC has already said) … but the supposed danger of the 9/11 suspects on US soil is just ridiculous. Is their mere presence supposed to cloud the sky, wither the crops and spawn evil in the minds of the people of the land that they’re in? Or do you believe that they’re somehow super-villains and are just waiting to break free of their restraints and start toppling cities once they’ve been carried across the border?
Otherwise, it just sounds like an irrational and extreme case of hysteria-flavored NIMBY.
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“Rune” NPC didn’t get trolled by me, he got properly schooled, big difference. Wise up!
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You must live in a world very different from the rest of us Carlos. Buhbye.
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Yep, they call it, reality. Take care.
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Your reality is obviously deluded.
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…put American lives in Jeopardy by trying the 9/11 suspects on US soil!
Dont merely demonstrate that you are crazy. Take some time to walk us through your craziness so it will be better appreciated.
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Don’t need to, you are already doing that for me, by proving my point.
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The money Obama has spend and will continue to spend is what is needed to fix all the mistakes Bush made in his 8 years of presidency. SO Yes. It will cost a lot because BUSH, made A LOT OF MISTAKES.
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GEORGE BUSH IS RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING WRONG IN MY LIFE!
I didn’t know Bush and the Republicans were 100% solely responsible for the Wall street shenanigans that got us into this mess!
I’m sure the liberals will still be blaming Bush for their ineffectual policies even if he gets reelected, lol.
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Of course they will. They will blame Bush for the next 100 years. Liberals don’t have or know what accountability means, its much easier for them to blame someone else. If its Bush, its someone else. I just want nimrods like “lolfool and NPC” to answer me one question: Bush racked up a $480 trillion deficit That was bad, right?! But Obama spending 1.8 trillion+ is good? I can really clearly see that starting 2010 a lot of Dems will lose seats in Congress.
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lolfool: This may be what the Democrats are telling you but if you did your own research you would know that the financial crisis started mainly during the Clinton era and was back by a majority of Democrats and Republicans. The repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999 was one of the main contributing factors of the current financial crisis. I won’t argue that Bush made a lot of mistakes. But I’m pretty sure that regardless of what the current administration had inherited they would be spending like mad anyway. That’s what the Democratic party has always done. The problem now is people are letting them get away with it.
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Seriously, I don’t understand what the big deal is. If anything, he’s too polite. Instead of listening to his words, which are clearly well-measured and not in the least bit obsequious, these bloggers are making huge inferences from extremely small actions.
I note none of these people had any problem when our president was making a bumbling fool out of himself at every foreign function. I guess idiocy is a virtue and humbleness is a vice.
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I agree with you two, but again, this is Japan. You know, the country that lost to the U.S., the country that bombed Pearl Harbor, etc. etc. So there’s a lot more ammo here than when he did similar to the Saudi prince. The kind of things you’d hear if he visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The president is just being polite that is all. Far, far better than invading countries on false pretenses and creating untold misery throughout the world.
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“Misery throughout the world?” I guess so, if you want to view that from a very far-left San Francisco radical Liberal point of view.
But right now over the last 9 months with what the American people are going through would that be considered “Misery” also?
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Sure, it could be misery.
But I’m not sure how one could really say insecurity and uncertainty of finance is comparable with insecurity and uncertainty of life. As in occupying army, firefights and IEDs everywhere, etc. etc.
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Wow, just wow. The emperor should bow to Obama for the privilege of being under US military protection, allowing Japan to invest in economic growth what Japan would have needed to spend on defense spending.
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It’s well known in the US that the virtue of humility is a virtue of losers!
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C’mon, the guy didn’t simply bow. He almost licked the emperor’s shoes. Show some pride for christ’s sake.
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…and this is the part where it gets pointed out that the Drudge Report (generally) links to stories from other news outlets. In this case, it appears to be an article from the LA Times…so I’m not really certain how this qualifies as the “Drudge Report and American Bloggers.”
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It’s a link to a blog hosted on the LA Times website. It’s not a newspaper article. If you don’t believe other blogs are talking about it, I suggest you search Twitter or at least google blog search:
http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=obama+bowing&btnG=Search+Blogs
The American right wing blogosphere is all over this. I only posted about it because about 5 people in America send me messages telling me to post about the OMG OBAMA BOWING BEFORE THE JAPANESE EMPEROR incident.
Drudge isn’t a robot that picks up top news stories from other sites – it’s a hugely popular site that exposes hundreds of thousands of visitors to specially-picked links that are meant to advance a certain political agenda. One of America’s most popular news sites deliberately picked this story and put it front and center. I thought that was worth mentioning.
Hundreds of thousands of visitors? Drudge gets atleast 20 million hits a day.
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20 million? That’s really depressing ..
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It’s the conservative radicalization effect. This is my theory:
Conservatives on average have basically become quite radicalized. Starting with a theoretical “center, the median conservative is extremely far to the right. This has been accomplished by years of unapologetically biased, firebrand talk radio and recently by that bastion of evenhandedness, Fox News. Therefore, “middle-right” is almost a nonexistent category at this point. You can see evidence of this by how seldom there are disagreements within the Republican party. Typically, there’s just a contest about how can make the most bombastic hyperbole, who can shout the loudest of how proud they are to be a Christian, American, and so on…
The left, on the other hand, covers a wide range. There is still a “middle left.” E.g., there are many liberals who disfavor abortion rights, while it’s nearly impossible to find a conservative who favors abortion rights. Liberals have disagreements all the time, and for the most part it indicates they are healthy and non-radicalized, though of course some are inevitably radical.
The result is that you have a wide spread of viewers for liberal-leaning sites, since liberals will spread readership over many different perspectives. Though I believe there are more middle/liberals in American than conservatives, this creates skewed reader/viewership statistics. Fox News and Drudge get huge numbers, because the minority conservatives religiously visit the sites. More liberal sites may have only comparable or even worse numbers, despite in reality representing a larger portion of the populations’ viewpoints, because the audience is not radicalized and thus doesn’t zealously favor certain sites over others.
That’s my theory. I don’t consider myself a liberal. I criticize Obama on spending, etc. But I know one thing. Conservatives in this era have become batshit insane, and those Drudge numbers are evidence of that.
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George: I would say that on some levels what you say may have some truth. I agree that there is a very loud, somewhat crazy conservative right in the country. But in my opinion what happened was the liberals saw the success that conservatives where having and attributed it to things like nut jobs on talk radio. Since then there has been an equally loud and crazy amount of liberals out there. Believe me I have a few friends who are in the insane liberal camp. Liberals may not have the talk radio saturation that conservatives have but I’m fairly certain that mainstream media has been supportive of the liberal agenda since even before talk radio was a big thing. But there are plenty of liberal bloggers out there who will certainly try to spin any news story even further to the left.
I do have conservative friends as well and yes some of them are insanely conservative too. But most of my conservative friends are fairly centered just like most of my liberal friends. Honestly I think the biggest difference in most camps is in regards to economics. Maybe it’s just me but I actually think most conservatives (and liberals) are not crazy. It’s just that the people who are furthest left and furthest right are also the loudest.
The reason I am responding is because even though sites like drudge do post stories that favor the right, if you want to get a balanced picture of politics will need to look at various sources. Some stories that show up in drudge might be viable stories that will not get attention in mass media.
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I think you’re misinterpreting what I wrote…you seem to be implying that the Drudge Report is trying to “twist” the situation and I’m arguing that all it’s doing is directing people already predisposed to a certain way of thinking to an article on another site which appeals to that demographic – tailoring content for your customers is generally a good idea. Now, does that qualify as manipulating people? Possibly, but I’d argue no more so than Japan Probe selecting/linking to articles on OMG, KOREANS ARE KRAAAAZY (a sentiment I generally agree with) and leaving your readers to render their own conclusions. While I’ll readily agree that Drudge isn’t a robot (although he does have kind of a cool hat) and that the stories linked through the site are there to advance an agenda as well as to generate traffic, I’d question how that differs from CNN, Fox News or any other major U.S. news outlet (assuming that you believe Drudge to be a reliable source of news, which I personally don’t, or you believe that other major U.S. news outlets are unbiased in their presentation and selection of content.) Oh well, the wonderful thing about having your own site is the ability to post whatever you deem fit, so I appreciate you leaving my comment up and responding…that’s honestly one of the major reasons I frequent this site.
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In choosing that twisted bowing story as the front and center main topic, Drudge is, in my opinion, actively promoting that particularly interpretation of the news (which helps twist it).
Maybe so, but I don’t think I’d ever be so extreme as to promote the idea that bowing to a Japanese leader is an act of anti-Americanism.
Unlike Drudge, this site at least has a comment section, so when leaving readers to render their own conclusions they are allowed to leave comments on the same page as the article, presenting different views that other readers can see. This results in comment threads that are often more informative and interesting than my own posts. I sometimes post stories without any comment because I am expecting that the article or video will serve as a stimulus for an active discussion thread.
Oh really?
So what’s going to happen when Obama doesn’t bow as deeply to the President of South Korea? Hmmmm.
Or the Premier of the PRC?
The CEO of Mitsubishi wouldn’t bow that low to the Emperor.
Polite greeting? Please.
There are some of us out here who KNOW how pathetic your attempt at ’spinning’ the President’s Godzilla-sized gaff really is.
That was the bow of a ‘noob’ salary man, or a senior office lady, NOT a Head of State [and a poorly executed one at that].
We’re not all ‘clueless’ gaijin out here ya know.
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This President’s habitual bowing is a manifestation of his anti-Americanism. He bows to all things foreign to us.
When did the American right wing go from “Stodgy old conservatives” to “spittle-flying insane”? I mean a calendar date so we can circle it and remember it yearly
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America fought a war 233 years ago so that no American would ever have to bow to royalty again. When Obama is overseas he is our representative, and on behalf of us he is breaking a 233 year old precedent.
His bow wasn’t returned just as it wasn’t returned when he bowed to King Abdullah and then the White House Press Corp tried to lie about the bow saying that Obama was picking something up. Obama has been on a global apology tour and the irony of it is that he hasn’t gotten a single concession from any other country since taking office. They’ve taking his measure and found him wanting.
Some people say that his bow is progressive, that he is just being polite. Wrong! It was progressive when America said that all men are created equal and we cast off the shackles of royalty. Obama has been wrong on history on so many counts that it shouldn’t come as a surprise he knows jack about American history.
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That’s twisting it a little too much.
The United States of America fought the Revolutionary War because the British monarchy was taxing them without representation in parliament as well as being tyrannical overall.
Not because Americans despise the notion of kings and queens in general.
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“have to” bow? No, Obama did not “have to” bow. But what if he “wanted to”?
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He shouldn’t because he is our representative. Our country doesn’t bow, our people don’t bow, that’s what that little shindig in 1776 was all about. If he wants to bow then he can do it on his own time, not when he’s representing Americans.
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Translation – your country isn’t polite, your people aren’t? Again, you are confusing courtesy with servitude.
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That’s ridiculous! Here take a look at this video.
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/11/15/video-46-handshakes-one-bow/
You say Americans aren’t polite? Is that how you feel about the 46 other countries that “only” shake hands when meeting the Japanese Emperor? Do you think that Americans should show greater courtesy or greater deference than every other country shows?
Heads of state meet each other as equals, whether or not America is one of the parties. There is a well reasoned protocol for that, besides the fact that my country abhors royalty (WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF-EVIDENT THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL).
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Again, you are confusing the issue. Obama thought he would be polite Japanese-style. No, the US doesn’t *have* to be more polite, but what if it *wants* to be?
Oh, and the US loves royalty….
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I’m not confusing the issue at all. The issue was whether or not his bow was appropriate. On one side of the issue are people that believe it was no problem because he was just trying to be polite. On the other side are people that see it as a breach of protocol and his duty to the American people.
I respect your opinion that he was just trying to be polite but I rest my decision on his obligation to do his job faithfully and correctly the same way 46 other leaders have done in that video I linked for you. There is nothing impolite or disrespectful about greeting someone as an equal.
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Assuming they are equals of course. I am obviously not going to convince you, just as you will not convince me he was betraying the American people or something. The issue seems to be one of pride and what a bow really means.
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Yeah, this is where I take issue with the matter as well. The Queen of England as well as other monarchs (including the emperor) are all basically powerless figureheads that float above politicians. There is nothing wrong with increasing politeness to these people because in the final scheme of things, they have no voice in the policies of a country.
I seriously don’t understand what the hell is going on in the US when a topic as goofy as this can get mainstream coverage.
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Again, when did the right become spittle-flying insane?
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In the 1990s under Clinton I think.
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Or was it around 1980 under Jimmy Carter?
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No, I didn’t think the Reagan years were “spittle-flying insane”.
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Yea, actually that is correct. Basically, I was referring to the disastrous Carter Presidency. Overlooked that one. My apologies.
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In what way was the right wing “spittle-flying insane” in the Carter years?
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Since when did the conservatives flood this site? They clearly don’t know anything about Japan.
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I see. So Liberals ONLY know about Japan, but Conservatives or Traditional thinking people can’t know anything about Japan. You might be right, just as within the last 9 months Liberals overwhelmingly don’t know anything about the US.
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“So Liberals ONLY know about Japan,”
Of course not, I’m saying the conservatives making stupid comments don’t know anything about Japan. Just like how all of your comments are clearly uneducated.
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…and I say this becuase if he really WAS “groveling before a foreign monarch” he would be doing a dogeza bow, not the somewhat casual bow Obama is pictured doing.
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That’s not the point. It’s so comical to always hear liberals whine and rant about things that they “think” they know a lot about, but in actuality don’t know anything. They think they are more educated than everyone else, when time and time again, they always show they are full of hot air. As this administration is doing and As you are showing by your childish quibbling. At any point you disagree, fine.
But fact of the matter is; the President doesn’t need to bow to the extent that he has been doing. Whether he is doing a “Dogeza bow” or not is so irrelevant. For once I would like to see a liberal stay on point, but that’s usually not possible. Wise up, you just might learn something.
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Actually, NPC is quite on point, you are just choosing to ignore his point.
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Nope, wasn’t ignoring his point, just not a Kool-Aid drinker like most liberals.
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“I’m not ignoring his point but I am ignoring his point”?
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You don’t have to be a conservative to realize that Obama’s foreign policy is horrible.
I have to admit some of these responses are entertaining though.
It was a pretty massive bow, but he totally screwed it up anyway since the emperor was attempting to do a handshake and he kinda shifted to the handshake halfway through. Seriously, don’t they get prior instructions as to exactly how to great each other in public.
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haha, you republitards never cease to embarrass yourselves.
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Let me help you. You were referring to “looney liberalism”, there, I fixed it for you.
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Pot meet kettle.
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I believe this lists it up most succinctly.
http://www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/ceem-cced/prtcl/address4-eng.cfm
This concept gets tossed around a lot (perhaps too much) in online discussions when in defense of the Japanese Emperor against detractors, but it’s said that aside from actual military or economic power and all the pragmatic stuff, the title of “Emperor” ranks the highest, higher than “President” in formal protocol.
Of course, this isn’t anything set in stone, and sitting order in settings like dinners or ceremonies, lacking any other overriding factors, is usually defined by the length of time that the person has resided in their post.
http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=wS97zl5St_IC&lpg=PA127&ots=tQySaABLf8&dq=formal%20protocol%20heads%20of%20states%20order&hl=en&pg=PT149#v=onepage&q=formal%20protocol%20heads%20of%20states%20order&f=false
Since emperors and monarchs generally hold their title for life, they naturally would tend have a higher order of precedence in those settings than presidents who are elected several years at a time.
If the current Queen Elizabeth II of England (reigning 1952 – ) and the current Emperor Akihito (reigning 1989 – )hung out at a dinner, the Queen would sit in a higher seat, but if it were back in the days of Emperor Akihito (reigning 1926 – 1989), he would sit higher. And so on.
To sum it up, if nothing else, I think Obama was just following protocol in showing respect for a foreign senior head of state.
Also, in a lot of those situations, the relative heights of the head in the bow is emphasized (not sure if this is a Japanese thing only) as representing the status of the two. If the towering Obama wanted to temporarily lower his head lower than the Emperor of diminutive stature, he’d have to bow pretty steeply … which he did in this case.
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Whoops, I meant:
… back in the days of Emperor Hirohito (reigning 1926 – 1989) …
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It always amazes me just how much animosity there is between the left and right wings in the US. The right in particular seems particularly virulant (Bush got accused of being a chimp, Obama gets accused of being Hitler).
I did a quick search, and found a couple of pics. When the Chinese President met the Emperor, he was ramrod straight. When Bush met the Saudi king he was about 40 degrees over. Haven’t seen any of Bush and Akihito. When Obama met the Saudi king he was over pretty far as well.
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It’s so true. I have friends in both camps and I swear they are all convinced that the other side are a bunch of liars and morons. The truth is both parties are led by politicians who are almost all corrupt liars in some way regardless of which party they vote with. I just don’t get why people can’t see that or somehow convince themselves that the liars they voted for are better than the liars on the other side. People really need to wake up and examine both parties with scrutiny, not just the “other” side. People are free to vote for who they want to but they should take some responsibility after the fact.
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Would president Al Gore have started two wars in his holy mission to democratice the rest of the world by brute force? Doubt that.
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This is exactly the type of statement I was talking about. It’s so absurd really.
How can you say how he would have handled things or how the world might have been different. For all we know he could have caused the end of civilization had he been elected. Seriously try to keep your arguments within our own time line.
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I do, and what I see is 8 years of misguided neo-con tought, with all of the former adminstrations aims shattering miserably in face of reality. To pretend that A and B is the same is nice and dandy, but it doesn’t have any worth if one wants to seriously assess the last 8 years.
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My point is A and B are both bad. The previous administration was horrible, but the current one is no better. Yea maybe they are apples and oranges, but I don’t feel like deciding between the rotten apple or the rotten orange. Frankly I don’t feel any of the candidates that ran in the last election are fit to be president. Granted the majority of my opinion on Obama was formed after the fact since there was very little to base an opinion on prior to the election. I think as long as people are willing to mindlessly follow either party the politicians will keep things just the way they are. Both sides are far off center and that’s how they like it.
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hear hear! speak the truth, brother pixel_bomber
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“Frankly I don’t feel any of the candidates that ran in the last election are fit to be president.”
Don’t forget the old saying – Anyone who is capable of getting themselves elected President should on no account be allowed to do the job…..
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That is exactly my point also! Very well, said!
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It’s also an argument for monarchy, though not intended as such. The argument goes, is it better to have a power-hungry politician run the country, or someone who has nothing to fear from doing the right thing even if unpopular and has been trained in leadership and government from birth?
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What’s even worse is that both parties are pretty much solidly right of center, so we’re stuck with Rightee and Rightdum. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before the Neo Pilgrims head back to the UK bearing baskets of financial CEOs and Hollywood execs…
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I don’t know where you’ve been but it was Bush who’s being accused of a Nazis, Fascist, War Criminal and Hitler. Obama is being called out what he truly is a closet Socialist…
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Just did some searching. There are roughly equal numbers of references to Bush Nazi and Obama Nazi, but then Bush was Prez for eight years, Obama hasn’t even finished one.
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Foreign dignitaries
http://www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/ceem-cced/prtcl/address4-eng.cfm
acoording to this, japanese emperor is the top.
and the president of the united states is 6th.
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oops! helical had already mentioned the same thing.
sorry about that.
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No problem … mine a took while longer to make it through the spam filter, so your comment appeared first.
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I think we should remember that the Emperor of Japan isn’t *really* an Emperor – they just chose that word in to put the monarch of Japan on an equal footing with all the European emperors who did in fact rule (colonial) empires.
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Any argument about President Obama bowing is nothing more than a tempest in a teapot. People bow in Japan — of course there will be some idiot that will make an issue out of anything Obama does…
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There are still some neo-cons who are unhappy with the fact that Obama continues to… day after day… have brown skin.
EVERYBODY PANIC!
Obama’s war on pale makes Glenn Beck cry.
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That is such a laaaame argument. It’s not neocons, it’s just a few rare Americans (on all sides of the political spectrum) that actually hate that he’s black.
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That is so lame, I mean seriously! Most people don’t care if he’s black (remember, he is HALF, the other HALF is white) that is such cop out! Skin color and constantly playing the race card is so easy for liberals to do. Why? Because it takes the argument out of everything! You don’t like what Obama says or any of his suggested policies, invoke race into the issue, everything stops!
People (clear thinking) are tired of hearing about race! Who elected Obama and who got him in the White House? Blacks? Latinos? Asians? Many people (and the numbers are growing) don’t like the man’s policies, pure and simple.
Bush had his share of problems without a doubt, but this President wants to destroy America and rebuild it from the ground up and is radically changing the country so fast, people can’t even catch up. It took Bush pretty much to mess things up around his 2nd term and Obama is doing it in his 9th month….and we still have 3 years to go!
That should be a real reason to PANIC!
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Why are you neo-cons obsessed with Obama? You track him day in and day out like a crazy stalking ex-girlfriend. He’s simply a man, not a god. Why do you worship the ground he walks on?
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“(remember, he is HALF, the other HALF is white)”
Don’t forget the One Drop Rule that has been traditionally applied in the US.
“this President wants to destroy America”
Statements like that are why people are not taking you seriously.
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This is not only my opinion, just like everyone has an opinion and I don’t speak for the entire US, I am only a man, but that is how I feel as thousands of Americans do. Yes, I know the “one drop rule” all too well.
When I mean, the “President wants to destroy America” I meant, in the traditional sense. If you are fine with it, that is your prerogative , but I think this is not a direction that is good for America, not at all.
So there ARE people that DO take me seriously, those that disagree don’t and that’s OK. Fact of the matter is; Obama is NOT doing a good job. Do I want him to fail, NO I do not, But I DO want our President for God’s sake to get some serious brass cajones and not look and act like a complete pansy and do the right thing and stop this mounting debt that he is building day by day.
And USA, no one said that Obama is a God, that is how the media and people like you make him out to be: “almighty Omnipotent!” He is a man, a simple flawed man and that’s all. No Conservative worships the ground he walks on.
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You neo-cons are obsessed with Obama. Please tell me why.
I’m an independent and I don’t like him, so I rarely talk about him. Yet you put him on a pedestal. You guys follow his every move like a crazy otaku.
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Well then you and I have something in common. I too, am a registered Independent. But I never put the guy on a pedestal. Just don’t like his policies overall so far.
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“When I mean, the “President wants to destroy America” I meant, in the traditional sense.”
So you mean in the literal sense, then? That is the traditional use of the word “destroy”. You think he wants to nuke the place or something?
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Not at all. I meant in the traditional sense.
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So what on earth do you mean? What, to you, is the “traditional sense” of the word “destroy”? The word destroy has traditionally refered to physical destruction. I am not trying to troll – I really don’t know what you are getting at.
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Damn, he just bowed way too early and way too low. Did’t any of his advisors inform him of the proper form?
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Any chance there’s some places to find more Japanese TV coverage of the visit?
Or that this website can post some more?
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And lets now forget about Bidens gaffes too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no0e-mkhhbs
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実るほど、こうべを垂れる稲穂かな。わかんねーだろうな。ｗｗｗｗ
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Maybe you could at least try posting the idiom in English …?
“The boughs that bear most, hang lowest.”
後、いつも草生やし過ぎ。
英文にまで「ｗ」つけるとか意味わからないしｗ
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草生やし過ぎって？２ｃｈ用語かなんか？
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How much were the tickets ? Anyway, I don’t know if I would have paid to listen somebody reading teleprompter.
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Did Obama apologised for Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the emperor too?
They don`t want bows. Give them what they want and keep the bases in Japan.
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Obama as usual dodged the question which should really tell you what he truly feels and things about the bombing…
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Why?
………………………………
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They want neither bows nor apology. They want peace of this country and the world, that is what Akihito and his wife continue to state after Akihito became the emperor.
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He does read it quite well! Gotta hand it to him. Wish he could do his job equally as well.
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Look at Carlos just bringing out the same old neo-con talking points… right out of the Glenn Beck playbook.
What are you doing supporting the neo-cons anyways? Didn’t you know they hate Latinos?
Bottom line is Obama is just trying to show some respect to a fellow human being. Why are you neo-cons putting Obama on a pedestal? He’s merely a man, and should therefore bow to people that he meets in Japan, as per the local custom.
I didn’t realize Obama was some sort of man-god who is too good to bow to others. Why do you neo-cons worship him so much? I thought you guys hated him.
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Neocon doesn’t mean ultra conservative. You’re using it wrong.
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You throw the word “Neo-con” around so easily, which makes me believe that you have absolutely no clue as to what it means. How do you know, I support the so called Neo-cons? How do you know that I’m even Latino??? You just throw out venom and start to ramble about me as if you know everything about me.
In other words, you are the type of loon that lives in a fantasy realm of speculations and conspiracy theories!
Also, the majority of “traditional” Latinos ARE Conservative (case in point-Florida)and so what about Glenn Beck? The man has his point of view and he is allowed to voice it, besides even if you think he’s a nut, his ratings prove otherwise, not defending him, but there are a lot of people watching and listening to him, so…
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I was trying to make a point and it seems like it worked. I simply made the same style of arguments as you, just presenting it from the opposite side of the spectrum.
You use the word “liberal” in virtually every sentence, with an obviously lack of understanding what the word means. I am simply parodying your conjecture, and now you know how everyone feels when they read your regurgitated Fox News talking points and catch phrases.
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There was no lack of understanding on my part. As for the liberal part; that was true. Of course, I do know the definition of the word liberal, which I highly doubt you do. You can parody my point all day if you wish. Your opinion is for individuals that follow and believe your view points. You yourself sound like you regurgitated MSNBC (More of the Same National Barack Channel) talking points.
For a second, I thought you were Keith Olbermann himself. This has nothing to do with FOX and everything to do with Obama, stop smoking the the “Whacky-tabaki!” Clouds your judgement or lack thereof.
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“This has nothing to do with FOX and everything to do with Obama”
Exactly. You neo-cons are obsessed with him. I’m not a big fan of Obama, so I don’t go around talking about him all day. You guys just can’t get enough of him.
Why are you obsessed with Obama?
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I think you really don’t get it and if you don’t, then I can’t help you.
Again, I think you have no idea what a Neo-con is, yet you constantly throw the word with such malice and I think you really don’t know what the a real neo-con is. I have a great idea…stay away from sites like the “Daily Kos, Huffington Post and Move on.org” you might actually learn something.
It’s amazing when the left where thrashing Bush (and couldn’t get enough of him and still don’t) around like these morons did it was quite OK, but when someone questions Obama’s policy or if someone wants to decent, then you are called every name in the book, LMAO.
What I think the real question is: “Why are you obsessed with calling me a Neo-con?” Yet, you know nothing about the word you throw it around, but don’t understand the meaning of it.
What a pity.
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Top 10 LA Times website reader comments on Obama’s bow:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/comments_blog/2009/11/top-10-best-comments-obama-bow-to-japan-emperor-akihito.html
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Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it a little weird to shake hands and bow at the same time? It really shows that Obama wasn’t thinking too hard about what he was doing, and maybe his decision to bow deeply wasn’t as planned out as many people seem to think it was. Personally if I didn’t fully know the customs of a country I would try to take politeness to a maximum unless someone told me otherwise because I feel its the right thing to do. Obama hasn’t been president from his conception, and being very polite is probably a value that is part of his own personality.
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This is exactly what I observed as well. He had planned to bow, but perhaps somehow had no idea how he was supposed to do it. When he got in range the Emperor goes for the handshake, obviously with no intention of bowing.
While I don’t mind a president who has a personality I also want one who displays a confident public image of the US. So far I have been very disappointed every time he leaves the country.
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I agree that this looks rather unscripted. I think Obama was just trying to follow Japanese customs, and be polite (there are lots of positive comments about his bow in Japanese). I am however very surprised the whole thing was not scripted in advance, assuming it wasn’t.
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Looks like the Emperor went in for a handshake (American custom) and Obama went for a bow (Japanese custom) and they got confused. This is simply a picture of two men showing each other respect. It shouldn’t even be an issue, but the neo-cons need a reason to talk about Obama. I’d rather just not hear about him at all. We see his face far too often in the media.
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Seriously?
I think that the people who don’t recognise a bow as a polite way to greet someone in Japan have no place talking about international affairs.
The emperor went in to shake hands, as most people have been taught to believe is the “American way” and Obama simply bowed in respect — as he was probably reminded is the “Japanese way.” I see American businessmen do this to their Japanese business partners all the time.
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