Interpretation of Bowing

Fig.1.  President Obama greeting to Japanese emperor. Photograph by Mandel Ngan from AFP; Los Angeles Times, 2009; Web; 1 Nov.2011.

Look at this picture. This is a picture of president Obama bowing deeply to Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko. In another occasion, he also bowed deeply to the King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (Unruh). From our Japanese point of view, we can assume that the president is, in both cases, showing his respect to them by bowing or that he is trying to show some understanding to the Japanese culture to maintain a good relationship. However, several American media are criticizing his bow as a cultural misunderstanding. According to an article by an American media called Fox, previous presidents have greeted Emperor not by bowing but by shaking hands (“Obama”). They claim that shaking hands are considered to be a standard and universal way of greeting. Today, there are three main ways of bowing such as kissing, shaking hands and bowing, but is shaking hands a standard way of greeting? It is true that shaking hands are used in an official business situation commonly. However it is not always true. For example in Japan, bowing is more common than shaking hands. This cannot be said that bowing is a universal way of greeting. Bowing may cause misunderstanding of its meaning because it is interpreted differently from each culture. In this situation of Obama’s bowing, cultural differences in greeting are causing this conflict. Westerns seldom bow and lower their heads. We should be careful to convey its meaning correctly and we should understand more about the background of each culture.

Bowing is a very common gesture around the world. Though the frequency of the use or its meaning that represents is different from each culture, we can see still them everywhere. The history of bowing goes back to the early China. Usually it shows a respect to the opponent of the bowing. The custom of bowing as a greeting spread to the Asian countries since China had enough power to affect other cultures. Therefore, bowing as a greeting can still be seen today in Asia. In some cultures, bowing is deeply connected to religion. For example, Muslims pray to their God Allah by bowing and facing in the direction of the city of Makah, where is concerned as a holy city. They also prostrate to their God to show their respect to it. What about the Western countries? I have interviewed a few JLP students from abroad. I asked them whether they would bow in everyday life. All of them answered “No.”. It seemed that bowing is rare and it is performed in a special situation. As the JLP students have answered, in Europe or in the US, bowing is not popular. People bow during the curtain call or bow to God. There was a specialist of etiquette in the US called Emily Post in the early 20^th century. According to her book “Etiquette”, she claimed that ladies and gentlemen should bow when they greet to people (Post). In her book, she introduces some ways of everyday use bows. She focuses on bowing in a formal place or bowing to the elders but in the end she suggests to bow casually and informally whenever you encounter a person one knows. Unfortunately, the culture of bowing in the US did not become common and the standard way of greeting was only to shake hands. It seems that the historical back ground of each culture affects the use of bowing. The country that put an emphasis on individuality is less likely to have a culture of bowing as a greeting. People who have individuality view other people as equal to themselves. This means that there is less hierarchical status among people. The movement of bowing requires people to put their heads down. So, it seems to them as if one is obeying to the other (Lapidos). From this reason, it can be considered why Fox criticized the President Obama’s bow.

Some traditional martial arts such as Judo used to require the players to bow as a rule. However, as I mentioned before, in some cultures such as the Islamic world views this bow in Judo as same as that they are using in praying (Ono). According to Quran, the gesture of bowing is only allowed to the sole God Allah. Though Judo is not a religion and the Muslims recognize the fact that bowing in Judo games is not religious, they argue that the bow in Judo is similar to their bow as a ritual (“Judo”). For this reason some of them refused to bow to the opponent player in a Judo game. IJF which stands for International Judo Federation decided to change its Judo rules (Nakamura). After Judo was adopted as a sport for Olympic game, they decided to do so in that they wanted to make Judo as an universal and international sport. The conflict of bowing occurred in the US. An American brother and sister failed the game in the course of refusing the bowing. In the former rule, it required the players to bow in the game. The two brother and his sister refused to do so. As a result, the judge made them fail concerning that they broke the rule. The two children protested and claimed to the IJF using the Civil Rights Act that the bowing in Judo forces people the ideas of Shinto thought and violates the Civil Rights of the liberation in beliefs. This conflict ended by these two children losing the IJF since the bowing in Judo does not represent religious beliefs but just a cultural gesture. However this gave a chance for the IFJ to rethink and make rules about the bowing. They abolished the rules of bowing duty of “bowing in front of the opponent” and “bowing to the playground” . These two duties of bowing were abolished for five reason (1) too many bows can confuse the players (2) the purpose is unclear (3) it is difficult for the judges to observe bowing (4) bowing should not be forced but acted spontaneously (5) only “bowing to each other” is necessary in a play (“IJF”). The change of the rule also relieved the tense between the Muslim that participated in the game.

Misinterpretation in communication occurs every day, especially when people communicate inter culturally. So, what would be the solutions to prevent these issues? Three possible suggestions can prevent these issues; understanding Japanese culture, understanding the meaning in the bowing and trying to understand alien cultures. For solving the issue, both Japanese and foreigners should work together to communicate smoothly.

The first step is to understand Japanese culture. Knowing beforehand is very effective. For example, to give knowledge about bowing to foreigners, guide books should contain more information about Japanese greeting. Besides guide book, there is a best seller book Kiss Bow or Shake Hands. According to the author, it provides knowledge to open borders, minds, and markets in more than 60 countries around the world. In addition to how people greet each other, the book contains many other cultural back grounds that can help one understand a country (Morrison). This kind of book that provides back ground information can help understand more about other cultures. There are also some web sites that gives information that would be useful in travelling Japan (“Japan”). Also Japanese government should put an emphasis on giving the travellers from abroad a pamphlet that summarizes same kind of information. It would be useful if the government and airplane companies work together and distribute those pamphlets to the visitors. For the second step, understanding the meaning in bowing would be effective. It helps and leads to the understanding of each other. Most of the foreigners do not know that there are three different ways of bowing in Japan such as Eshaku, Keirei and Saikeirei. If one knows that each of the meaning is different and the extent of respect gets higher as one bow deeper, one would not make serious mistakes in understanding the culture. In addition to showing the respect to others, Japanese bowing has many meanings such as apology or appreciation or welcome. Combining with the first step, foreigners can deal with these various bowing in many situations. Japanese who communicate with foreigners should also teach the meanings in each bowing when they came across with an opportunity to bow. For the final step, understanding other alien culture is important. This is deeply related to the two former steps.

Today, the world is getting smaller and smaller by transportation and technologies. This means that one have more opportunities to communicate with those from other cultures. Since one lives in a different society and cultivates different cultures, it is natural for us to come across with difficulties in communications. Knowing that other culture is different and trying to understand other cultures is a step to communicate inter culturally. This can be applied not only to bowing. If President Obama, Fox or Muslim Judo players considered more seriously about knowing other cultures, conflicts would not have occurred. Hence both foreigners and Japanese should try to make an effort to communicate smoothly with each other. In order to accomplish it one should understand other cultures, understand the meaning in the bowing and try to understand alien cultures.

Works Cited

"International Judo Federation." International Judo Federation. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Nov. 2011. <http://www.intjudo.eu/Rules/IJF_Referee_Manual_Introduction/Bowing_Guide_>.

"Japan: Top 5 Customs to Know Before You Travel - a knol by Chishikiyoku Project." Knol - a unit of knowledge: share what you know, publish your expertise.. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Nov. 2011. <http://knol.google.com/k/japan-top-5-customs-to-know-before-you-travel#>.

"Judo Bow Not Religious, Judge Rules - Beliefnet.com." Inspiration, Spirituality, Faith, Religion. - Beliefnet.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Nov. 2011.

"Obama Draws Fire For Bow To Japanese Emperor | Fox News." Fox News - Breaking News Updates | Latest News Headlines | Photos & News Videos. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Nov. 2011. <http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/16/obama-draws-bow-japanese-emperor/>.

Lapidos, Juliet. "Obama's getting flak for bowing in Japan. Early Americans bowed all the time. - Slate Magazine." Homepage - Slate Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Nov. 2011. <http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2009/11/how_ceremonious_you_are.html>.

Morrison, Terri, Wayne A. Conaway, and George A. Borden. Kiss, bow, or shake hands: how to do business in sixty countries. Avon: B. Adams, 1994. Print.

Nakamura, Isamu.” Bowing in international judo- A comparative cultural study－” 2008, 1 Nov. 2011. PDF file

Ono, Sokyo, Professor, Kokugakuin University, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Tokyo, 1962, and pp 1-6.. "U.S. Judo Training Center - Bowing." U.S. Judo Training Center - Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Nov. 2011. <http://www.judochampions.com/bowing/>.

Post, Peggy, and Emily Post. Emily Post's Etiquette. 17th ed. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2004. Print.

Unruh, Bob. "Obama bows to Saudi king." WND HOME PAGE. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Nov. 2011. <http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=93696owing/>.