Ugly Americans
Good for Adm. Keating! The fact that Dick Cheney is among the critics of Obama's bow to the Emperor of Japan should give us a pretty fair sample of the thought of the previous administration, the one that put the ugly back into Ugly American.
This is, as the Admiral says, what one does, not just in Japan, and not just to the Emperor, to which I can attest personally.
Some few years ago, I was working for an American museum with a notable Japanese collection. We learnt that we were to be a prime stop for the son of the present Emperor Akhito, today the Crown Prince of Japan. While he was of course not the Emperor, #3 in the pecking order is still pretty far up the ceremonial charts. After consultation with various protocol mavens in and out of government, we understood that bowing to the prince was indeed the right thing to do. Bowing is, after all, a traditional and appropriate form of greeting throughout Japan, not something reserved for royalty. We bowed; on average, about as much as Obama seems to have done.
The several Japanese present, staff and guests, bowed until their foreheads nearly touched the floor. "I didn't think it was possible to bow that low," one of my Caucasian peers said afterward of the Japanese obeisances, "and come up again."
The still, small voice asks again, had this been a white president kissing the Pope's ring (and some have) would the same people be so exercised? Or if Obama were to bow to Cheney, would we hear anything from him but satisfaction? As for the average partisan making an issue of it, I suggest they stay at home until they learn the basic courtesies of any country they mean to visit and until they learn to walk and chew gum at the same time.
This is, as the Admiral says, what one does, not just in Japan, and not just to the Emperor, to which I can attest personally.
Some few years ago, I was working for an American museum with a notable Japanese collection. We learnt that we were to be a prime stop for the son of the present Emperor Akhito, today the Crown Prince of Japan. While he was of course not the Emperor, #3 in the pecking order is still pretty far up the ceremonial charts. After consultation with various protocol mavens in and out of government, we understood that bowing to the prince was indeed the right thing to do. Bowing is, after all, a traditional and appropriate form of greeting throughout Japan, not something reserved for royalty. We bowed; on average, about as much as Obama seems to have done.
The several Japanese present, staff and guests, bowed until their foreheads nearly touched the floor. "I didn't think it was possible to bow that low," one of my Caucasian peers said afterward of the Japanese obeisances, "and come up again."
The still, small voice asks again, had this been a white president kissing the Pope's ring (and some have) would the same people be so exercised? Or if Obama were to bow to Cheney, would we hear anything from him but satisfaction? As for the average partisan making an issue of it, I suggest they stay at home until they learn the basic courtesies of any country they mean to visit and until they learn to walk and chew gum at the same time.
posted by Uncle | 01:33
2 Comments:
What I've been enjoying is the Cheney and other wingers saying with pride that neither Brush Prez humbled himself and thus America thus. Unsaid is that neither got squat from any Asian nation's leaders. If anything, their bluster and social gracelessness has cost us in trade deals as well as security.
After I wrote, I recalled that Obama's one faux pas in Japan was *not* bowing to the Prime Minister, which none of the media noticed. I wonder if that put the protocol people's knickers in a twist and led to the bow to the emperor.
And I recall that Bush 1 humbled himself quite well by hurling on the Japanese Prime Minister. However that isn't an accepted form of greeting except in certain frat houses.
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