Problem was, it was not only foolishly executed against all diplomatic rules and precedent, IT WAS INSINCERE.
Believe me, the Japanese can sense treachery and sneak attacks from 1000 paces. There is historic precedent why they have this savvy. Because they themselves have as a nation and within internal clans, engaged in it.
So many people told me when they saw that bow "....this man is not sincere. He is hiding something, and we (Japan) are in trouble." When the untrained eye and also the White house press office and corps would say "oh, no, no, no, this was a sign of respppppppppppppect to Japan (sic)."
The Japanese are not and were not fools. They saw right through Obama in the November Tokyo Bow, and their initial reactions have been spot on now with the way Obama treated both Japan and China in two very clearly and different ways in D.C. the other day. It is not lost on most Japanese, I can assure you; as much as they were essentially fools--due to irresponsibility of their news media to broadcast any objection to the image of Obama in 2008-- in the beginning when they too drank the koolaid along with 50% of the voting US populace and foolishly went in with this "hope" and "change" nonsense. Now they regret it.
Obama is doing his best to see we are all in trouble except him. In the end; however, he will be the one in trouble.
Bowing in Japan is an art and a science. If you don’t know how, you are better off not even trying because if you do it wrong, you will (at best) be considered a amiable idiot.
I bow, and I am sure you do to, but I have 24 years of experience here telling me when it is appropriate, and how to do it. Even then, I am sure I am only in the general percentage of where I should be and probably get it wrong to degrees.