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Highlights of Tokyo Speech: "We seek this deeper and broader engagement because we know our collective future depends on it." "We simply cannot return to the same cycles of boom and bust that led to a global recession. We can't follow the same policies that led to such imbalanced growth."

resident Barack Obama may not be getting many more invitations from foreign governments after an embarrassing display of submissiveness in front of the Japanese emperor and a delegation of Chinese technocrats. Members of the Obama team say he's afflicted with a severe case of submissive urination that causes him to leak when he feels nervous or is in the presence of Alpha males... and alpha females. And, occasionally, beta males, females, and children. He once peed through a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, an unnamed Obama official said. The official also said Obama repeatedly urinated in Tokyo's Imperial...

Original article from Thursday (19), links to the Japanese "Sankei Shimbun" website. FReepranslation is provided as a summary; the original Japanese version directly by the author governs and takes precedence over the unofficial English.Troubling developments.

Nikkei Set To Fall After Wall St Losses, Tech Tumble Thu Nov 19, 2009 6:27pm EST TOKYO, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average is set to fall on Friday, with tech stocks such as Advantest Corp (6857.T) vulnerable after disappointing U.S. data fed concern about the economic recovery and tech shares fell on a brokerage downgrade. Investors will also watch Sony Corp (6758.T), which on Thursday pushed back an elusive target of an operating profit margin of 5 percent to March 2013 as it heads for its second straight loss and loses ground to overseas competitors. [ID:nT265644] "It's possible...

Even President Obama himself during his just-concluded trip to Asia admitted that he was surprised to receive the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this year without actually producing any peace. In fact, the rookie American president ordered his own troop surge, boosting U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan to 68,000. Now, the Democrat may be preparing to send more again. And a Gallup Poll showed 61% of Americans didn't think he deserved it either.Anyway, there he was in Seoul, South Korea on the last stop of his journey.And out of the Seoul sky, President Lee Myung-bak hands over to the American...

On President Obama’s trip across Asia, the major news has not been America’s policy posture, but rather our president’s personal posture. On Saturday, photo and video emerged of President Obama bowing at a 45 degree angle, head down, hand outstretched to Japan’s Emperor Akihito. Even within Japanese culture, this bow was certainly excessive. And the flood of pictures now surfacing of other world leaders greeting the Emperor without so much as a head nod prove that this bow was more than a simple diplomatic gesture. The bow certainly plays into the image that President Obama is overly obsequious during his...

Here is video of Karl Rove tonight talking to Sean Hannity about President Obama's conduct on his overseas trip to Asia. Rove agreed with former Vice-President Dick Cheney, who said: "There is no need for an American President to bow to anyone. Our friends and allies don't expect it, and our enemies see it as a sign of weakness." - Dick Cheney Rove said a slight nod would have been seen as respectful, but the low bow to the waste was not viewed as needed or appropriate by the Japanese or others. Rove pointed out that if it is appropriate...

No president has ever owned the presidency.  It belongs to the people.Like all patriotic Americans, I'm fed up with the president's apologizing, bowing and scraping.  The latest disgrace took place in Japan when he bowed from the waist in deference to their emperor. Here's a story Obama would do well to learn from... When I was promoted to Master Sergeant, an older Senior NCO who I greatly respect took me aside, and in a time-honored tradition that predates the Air Force, gave me an old set of his stripes.  He also imparted this advice:  Respect the rank the Air...

Over the weekend, the Conservative blogosphere has pounced on the "bow seen round the world", a photograph of the supposed Commander in Chief bowing to the Emperor of Japan, something no other American President or world leader for that fact, has ever done. This Obama "bow", is not only a continued indicator of Obama's weakness as a President, and his sick admiration for world leaders. This is the new United States of America as Obama views it, we are no longer a Nation that stands proudly before the rest of the world, America now is humbled before the rest of...

JOIN THE MOCKING IN SONG - the classic "SUKIYAKI"

Nov200916 admin Comments Obama Says He Did Not Bow to Japanese Emperor, Shoe Teleprompter Was Malfunctioning As controversy spread of the “bow� heard round the world, President Obama sheepishly admitted in a Chinese press conference that his apparent subservient bow to Emperor Akihito was actually just an attempt for him to get a closer look at his malfunctioning shoe teleprompter. “I’m tired of hearing all of the speculation about the bow,� said Obama. “So I’m just going to come clean and admit the truth. And the truth is that my staff provided me with a high tech teleprompter that...

For some reason, Barack Hussein Obama, 44th President of the United States, bowed to Akihito the Emperor of Japan. And the internet is abuzz! Even some people in the U.K. have dubbed him "Groveller-in-Chief." Why? Because we're not talking about one of those nice polite little 10 degree bows which you've seen Japenese people do on TV. This was a "let me show you how low I can go" type of bow. "Let me show you the back of my head" type of bow. "Let me defer to you because you are superior to me" type of bow. Some may...

ABC’s Good Morning America finally picked up on the deep bow President Obama performed for the Emperor of Japan over the weekend. Co-host Diane Sawyer ran through how other U.S. Presidents have greeted either Emperor Akhito or his father, the late Emperor Hirohito over the years — some bowing, some not. Sawyer claimed that Americans are “not trained to greet royalty” and “it’s just too confusing.” Actually, the government employs lots of experts on culture and protocol to make sure that our presidents are fully “trained” on what to do when they represent our government overseas — which is not...

President Barry Hussein Soetoro by his own admission is a man who is concerned with notions. The word ‘victory’ conveys the wrong notion has far as Soetoro is concerned. So naturally I’m curious about what notion does Mr. Soetoro think he is sending each time he as President of the United States of America curtseys before a foreign monarch? If in Soetoro’s mind the word victory conveys the wrong notion, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, what notion does pictures of him bowing before the Saudi King and now the Japanese Emperor send?

While the book of that precise title has yet to be written (and might be a good book albeit a rather short book), the poor, bumbling White House only need to look at the following online information in order to be corrected once and for all and to also appreciate just what and what is not done in Japan, as they may continue to presumptuously assert that the "first Asia-Pacific President" schooled in these cultures was somehow being polite and sticking to protocol with the Emperor of Japan.Here, we will be kind enough to translate it for them--spinning, apologetic, damage-control...

Title in-full is: "Obama Bow To Emperor Inappropriate-- U.S. Conservative Faction Criticizes"(オ�マ��天皇��辞儀���切　米�守派�批判 (They are essentially saying that US Conservatives are asserting that. (But it is fairly widespread here as a perception, and growing, although to-date Japanese have been their typical polite goodselves in playing down the faux paus of an ignorant, visiting, protocol-devoid foreigner, in this case POTUS).(http://www.47news.jp/CN/200911/CN2009111601000125.html)Goes on to say that U.S. Conservative blogosphere, FOX News, etc. have picked up on the Obama bow as inappropriate. Also tied it into the earlier Obama bow/genuflection to Saudi Arabian King.For your information.It is actually from a Kyodo News report, which means...

(UPDATES: 12:22 p.m. A brief news video has been added below, showing the greeting in this photograph. Contrary to some claims, the video shows no reciprocal bow by the emperor, who traditionally bows to no one. And we've added a file photo from 2007 of Vice President Dick Cheney greeting the Japanese Emperor at the same residence in a different fashion.) How low will the new American president go for the world's royalty? This photo will get Democrat President Obama a lot of approving nods in Japan this weekend, especially among the older generation of Japanese who still pay attention...

President Obama Bows Down To Hirohito's Son… Question Is How Low Can He Go

Well, Zero mess up again....so I found this article by Shizuko Mishima on "How to Bow Properly in Japan". Now only if Zero had taken lessons from this person it would have saved millions of Americans from "losing face". "Here’s the tricky parts about bowing – the depth of the bow and the number of seconds devoted to performing it, as well as the total number of bows, depends on who you are, to whom you’re bowing, and how they’re bowing back. When bowing, hands are usually straight at the side, palms inward as they bow for men, but for...

Obama bowed to emperor as 'protocol' By: Mike Allen November 14, 2009 11:08 PM EST SINGAPORE – A senior administration official said President Barack Obama was simply observing protocol when he bowed to Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko upon arriving at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Saturday. “I think that those who try to politicize those things are just way, way, way off base,” the official said. “He observes protocol. But I don’t think anybody who was in Japan – who saw his speech and the reaction to it, certainly those who witnesses his bilateral meetings there –...

We all remember when Obama nauseated freedom-loving Americans with his groveling bow before the King of Saudi Arabia. Apparently his inability to stand upright in front of a royal extends to Japan's Emperor, too, as the LA Times reports in this disheartening photo. For 200 years, our elected Presidents proudly stood before the heads of state the world over, even those who claimed divinity. We were over all that divine-right-of-kings nonsense. Or so we thought. Strange that he doesn't engage in this kind of obsequious groveling to the Queen of England. For those who think I'm being too tough on...

Standing at over six foot in height, Barack Obama had to bow deeply as he paid his respects to the diminutive Japanese Emperor Akihito. But the comical sight, which saw the President bend almost double, will no doubt earn him nods of approval in Japan, where a low bow is a sign of great respect and deference. Obama met the emperor and Empress Michiko at the Imperial Palace today, a stop on his nine-day Asian tour that will also see him take in Singapore and China.

There is no massive statue at Sagami Bay of an angel with a sword and a coronet. No rows of white crosses above “99 Beach.”*** That the region around Tokyo isn't dotted with American war memorials is a matter of science, luck, politics – and endless controversy. These were all objectives in Operation Coronet, the planned seaborne attack on Tokyo in World War II. The greatest battle that never was. Guadalcanal, North Africa, Italy, Tarawa, Saipan, D-Day, Iwo Jima, Okinawa – even the planned invasion of the southern Japanese island of Kyushu – were all prelude. Each a step toward...

I though Americans do not bow to members of royalty? The King of Saudi Arabia, and now the Japanese Emperor? And as the LA Times points out …. there was no reciprocal bow from the Emperor. Contrary to some claims, the video shows no reciprocal bow by the emperor, who traditionally bows to no one. And we’ve added a file photo from 2007 of Vice President Dick Cheney greeting the Japanese Emperor in the same door way in a different fashion. And all the Queen got was an ill advised pat on the back. I guess when it comes to...

Barack Obama: you can dress him up, but you can't take him out. Every time he goes abroad, he embarrasses himself and sells out his country. In Japan today, Obama gave a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama. He was asked this question, for which he was unaccountably unprepared: "And to President Obama, you are a proponent of a nuclear-free world, and you've stated, first of all, you would like to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki while in office. Do you have this desire? And what is your understanding of the historical meaning of the A-bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?...

Bad enough that Obama bowed down to another head of state yesterday. Even worse that he did not bother to learn how one bows in Japan, and just winged it. I agree with Scott Johnson, Steve Gilbert, Andrew Malcom, and many others that the President of the United States should not be bowing before any head of state. But unlike these astute observers, I actually know a little something about the art of the bow in Japan, having lived in Japan four different times on a resident visa, taught East Asian Studies at Harvard, and counseled many hundreds of American,...

At a press conference in Tokyo today, a Japanese reporter asked Obama whether Harry Truman made "the right decision" to drop nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Obama dodged the question....I wonder what he really thinks. It seems likely that, like the overwhelming majority of Americans, Obama thinks the bombs had to be used.But given his longstanding views about nuclear weapons, I'm actually not certain that Obama agrees with the decision.

We criticized Barack Obama when he bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia. Americans do not bow to royalty. When the royal is the ruling tyrant of a despotic regime, the wrong is compounded. Obama's bowing to the King was deeply offensive. When the story emerged from the shadows of the Internet, Ben Smith ran an item on Politico with the White House denying the bow. "It wasn't a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he's taller than King Abdullah," said an Obama aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Bill O'Reilly ran a bemused segment...

President Barack Obama is greeted by Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko upon arrival at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo Photo: REUTERS

Insult or compliment? There is Obama toilet paper in Japan...

President Obama's speech in Japan was...an interesting one. He talks about North Korea, Terrorism, Green Energy, Nuclear Weapons, Treaties, Economy, Imports & Exports, Asia, Copenhagen & Himself among other things. Here are the videos. The speech comes in 4 parts.

How low will the new American president go for the world's royalty? This photo will get Democrat President Obama a lot of approving nods in Japan this weekend, especially among the older generation of Japanese who still pay attention to the royal family living in its downtown castle. Very low bows like this are a sign of great respect and deference for a superior. To some in the United States, however, an upright handshake might have looked better. Remember Michelle Obama casually patting Britain's Queen Elizabeth on the back during their Buckingham Palace visit? America's royalty tends to make movies...

Rather than deal with the problems directly (IT’S THE DEBT STUPID!) they attempted to circumvent the problem by creating an environment where the government spent hordes of money to prop up failing institutions." Read »

Obama Refuses To Defend Bombing Of Hiroshima, Nagasaki

TOKYO - President Barack Obama is emphasizing cooperation on his first major trip to Asia, opening with a warning to North Korea that there will be tough, unified action by the U.S. and its Asian partners if the Koreans fail to abandon their nuclear weapons programs. The hard line on North Korea was to be a prominent theme of a Friday night speech that also was intended to more broadly showcase a United States that, under Obama's leadership, seeks deeper and more equal engagement in Asia. It was to be the fifth major foreign address of Obama's 10-month presidency, this...

The first — and most important — stopover on President Obama’s long-awaited trip to Asia has been cut in half as he delayed his departure by a day. In Tokyo, he will have just enough time to meet Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, drop in on the emperor and empress, and give a speech on America’s role in Asia. In Asia, Japan is America’s “cornerstone” relationship. From Japanese ports and airfields, we base the forces that defend the South Koreans, guard the Taiwanese, and patrol contested sea lanes. Without Americans in Japan, Chinese warships and planes would soon vie for control...

WASHINGTON--Michelle Obama, the wife of the U.S. president, will not be joining him on his visit to Japan starting Friday. Instead, she is giving priority to her duties as a mother. The couple's daughters Malia and Sasha are sixth- and third-graders, respectively, at a private school in Washington, D.C. They have classes during the president's week-long tour of Asia. The girls, along with their mother, joined President Barack Obama on part of his tour of Europe and Turkey between the end of March and April, as well as trips to Europe, Russia and Africa in July, while on school vacation....

President Barack Obama met with Japan's new leader Friday, hoping to shore up relations with a nation that vows to be more assertive with the United States, even as Obama also weighs whether to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan. While public remarks from Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama are expected to stress their countries' enduring alliance, Obama's visit comes at a time of uncertainty in relations. Hatoyama has promised to end Japan's Indian Ocean refueling mission that supports U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan and to review an agreement on relocating American troops in Japan that Washington thought was...

LINK to brief Japanese TV video.Go to Link. Hit the white triangle. Spot "The Squirrel".(Video Link will be good for about 12 hours or so).

This is a video of some japanese police officers trying to apprehend an American man living there. He speaks no Japanese but manages to toss them around like rag dolls. Notice how, because of low crime, the bikes aren't even chained up. But now with more Americans, they'll probably rethink that.

Here is President Obama's full itinerary for his trip to Asia, as conveyed by Ben Rhodes, deputy national security advisor for strategic communications, Jeffrey Bader, NSC senior director for East Asian affairs, and Michael Froman, deputy national security advisor for international economic affairs: "The overarching theme is that America is a Pacific nation, it understands the importance of Asia in the 21st Century, and it's going to be engaged in a very comprehensive way," said Rhodes. "I think it's a common perception in the region that U.S. influence has been on the decline in the last decade while Chinese influence...

Volkswagen Group has displaced Toyota for the first time as the world's largest car manufacturer in terms of production. The German carmaker produced 4.4 million vehicles in the first nine months of the year, overtaking its Japanese rival by 400,000 units, consulting firm IHS Global Insight said on Wednesday. Volkswagen Group owns a variety of models such as Skoda and Seat and high-end lines Audi, Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini. In July it expanded its stable by acquiring Porsche. HIS Global Insight said Volkswagen was able to beat Toyota thanks to increased sales in China, Germany and the U.K. even amid...

US Risks Following Japan's Example Of Stagnancy Published: 11/11/09, 7:45 PM EDT By TOM RAUM WASHINGTON (AP) - Heavy government stimulus spending and near-zero interest rates did little to end a "lost decade" of stagnation and mushrooming debt in Japan. Some economists and lawmakers say the U.S. may wind up following the same trajectory. Despite early signs of recovery and a strong U.S. stock market rally, fears persist that the failure to generate new jobs or ignite more consumer spending could drag the economy back into recession, or result in a protracted Japan-like period of poor economic and stock-market performance....

TOKYO, Nov. 10 (AP) - (Kyodo)—U.S. President Barack Obama said during an interview with Japan's public broadcaster NHK in Washington on Monday that he is willing to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki...

TOKYO – President Barack Obama says he wants to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki sometime during his presidency but won't have time during this week's trip to Japan to go to the cities devastated by U.S. atomic bombs at the end of World War II. No sitting U.S. president has visited the two cities largely because of the controversy it could raise at home. In an interview with Japanese broadcaster NHK that ran Tuesday, Obama said he would be unable to visit the cities on his trip to Japan this weekend due to time constraints but would be willing to do...

Fukushima Mizuho (Hatoyama's Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food Safety, Social Affairs, and Gender Equality) The SDPJ boss hasn’t always been so chummy with the DPJ. She once said, “The LDP and the DPJ are only as different as curry rice and rice curry.” Now that she’s part of the government headed by the latter, it would seem that she has developed a more discriminating palate. She and husband Kaido Yuichi are both attorneys. Ms. Fukushima has focused on radical feminist causes, and she’s written three books on sexual harassment and domestic violence. She’s also written another called...

What Hatoyama Has in Common with Roh Moo-hyun The steps the new Japanese government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has been taking are reminiscent of the early days of former President Roh Moo-hyun's administration, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said Sunday. The newspaper pointed out that the two administrations resemble each other most in foreign policy, and particularly in relations with the U.S. The Hatoyama administration has criticized ousted Liberal Democratic governments for being at Washington's beck and call and has been calling for a more equal relationship. That, the paper said, is strikingly similar to the Roh administration's pledge not...