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The height of etiquette: Michelle Obama towers over Japanese emperor
DM ^

Posted on 03/19/2015 8:24:12 AM PDT by traumer

Michelle Obama has had an awkward start to her visit to Japan as she was pictured towering over Emperor Akihito and stumbling as she tried to bow, shake his hand and curtsey at once.

The First Lady, dressed in a florid combination of a blazer and skirt, dwarfed the Emperor in her silver stilettos, while he maintained his composure and smiled politely. She then squatted slightly while shaking his hand, seemingly trying to disguise the difference of height between them.

Mrs Obama, who is 5ft 9in tall, also caused embarrassment earlier in the day when she grabbed Akie Abe, wife of Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in a hug-and-handshake combination while the Japanese First Lady was trying to bow.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: chewbacca; clod; etiquette; japan; michellejapan; michellephoto; moochelle; obamavacation; protocol; wookie
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To: chris37

41 posted on 03/19/2015 8:40:13 AM PDT by BookmanTheJanitor
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To: Tax-chick
...hugging Mrs. Abe would have been avoided if she had asked the State Department's local protocol adviser to explain the appropriate etiquette.

I don't get all this hugging of strangers.

Who does that when you first meet someone, or greet someone who is merely an acquaintance, rather than a close friend? And even if you did think it might sometimes be appropriate, why would you do that in a non-social setting?

I suppose she saw celebrities doing it on "The Tonight Show" and assumed that's what people do.

42 posted on 03/19/2015 8:40:22 AM PDT by TontoKowalski
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To: traumer

43 posted on 03/19/2015 8:40:50 AM PDT by 444Flyer (How long O LORD?)
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To: traumer

Geez what a clumsy klutz. She should watch how Diana Princess of Wales did it, she was tall too and her wiener of a husband couldn’t handle it, but she always looked graceful and controlled whereas m obama always looks so awkward and klutzy. Who told her to wear a green and white tent?


44 posted on 03/19/2015 8:40:57 AM PDT by yldstrk (My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: WayneS
I’ve heard his worshippers say he’s over 6’ tall.

why do the worshipers know that but don't know where their god (small g) was born ?

Oh, yeah. That would be racist to ask. Never mind.

45 posted on 03/19/2015 8:42:19 AM PDT by llevrok (To liberals, Treason Is the New Patriotism)
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To: traumer

Why is Michelle wearing curtains from the White Hut instead of a dress?


46 posted on 03/19/2015 8:42:19 AM PDT by WashingtonSource
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Comment #47 Removed by Moderator

To: Haiku Guy

It’s a Ford 15-passenger van. Maybe I should have said “as much as my house”! Anyway, I love it. I don’t suppose Belk sells a rayon-blend knockoff ...


48 posted on 03/19/2015 8:42:28 AM PDT by Tax-chick (Google "tiny kitten pictures," and put down the gun.)
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To: tet68

She is 5’ 11” from various sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/26/michelle-obama-height-jimmy-kimmel_n_2022500.html


49 posted on 03/19/2015 8:43:21 AM PDT by BunnySlippers (I LOVE BULL MARKETS . . .)
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To: Patriot Babe

Well, I think he has to be careful not to crush the...

Ah I better not.


50 posted on 03/19/2015 8:44:57 AM PDT by chris37 (Heartless)
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To: WashingtonSource
Why is Michelle wearing curtains from the White Hut instead of a dress?


51 posted on 03/19/2015 8:46:49 AM PDT by N. Theknow (Kennedys-Can't drive, can't ski, can't fly, can't skipper a boat-But they know what's best for you.)
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To: TontoKowalski

I don’t understand it, either. In many cultures, throwing yourself into someone’s personal space is insulting; maybe that’s why she does it.


52 posted on 03/19/2015 8:47:46 AM PDT by Tax-chick (Google "tiny kitten pictures," and put down the gun.)
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To: surrey
Whenever we see her, she always looks like she's trying to prove something with her clothes.

Like, ‘I dare you to object to THIS get- up’.

Actually what she wears are not clothes at all but rather, ‘get-up’s’.

Maybe she is color blind, because that stuff looks awful.

53 posted on 03/19/2015 8:48:16 AM PDT by SMARTY ("When you blame others, you give up your power to change." Robert Anthony)
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To: traumer

They do have swap meets in Japan.

Screaming insults in public, however, is not de rigeur.


54 posted on 03/19/2015 8:49:01 AM PDT by gaijin
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To: traumer

Love the green dress! I can see where the protocol office was going with this, a kimono type of pattern.

The floral suit was too garish. Toning it down would have been better and the color was not flattering to Mrs. Obama.

The courtesy is best done by those who can manage it in heels gracefully. The height disparity is not a problem for the PTB in Japan and the protocol office should not have made it into one.


55 posted on 03/19/2015 8:49:15 AM PDT by OpusatFR
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To: N. Theknow

An extremely funny skit.


56 posted on 03/19/2015 8:49:50 AM PDT by WayneS (Barack Obama makes Neville Chamberlin look like George Patton.)
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To: N. Theknow

“I saw it in the window and I just...”


57 posted on 03/19/2015 8:50:09 AM PDT by WayneS (Barack Obama makes Neville Chamberlin look like George Patton.)
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To: chris37

The people who “dress” her should be fired! That jacket around her butt is so pathetic and everybody knows MO has no fashion sense!


58 posted on 03/19/2015 8:50:25 AM PDT by lonestar (It takes a village of idiots to elect a village idiot.)
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To: WashingtonSource

Why is Michelle wearing curtains from the White Hut instead of a dress?”

How does a very large woman get through college and not have a clue about how to dress?

Other tall/large women in some form of government have always been able to put together nice suits and pearls or becoming dresses.


59 posted on 03/19/2015 8:52:08 AM PDT by angry elephant (Endangered species in Seattle)
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To: yldstrk
"She should watch how Diana Princess of Wales ...."-yldstrk

The royal family's protocol advisers are notoriously first rate. Our nation's first family's protocol adviser(s) ... do they even have any? IIRC, back when Obama was first elected, he made several etiquette blunders while his administration was yet to hire one.

60 posted on 03/19/2015 8:53:24 AM PDT by wtd
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