When U.S. President Barack Obama bowed to the Emperor during his visit to Japan last month, the headline of The Japan Times read: "U.S. conservatives: Obama bowed too deeply to Emperor." While some Americans accused the U.S. commander in chief of "groveling to a foreign leader," however, the Japanese and the country's vernacular media were full of praise for Obama's "correct" conduct.
Such rigid Japanese ideas of what is "correct" behavior are likely familiar to many non-native readers: Ever entered a Japanese home to the agonized howls of Japanese friends when you waltz in without taking your shoes off? Or been baffled by the uniformly polite service received at every turn?
If such first encounters with Japanese culture and customs still shock some newcomers, imagine how alien this land and people must have seemed to some of the first Westerners to arrive in Japan 400 years ago, when, driven by storms and bad luck, the Dutch ship Liefde was forced to land on the shores of Zipangu.