re: #289 Dreader1962

Spot on! That was my thought - that Obama is not well served by his advisers regarding protocol. This has been evident in many other diplomatic situations. A bow in this situation should have been a slight inclination expressing the idea that two equals are meeting. The emperor would have appreciated the acknowledgment of the cultural difference and it would not have communicated the idea of a subject greeting his lord. They didn’t show the emperor’s return bow in what I saw - was it a deep bow as well?

No, he just nodded his head.