6 ms·

How many ways can you bow in Japan?

15 points by JacobAldridge 17y ago

pwim 17y ago
I'm reminded of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqZcEwHBAk8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqZcEwHBAk8
ebun 17y ago
Bowing is so integrated here that I don't even realize I'm doing it anymore. It becomes second nature, and you pretty much do it before and after everything. Even though I don't really understand the intricacies, I can usually get-by by overdoing it all the time. When in doubt, bow.
patio11 17y ago
Why is the car company called Toyota, if its founding family goes by the name Toyoda? The former is more auspicious. The written form of Toyota requires eight brush strokes—as opposed to 10 for Toyoda—and eight is considered a lucky number. This is so comprehensively wrong I don't even know where to start. The kanji for Toyota (豊田) and Toyoda (豊田) are identical. Bitwise identical, even. (And I count 18 brush strokes, which leads me to think that someone thinks the decision was between トヨタ and トヨダ, which is backwards: the pronunciation does not get decided when you need to disambiguate for writing katakana, it gets decided on naming, and anyone who reads 豊田自動車 as Toyoda Jidousha is reading it wrong and has been for more than eighty years now.) Toyota Motors sometimes prefers to use the katakana version of its name (トヨタ) in preference to the kanji, but that is basically a branding thing ("it scarcely matters what you pick as long as it is consistent!"). They'll write it with kanji every once in a while too, as will newspapers and the like referring to their country. (This is very roughly similar to newspapers referring to William Jefferson Clinton as "Bill" -- it is an acknowledged correct name other than the canonical one.) Other companies in the Toyota group standardize on the kanji (such as 豊田自動織機 -- Toyota Industries Corporation) or even on the romaji ("Toyota") versions.
brazzy 17y ago
The explanations in the articles are several decades out of date. Nowadays, parents and schools have other focuses than the intricacies of bowing, and companies routinely hold classes on this (and, more importantly, "keigo", the formally polite grammar and vocabulary) for newly-hired graduates.

15 points by JacobAldridge 17y ago

pwim 17y ago

I'm reminded of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqZcEwHBAk8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqZcEwHBAk8

ebun 17y ago

Bowing is so integrated here that I don't even realize I'm doing it anymore. It becomes second nature, and you pretty much do it before and after everything. Even though I don't really understand the intricacies, I can usually get-by by overdoing it all the time. When in doubt, bow.

patio11 17y ago

Why is the car company called Toyota, if its founding family goes by the name Toyoda? The former is more auspicious. The written form of Toyota requires eight brush strokes—as opposed to 10 for Toyoda—and eight is considered a lucky number. This is so comprehensively wrong I don't even know where to start. The kanji for Toyota (豊田) and Toyoda (豊田) are identical. Bitwise identical, even. (And I count 18 brush strokes, which leads me to think that someone thinks the decision was between トヨタ and トヨダ, which is backwards: the pronunciation does not get decided when you need to disambiguate for writing katakana, it gets decided on naming, and anyone who reads 豊田自動車 as Toyoda Jidousha is reading it wrong and has been for more than eighty years now.) Toyota Motors sometimes prefers to use the katakana version of its name (トヨタ) in preference to the kanji, but that is basically a branding thing ("it scarcely matters what you pick as long as it is consistent!"). They'll write it with kanji every once in a while too, as will newspapers and the like referring to their country. (This is very roughly similar to newspapers referring to William Jefferson Clinton as "Bill" -- it is an acknowledged correct name other than the canonical one.) Other companies in the Toyota group standardize on the kanji (such as 豊田自動織機 -- Toyota Industries Corporation) or even on the romaji ("Toyota") versions.

brazzy 17y ago

The explanations in the articles are several decades out of date. Nowadays, parents and schools have other focuses than the intricacies of bowing, and companies routinely hold classes on this (and, more importantly, "keigo", the formally polite grammar and vocabulary) for newly-hired graduates.