Bowing in Japan is the most basic form of greeting. In the past, it was depicted as a way of conduct of Japanese people. That is also because Japanese players who went abroad and bowed as part of their performance were taken as icons and then recognized as a symbol of Japanese people’s manners.

    Even without words, by just lowering down the head to a certain angle, you can get across gratitude, respect and even an apology. Japanese people are repeatedly lowering down their heads but what are they truly thinking? For this, there may be a poor image of Japanese people.

    Japanese culture is made of circumstances and emotions that cannot be expressed in words, and situations that cannot clearly be defined as black or white. There are a thousand colors in-between and they cannot all be expressed with words. Japanese itself is a language that is said to be extremely rich in ambiguous expressions. You might like it or despise it, however ambiguous expressions form the base of the Japanese language. We have mentioned the habit of bowing in Japan : an example of the fact that words are not enough to get across everything.

    It seems like something complex but the truth is that you do not have to think too hard when it comes to bowing. Let‘s take away every possible worry within the next lines…

    “Mokurei” (Eye-greeting)

    For example, in the midst of talking to someone, you accidentally meet another acquaintance. Or you bump into someone you know when they are speaking with someone else. So, you are reciprocally aware of one another’s existence. In plain words, it feels like you both are not in the position to greet each other correctly.

    That is the kind of situation where the eye-greeting should be used. Despite being the most minimal movement, eye-greeting is considered to be one form of bowing. Meet the other person’s eyes and perform a light form of bowing. In this case, it is not indispensable to bow. What is important, is to meet the other person’s gaze and get across the feeling of happiness of having bumped into that person, even just with the movement of the eyes.

    This might be too much of an explanation. So, what is important is the eye-contact. We guess that’s something that everybody is capable of.

    Japanese greetings, as we can see with bowing, are a form of non-physical contact. This is something that goes hand in hand with Japanese people’s disposition towards physical contact.

    “Esyaku” (Slight bow)

    Another casual form of bowing is the so called eshaku (slight bow). The eshaku could come in useful in various situations. It would be useful for you to perform this type of bow naturally.

    Generally speaking, the slower you do it, the more it seems polite.
    A straight “How do you do” can become an extremely polite “How are you doing today?”
    And in the same way, a slow slight bow can change a “ooops sorry” to a polite “I sincerely apologize.”
    A “see you then mate” can become a “I am terribly sorry to have to leave you” or “I hope from the bottom of my heart to be able to meet you again.”

    If you give the eshaku slight bow a try, you might be surprised to experience this trait of Japanese culture firsthand.

    Bowing to show respect “keirei”

    When talking about bowing, keirei is the most common one. This form of bowing is also used in Japanese martial arts such as Judo and Kendo. You will certainly see many people bowing for respect in Japan, as keirei is very used with customers.

    The secret is not only to bow down your head but your whole upper part of the body, trying to keep your back straight. Yet still, the most important thing, is the feeling you put into it…

    To be precise, you do not need to join your hands together. You also do not need to place one hand on your forehead.

    The most respectful bow “sai-keirei”

    The last type of bow we explained was keirei. To this we add “sai”, meaning “a lot” and we get a very respectful bow. To be precise, to perform a very respectful bow, you should bend your body at 90 degrees. That is to show the most respect to the person in front of you.

    To compare the degree of this last bow to a different situation, picture yourself stretching your body to see closer or find something a little far away when your body is stuck and you cannot move your feet.

    Back to the bow, to tell the truth, a lot of Japanese people are not capable of it neither. Manners have been an important part of Japanese culture, in every possible situation, ever since. It is undeniable that it has become a mere formality but…

    What remains unchanged from the past is that what matters is not the perfect performance, but rather the feeling that your bow is accompanied by. That may be enough to keep going and not forgetting to bow on different occasions.