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Bowing culture of the Japanese in communication
The culture of bowing in Japanese culture is called Ojigi （お辞儀）
– When welcoming a Japanese partner, the fact that you grasp and follow the greeting rules in Japanese culture is a huge plus, showing your understanding and respect for the culture of the country. their country. Bowing culture is a cultural beauty that you must absorb to integrate with the Japanese, and at the same time shows that you are an educated, polite, courteous and polite person.
– Bowing styles will vary depending on social status and communication relationships. And there is a mandatory rule that “the person below” must always greet the “above” when meeting. For example, when the younger person (the person below) greets the older person (the person above); student (bottom) greets teacher (upper)…
– When bowing, we must keep our back straight in the posture of holding our head high, the upper half of the body gently facing forward but must keep the lower half straight. For men, the two hands are placed along the body, and for women, the hands are placed on the front of the shirt to form a V shape, the right hand is placed on the left hand. Eyes are always down when we bow, the longer we bow, the more respect we show our partners. Finally, don’t forget to put on a friendly smile to show a welcoming attitude towards your partner.
To show that you are an understanding, polite and courteous person, don’t forget to bow when meeting your Japanese partner, this will make a very good impression on your partner!!!
=> There are 3 basic greetings: Eshaku （会釈）、Keirei（敬礼）and Saikeirei（最敬礼）
1. Eshaku （会釈） is a greeting style for people of the same age, class and social status, showing intimacy and gentleness. Looking at this type of greeting, my body only slightly bow about 15 degrees for one to two seconds, our hands can be at our sides.
Eshaku is also the most used style of the day by the Japanese, as well as their simplest. The Japanese usually only greet according to the ceremony in the first meeting of the day, from the next meeting they usually just bow slightly.
2. Keirei（敬礼） is a greeting with a higher level of elegance than Eshaku, while Keirei shows a higher level of formality. Keirei is a bow used to greet superiors, elders or customers, business partners, etc.
With this bow, the Japanese will bow from 30 to 35 degrees for about 2 to 3 seconds. If you sit on the ground and want to perform this greeting, your ears must be facing the ground and 10 to 20 cm apart, the distance from the head to the floor when bowing should be 10 to 15 cm.
3. Saikeirei（最敬礼） is a greeting style that shows the highest respect to the opponent, showing gratitude and respect to the supreme and sacred beings such as Gods, Buddhas, Gods, national flags… born as grandparents, parents…
This formal greeting Japanese will bow very low, about 45 to 60 degrees and hold for about 3 seconds, or even longer.
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