U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered her version of the protocol at a meeting with Japan’s imperial family – a handshake and a kiss on the cheek, AFP announced.
In 2009, for the Japanese imperial couple meeting, President Barack Obama bowed to the king, following strict protocol, and has attracted some criticism from commentators and politicians at home.
Coming to express U.S. support for Japan in a few hours visit to Tokyo, Hillary Clinton has taken the liberty to kiss on the cheek Empress Michiko and shake hands with Emperor Akihito, but without the bow.
Clinton was in Tokyo where she announced a ‘public-private partnership’ between the U.S. and Japan for the reconstruction of the north-eastern region of the Japanese archipelago devastated by the earthquake and tsunami of March 11.
Unlike Clinton, in 2009, during his visit to Tokyo, President Barack Obama has chosen to make a bow in front of the imperial couple. By choosing to bow in November 2009, as required by the protocol, at the meeting with the Japanese emperor, President Barack Obama has unleashed the fury of his republican opponents who perceived this gesture as evidence of the U.S. weakening under his presidency.
White House defended its position at the time, saying that the president has only followed the Japanese tradition.