Since the earthquake of March 11, there's been a lot of bowing and kneeling on TV. Everywhere the executives of Tokyo Electric Power Co. go in the Tohoku region, they are compelled to not only bend over for residents of the area, but in some cases get down on the ground and perform dogeza, the act of kneeling before someone upon whom you are not worthy to gaze, and one that tends to lose significance with repetition. When the president of Tepco, Masataka Shimizu, did it in front of some angry Fukushima evacuees, he said, "We understand your situation and will address it," a statement that prompted one observer to remark to the Sankei Shimbun, "It sounds like something you'd hear from Customer Service."

Symbolically, there isn't much else Shimizu can do the next step in the process would be seppuku (ritual suicide).

Bowing and kneeling can be interpreted many ways, especially when it's the media doing the interpreting. Whenever the Imperial couple visit an evacuation center, reporters always whisper in awe how they kneel before their refugee interlocutors, without pointing out that the interlocutors are already on the ground. When Prime Minister Naoto Kan visited the governor of Fukushima Prefecture, he bowed low but placed his hand on his lower back. The tabloids called it an insult, but it was obvious that Kan has back problems.