Japanese new-employee training teaches bowing by angle. Vietnamese workplaces have no such drill. That does not mean respect goes unexpressed — it is simply carried by different forms.
Three angles
Typically taught as:
- Eshaku, about 15° — passing someone in a corridor, entering or leaving a room
- Keirei, about 30° — receiving a visitor, opening and closing a meeting
- Saikeirei, about 45° — deep thanks, or apology
More important than the angle: pause at the bottom, and do not speak while bowing. Finish the sentence, then bow. Speaking through the bow makes it look perfunctory.
Do not bow and shake hands at once
Foreign visitors most often get caught when a handshake and a bow collide. Attempting both leaves the hand half-offered and the head half-lowered.
If a hand is extended, shake it and add a slight nod. Japanese counterparts increasingly extend a hand first when working internationally.
The Vietnamese forms
Everyday Vietnamese life has no bow comparable to the Japanese one. In business, the handshake is standard.
There are deference gestures all the same. Children and younger people greeting elders cross their arms over the chest — khoanh tay. It is taught at school; adults use it less in daily life, but it survives at family gatherings and New Year greetings.
There is also giving and receiving with both hands. Handing something to an elder one-handed is considered rude — the same instinct that governs the exchange of business cards in Japan.
Bowing on the telephone
Vietnamese colleagues find it odd to watch a Japanese worker bow while on a call. The other party cannot see it.
The explanation that lands: respect has become a bodily habit rather than a deliberate act.
What this means at work
A Vietnamese employee bowing shallowly is not short of respect. The scale of angles simply does not exist where they grew up.
Equally, a Japanese colleague who avoids handshakes can read as cold. Both are solved by learning one additional form.