My Take | The art of the insincere Japanese bow and wartime remorse

I have often been told that Beijing's constant banging-on about Japan's wartime atrocities is sheer hypocrisy, considering the Communist Party committed plenty of atrocities against the Chinese people.

And I was told that Japan's leaders have issued countless apologies and expressions of regret and remorse over decades so Beijing's constant demand for contrition ignores Japan's post-war history.

Yes, that's all true, but it doesn't mean Asian nations - not just China, which suffered under Japanese imperialism - are wrong to revisit this tragedy again and again. We are here once more because Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he intends to express remorse over the second world war in a statement later this year to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the conflict.

There is much insight to be gained from an episode about the etiquette of Japanese bowing from the American comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm. Comedy can be serious business.

The show's hero, Larry David, was upset about the way his order of takeaway sushi was given to him by the Japanese maître d' and demanded an apology. Though reluctant, the maître d' said sorry and took a shallow bow. Suspicious that he was not sincere, Larry asked a group of Japanese tourists about bowing and was told that only a deep bow was sincere.

"A shallow bow is worse than not bowing at all," one of the tourists said, to whom his fellow Japanese nodded in agreement. "It is more like a shit bow."