In Japan, bowing the upper body is not simply a mannered postural greeting, a show of deference. It is also a practice that builds the ancestor into one's framework. Old people are supposed to be bent over like stalks of ripe rice. Our culture sees only osteoporosis. We see the body, but not its instruction. Or we get one bare message only: We're heading for the grave.
— James Hillman, The Force of Character