US admiral defends Obama's Japan bow

The former top commander of US troops in Asia on Thursday strongly defended President Barack Obama against critics of his bow to Japan's Emperor Akihito, calling it a gesture of respect.

Admiral Timothy Keating, who retired last month when he ended his stint as head of the Honolulu-based US Pacific Command, said he did not hesitate to bow when Akihito and Empress Michiko visited Hawaii in July.

"That's what one does when one sees the emperor of Japan. I don't care if it's the president of the United States or the commander of 325,000 Americans," Keating told a forum at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"You see the emperor, you express your respect for the man and the history and the position he holds and she holds," he said of the imperial couple.

"It's almost a reflexive gesture," he said. "I did it and it didn't bother me even a New York second."

Obama, who has tried to project a humbler image of the United States, bowed as he shook Akihito's hand last week in Tokyo at the start of a four-nation tour of Asia.

The image infuriated some of Obama's conservative critics such as former vice president Dick Cheney, who said the president should stand tall overseas.

Akihito is the son of wartime emperor Hirohito, in whose name Japanese troops fought in World War II, but is forbidden from any role in government under the post-war constitution.