Not All Symbols are Universal

While reviewing a PowerPoint pitch that was going to a Japanese customer I cringed at the last slide talking about "partnership". It had the inevitable clip-art for this sort of thing:

Now this sort clipart is sort of cheesy for a normal PowerPoint presentation, but this was for a JAPAN presentation. They BOW there.

Don't get me wrong, everyone in Japan obviously knows what a handshake is, do it with their Western counterparts, and would perfectly understand the symbolism of the picture. They also wouldn't be offended, per se, but you know "how American" would be going through the back of their mind.

I took it out.