This always confuses me so much, but why do the Japanese all think that Americans run arou...

I think they mean the cheek-to-cheek thing ppl do to greet each other... o3o

I have never greeted someone with a cheek kiss o.O That's just weird.

In my country, it is also believed that American people kiss each other randomly as a greeting. I think this misconceptions came from watching too many English movies with happy families who does noes-to-noes and cheek-to-cheek kisses. Of course, it is also likely because of Italian and French people, since this kind of Japanese misconceptions is often directed to the westerners...I heard that French people kiss friends and relatives as a greeting. I think, because of that, they just sort of started thinking that all people who can speak English does those kind of greetings... :/

Some families are close to do so but many do not. I greet my boyfriend with a kiss. That's it lol

Typically lovers greet one another with a kiss.

It's really common where I live. I have been kissed by strangers before, once on each cheek. I hate it, because physical contact makes me comfortable, but it is normal

Oops, I mean uncomfortable

Well I know that is quite common in latin countries. In my country, it's nation-wide common to greet new people in an informal situation with kisses to the cheeks (to one or two cheeks, depending on the place). Physical contact is no big deal, but I hear that it is a huge deal in eastern Asia?

Here (Belgium) friends do it sometimes too as a greeting but just on the cheek. Oh and on new year and such everyone kisses on the cheeks too but maybe that's normal. I've had a friend though and they and her family always kissed on the mouth when they left the house, to say farewell. That kind of reallyyy shocked me when I saw it happen for the first time. I can't imagine MY father kissing me like that in the morning, but she grew up with it so yeah @.@

You're right. I think the misconception comes from this. And I confirm what you heard about the French people (as I'm French): we indeed kiss our friends and our relatives on the cheeks as greetings.

However, we never kiss people on the mouth except if the person is our lover (or for a joke between close people). You'll never see someone kiss other persons on the mouth as a greeting in France.

And we don't kiss on cheeks everybody either. We can kiss on cheeks strangers but it depends on the situation. For example, if the stranger is introduced by a member of our family or if this stranger is introduced by friends, you can kiss this person on the cheeks because it means you've accepted this person (as if he/she was also someone close to us). But, generally, we shake hands with the strangers or we can shake our head/smile/say "Hello!", etc... following the situation and the distance (in a room, etc...) between this person and us.

But I'm also amazed when I read a manga about the westerners habits, the kissing part of it, because this idea is totally wrong.