I agree it might not fall in with the culture, but I don't really think manners has anything to do with it. In my opinion, manners and customs are two separate things. Sometimes they converge, but they are still separate. I guess they aren't into the whole grounding thing over there? 😃 I rarely sit on the ground anyway, so I should be good. Pushing 50, it's just too hard to get up anymore, so why bother.
Well yes, they are separate, but it's hard for people to make that separation without thinking about it, so the first thought upon seeing people sitting on the ground won't be "they don't know my culture", it will be "they are rude and have no manners". Obviously there is some generation gap on this, with older people assuming no manners and younger people being more open to the idea that maybe they just don't know the culture.
haha yeah, I don't think the idea of grounding would go over well with most Japanese.
That's a good point about the generations. I walk around outside without shoes on pretty regularly. There's just something special about it.