In the Japanese bow, the bower expresses appreciation and respect to the person being bowed to by bending at the waist. This is a gesture widely used in tandem with greetings like "ohayo gozaimasu" (good morning) and "konnichi wa" (hello, good afternoon) as well as words of gratitude or apology. Bows can generally be classified into three types depending on the deepness of the waist bend. The most casual bow is the "eshaku" bow. In this bow, the waist is generally bent at about a 15 degree angle