At the start of class in Japan, the students all stand up, now to the teacher, and sit down before lessons start. Supposedly this is to show their respect to the teacher. I have no problem with students showing their respect to the teacher, but I'd rather they did it by putting in the effort in class, not by simply being obedient. Teachers should earn that respect through their actions and words, students should want to respect them, and it shouldn't be forced (like a lot of things in Japan, especially in customer service)