Interesting. Unfortunately, here in India, kissing is something I see mostly in movies!!
Kissing here couldn't in no way mean a greeting, it cud mean only physical intimacy, love etc., no, not even affection! (but in some special situations, kissing between women may be acceptable as sisterly!)
Damn strange, eh?........ But that's the way life runs here, and people are really comfortable this way notwithstanding all the rapid westernization that's taken and taking place.
@ lack of physical contact
Funny, but we must have a meagre rate of divorce/breakups compared to the US or Japan. And physical contact in public is something not seen often. All this even though fidelity, responsibility etc. etc. would be one of the highest across...... So, I wouldn't say lack of physical contact contributes to breakups, not here anyway. Here. There must be innumerable people having affairs, but mostly, you would see nothing more than holding hands. It's not that it's forbidden, just that people don't feel comfortable doing it (say kissing etc.) in public. It's too embarrassing.
And the same goes for arranged marriages (omiai). I can't give you statistics, but I can confidently say there are at least five times as many love marriages as arranged. And again, the divorce rate is so low.
The bottom line:- Just the culture and the way people are brought up and society's mindset. (which all keep changing rapidly)
Maybe because divorce is still a social stigma that not many couples break up, and no kissing maybe because people don't like expressing their love so blatantly.
It's funny how every culture is so unique, interesting and funny!
But how I wish I could be kissing and pecking all day long...LOL....("tonari no shibafu wa suggoku aoi" karasa........)
for instance, on msn messenger you have that (K) which shows you on the screen a lip, meaning a kiss.)
