Do Japanese hug each other in public?

That time I had a Portuguese friend. He was from the same generation as me and he often gave me an email. Then he always wrote at the end of the letter, “Hug”. Oh my God, that was his greeting but I didn’t like that word because he was a man. Although I would be happy if he was not a man.

One day, I replied to him in the email, “we don’t hug in Japan”. Then he was angry to reply, “I watched many Japanese erotic videos, so I know they hug with their naked bodies”. He said to me, “you are a liar”. Yes, I know a fact that many Japanese hug with their naked bodies. But honestly I didn’t want to hug that guy who was my friend.

Japanese are shy, so we rarely hug others in public. When we are very friendly with someone from another country, at that time we are willing to hug the person. But, I can say, Japanese guys rarely hug each other. Because, there is a possibility that they are rumored, “they are weird in one sense”, so we are afraid of the rumor, even though they have a good relationship. 

Of course, I can say, couples like to hug everywhere in Japan, in the case that they are young. However adults hesitate to hug especially in front of their children. This is just Japanese “beauty sense”. 

We have said since a long time ago, “To hide is beauty”.