HandSignsGenerallylistedinorderoffrequency,handsignsareverycircumstantial.Menusethemmorethanwomen,thoughthiswilldependonwhoiswatching.Asaforeignmale,studentsgenerallyfeelfreerusinghandlanguagewithme,than,forexample,withmywifewhoisJapaneseandcommandsmoreauthorityandthusmorerespectfulformality.Also,asIwishtobeawareofthefeelingsandopinionsofmystudents,Iofteninterceptmessagesnotmeantformyeyes.1.‘Comehere’(Chotto...oide)Usedwhencallingsomeonetowardsyou,thisgestureresemblesaWestern-stylegood-bye,oftenconfusingforeigners.Withasomewhatlimpwrist,flapfourfingersinthedirectionofthepersonyouwanttoattract.Generallynotrecommendedforsuperiors,itisstillconsideredpreferabletoyelling.2.‘Good-bye’(oftenaccompaniedwiththeEnglishloan-word"bye-bye")Fingersfullyextended,thehandmovedleftandrightrapidly.ComparewiththeJapanese‘Comehere’#1.3.NoWavingthehand,thumbtowardstheface,backandforthasiffanninginshortstrokes,meansno,notme,ornothankyou,dependingonthesituation.UsedagreatdealbystudentswhodonotknowtheappropriateEnglishexpression,ortoavoidbeingembarrassedabouttheirinabilitytospeakEnglish.Themoreemphaticthewavethemoreemphaticthe‘No’.4.‘Excuseme’(Sumimasen)Usedwhencuttingbetweentwopeople,orasageneralapology.DerivedfromaBuddhistsignforblessing,similartothetwo-handedsalutationusedinSoutheastAsiabutwithonlyonehand.Handflat,thumbnearthenose,headandbackslightlybent,eyesaverteddownward.5.WritingKanji(ChineseCharacters)Aformofthinkingoutloud,orspellingoutamessage,Japaneseoftenwritewiththeirfinger,ontothepalmoftheirhand,ontheirthighwhensitting,orintotheair.Byvisualizingthecharacterithelpstodistinguishwhichcharacterfromseveralwiththesamepronunciation.6.Peace/VictorySignCanonrareoccasionshavethemeaningofPeace,asin‘Ididn'tmeantomakeyouangry’,yetmostcommonlyusedasaplayfulgesturewhenposingforsnapshots.Alsocommonlyusedasasymbolofsuccess,asinthesuccessfulcompletionofadifficultquestion.Primarilyusedbystudentswhenclowningforfriends,thisissometimesusedasagreetingtoforeigners.7.Jan-Ken(Choosing)Thisisthefirsthandgamelearnedbychildren.Thisimportantgameisusedoftenbystudentstochoosesomeonefromagroupoftwoormore,aswhendeterminingwhogoesfirstorwhogetsthelastpieceofcandy.Playersshout"Jankenpon!"andsimultaneouslyformtheirhandsintooneofthreepossibleshapes.Guastone,Chokiscissors,orPapaper.Astonedefeatsscissors,becausescissorscannotcutastone.Paperdefeatsastone,becausepapercanwrapastone.Scissorsdefeatpaper,becausescissorscancutpaper.8.CountingOppositetothatoftheWest,whencountingstartwiththefingersextended,andthenfoldfingersintoafist,startingwiththethumbandfinishingwiththelittlefinger.Usingthesamehandfoldedinafistraisethelittlefingerforsix,andcontinueuntilanopenhandagain.Adjustingtothissystemquicklycanpreventmisunderstandingsduringgameplaying,remember,forexample,theJapanesesignfor‘two’reads‘three’totheWesterneye.9.IndicatingnumbersWithaclosedfist,raisetheindexfingerforone,middleandindexfortwo,etc.usingthethumblast.10."Somethingsmells"(Kusai!)VerysimilartotheWest,thesecanbeusedquiteinnocently,ortobeinsulting.Describesallbadsmellsincludingbadbreathandbodyodor,butnotintheAmericansenseof"Thatmoviestunk!"(Thatmoviewasbad).Donebypinchingthenosewiththeindexfingerandthumb,And/orbywavingthehand,asiffanningawayabadsmell,infrontoftheface.IhavefoundthatJapanesestudentsaregenerallysensitivetosmells.AttimesItoohavebeentemptedt...
