No
Hold your arms, or just your index fingers if you don't want to attract as much attention in diagonal bars. Nothing like a great big X across your chest to get the point across. This can mean pretty much any variety of no or wrong or don't. This gesture is called 'butts' but in Japan, make sure you pronounce anything with a 'th' or an 's' sound that the end of a word with a 'su' or else they honestly have no idea what you are saying. It is like a foreign language to them. (so it sounds more like 'buttsu')
Yes
This is a a great big O over your head using both your arms. You will see this a lot in television shows or my lessons, pretty much any situation where you think you can get a laugh.
Thank you
Bowing is always accepted. Everywhere...multiple times
No thank you
Wave your hand in front of your face. Have you thumb pointed toward your face and make a very inadequate fan gesture with your hand.
Come here
It is more of less the opposite of the American version. And the one finger 'come here' that is often sexily done in commercials is apparently much more offensive over here. That is because that is a version that is seen only to dogs. And to use it on a person would imply that the person was on the same level as a dog. Or at least that is how it has been explained to me.
Here the much preferred gesture is actually the inverse, with palm facing downward and a light sweeping gesture with your fingers. Another way is to bend your hand at the wrist and make your hand look like a floundering fish. Your choice. But apparently the latter is more affluent in the teaching society. Personally, I hold my hand at a bit of an inward tilt...I just can't conform completely.
Goodbye
Just wave. You know. Like a normal person. Duh
Excuse me
Remember the 'No Thank you' gesture? It is the same thing, but don't move your hand. No awkward fanning. Just hold your hand up at facial height, thumb pointing toward your nose, and say something like sumimasen and excuse yourself.
I'm sorry
More bowing! And you should do it at least 20 times or you might come off as insincere.
Talking about oneself
Ok so when you talk about yourself in America, where do you point? To your heart right? Or with an open hand upon your chest or something like that.
Well here they point to their noses, and will often touch their nose, when conversing about themselves.
Another point where I just can conform That just looks where. They can get used to my splayed hand upon my chest appearance.
Itadakimasu / gochusosamadeshita
Slap those old hands together, as if in prayer. Fingers straight. And say itadakimasu or gochusosamadeshita out loud before and after meals, respectively.
Money
I see Osaka people doing this gesture a ton. The reason is, is a stereotype that Osaka people are expertly greedy and always extra attentive where money is concerned. The gesture is pretty much the OK symbol, with you thumb and index finger closed in a ring and the other three...those can be pretty much how ever you want them. In Osaka I feel like it is common to see the other three fingers outstretched, but I think others might tell you to keep them in a more relaxed gesture.
Promise
Pretty much the same as the American version of linking pinkie with another person while proclaiming yaksoku
Let's go drink
Make like you are holding an invisible sake cup in your hand. If you don't know what a sake cup is or looks like. Think of a really delicate shot glass holding some awesome kind of alcohol that you are not intended to break or spill.
Sushi
This gesture comes from the act of making sushi itself. It is your index and middle fingers of one hand lain in the palm of the opposite hand. This symbolizes the act of packing the rice when making sushi.
Demon
Pretty much your standard demon horns here. Hold those little index fingers up righ taround your head. Make sure to make a face so that the reciprocating party knows you mean it. Might as well run around like a bull chasing a matador cape while you are at it.
OK, actually this is used mostly when referencing someone else who is not present, this gesture is frequented by the younger kids or when talking to a younger kid. A bit of a childish gesture. Like when a student complains to a teacher who is particularly harsh. It is possible that a child might even do it behind a teachers back...not that I have caught them yet...but soon...
Insult your children!
Pull your lower eyelid down and expose the red tissue beneath it. Don't go over board. just like put your index finger right above your cheek and pull down a bit. This is a gesture for a childish insult. I guess kinda like how in the Little Rascals, the moose-hand-nose-tongue-out gesture became a famous child insult for me in America.
Courage/ Good Luck
Use one hand as a utensil and the other your paper. And now draw the kanji character for person 3 times and pretend to eat it. This is often done before speeches by the speaker to give the him or her a spot of courage.
Spelling
Much like the courage gesture, Japanese people will often spell things on their hands. Kanji stuffs. They might show you by spelling it on your hand of they might spell it for their own benefit, either in question to another person (as in 'do you spell it like this' kind of question), or simply as practice/ trying to remember/ trying to get it right (there are multiple kanji with the same pronunciation before writing it down. Or they will write on other hands when they are spelling things for them.
Wife/ Lover/ Sex
Raise up that little pinky like so, and keep the rest of your hand closed and soon enough you mgiht be indicating that something is your lover. This gesture can be a little bit rude, especially in more formal or office company, but it can be a lighthearted joke as well especially if you are saying that you love something so much it is like your lover. (I recently saw an old man do this on a TV program, implicating a rather randy ramen)
Man/ Husband
This gesture is less offensive. It is simply a thumbs up. This is because the thumb is
<3
This is evidently LOVE. NOT like. If you hold your hands in a heart, thumbs making a point and the other ringers making the butt of the heart, it means you love someone (not normally something). I have a weird misstep with this gesture in the 'I like (fruits/whatever else I want to like)' lesson and did this heart and was talking about mangoes...those little kids thought I was in love with mangoes...But I was just trying to demonstrate the relationship of liking something without having to use any Japanese in my lesson.
If you really love something. That is another story. Think more grand. More exaggerated. More emphatic!...You pretty much just make the M from the YMCA dance above your head. Evidently it looks like the but of the heart and makes for a much bigger heart, indicating a much bigger love.
Go EFF yourself
Yeah of course there is one of these too. But it is actually used waaaay less often than the American version of it is used in America. Actually I even see the middle finger a fair bit here as well.
But this gesture is the exact same as the Korean one I learned previously, of sticking you thumb between your index and middle fingers and making a fist. In Korea this would actually imply that a male in particular had a small member. In Japan I think it is just seen as offensive and is more similar to the American version in its meaning.
V
And let us not forget the peace sing. Or as I have come to know it, the sign all girls make when a picture is being taken. They now even hold it at a bit of a diagonal right around the eyes to make it look cute and artistic or something. Anyways it is your standard peace sign. Index and middle fingers raised. Thumb, ring, and pinky fingers facing outward and make sure you pose. If you don't pose it doesn't count!
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