Folklore Form/Genre: Japanese gesture/mannerism       Informant: Danny Chiang

Name: Japanese Pinky Gesture           Place of Origin: Japan

Date Collected: 11/4/2018

Informant Data:

Danny Chiang was born on 11/3/60 in Taiwan. His parents are also of Taiwanese decent, but grew up during a time when Taiwan was heavily influenced by Japan. When he was five, Danny moved to Japan for 2 years and ended up going to a few years of elementary school in Japan. There, he learned many different gestures and elements of Japanese culture.

Contextual Data:

Social Context:

I collected this gesture from Danny over FaceTime. He is my father so I thought he would be a great person to ask about Japanese gestures. I asked him if he knew any more insulting gesture in Japanese culture. He said that sticking up your pinky signifies that you are in “last place,” which is an insult to many people.

Cultural Context:

My father explained that this gesture can be used to signify that you are in last place. This can also take the connotation that one is dumb and slower than the others if someone uses this gesture towards him.

Item:

Informant’s Comments:

Danny said this was a popular gesture among all Japanese people, not just children. People use it to signify that one is in last place.

Collector’s Comments: 

I find it really interesting how Japanese people use their pinky to signify last place. Japanese people seem to have a unique way of counting and that is probably why they use the pinky to mean this.

Collector’s Name: Brian Chiang

Tags/Keywords:

• Gestures
• Japan
• Insulting
• Pinky
• Mannerism