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

Name: Japanese Pinky Gesture           Place of Origin: Japan

Date Collected: 11/4/2018

Informant Data:

Janice Chiang was born on 7/1/62 in Malaysia. Her parents are also of Malaysian decent. Although she grew up in Malaysia, she moved to Japan for five years because her advertising agency moved her out there. There, she learned many Japanese gestures and cultural elements that she shared with me.

Contextual Data:

Social Context:

I collected this gesture from Janice over FaceTime. She is my mother so I thought she would be a great person to ask about Japanese gestures. I asked her if she knew what the middle finger equivalent was in Japan. She then showed me that if you put your thumb in between your index and middle finger, this signifies the middle finger. She learned this at a very young age when her older sister taught it to her.

Cultural Context:

My mother explained to me that this is not just the case for Japanese culture. Malaysia, China, and many other Asian countries use this as their middle finger equivalent, as well.

Item:

Informant’s Comments:

Janice said this was the middle finger equivalent in most Asian cultures. However, this gesture is not used often as Japanese people are more passive and do not outwardly express insults.

Collector’s Comments: 

I find it really interesting how Japanese people and other Asian cultures use this as the middle finger. I wonder if this originally stemmed from Japan, or some other Asian country.

Collector’s Name: Brian Chiang

Tags/Keywords:

• Gestures
• Japan
• Insulting
• Middle Finger
• Mannerism