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[Munchen]

When the topic of Japanese language learning was discussed several weeks ago, someone mentioned "body language."
I just came across an interesting little book called "70 Japanese Gestures, No Language Communication," by Hamiru-aqui, English version translated by Aileen Chang, in which illustrations are given for numerous gestures.
Areas covered are General Gestures, i.e., bowing, Slang Gestures and Children's Gestures. Available in the US.
Think a drawback of the book, though, is that it features the same gentleman throughout the entire book doing all the gestures. A variety of different people, women and children in the book would have added more authenticity and flair, I think.
As I've seen several books of this sort written about the Italians, famous for gestures, so to speak, this is the first one I've seen for Japanese gestures.
Worth checking out.

[abufletcher]

While this kind of stuff is fun and makes for good party conversation, these sorts of culture-specific gestures are fairly rare in face-to-face interaction. Far more common are the sorts of iconic gestures (drawing or representing an object or action) that are typically enacted along with the words they affiliate with. There are also a range of body movements and displays that are linked to stressed items. Furthermore overall body orientations reflect how each participant is engaged in the action.

Personally, I don' t like the term "body language" as it trivializes one of the fundamental resources available for the organization and management of "physically co-present" interaction. An extensive body of research argues that attempt to cordon off non-verbal from verbal behavior is counter-productive.

But SURE it's FUN to get people to show you the Japanese gesture for "boyfriend " etc.

[abufletcher]

BTW, I'll mention that in my studies of videotaped face-to-face interaction the most commonly enacted culture-specific gesture has been the crossed hands ("batsu") gesture -- sometimes enacted with a single hand because the other hand is engaged in some other aspect of the embodied behavior. Sometimes this single handed "batsu" evolves into the "no-no" before the face hand wave.

[gaijinalways]

I think a lot of these can lead to misunderstandings when used in certain situatons where you don't know that a symbol has different meaning in the place where you are.

A few come to mind;

1#
A Japanese tour guide with some older American tourists in her group wanted them to come back to the bus. She was trying to yell to them, but they were just far enough away so they couldn't hear her. Her gestures for come here (which look similar to the American gesture for go away) made the group think they had more time to shop, thus giving them the opposite message of what she had intended. She had to try to explain it to the Japanese driver later.

2#
A guy hitchhiking in central Africa was almost killed after a group of Africans pulled over and beat him up. The hitchhiking gesture in some countries there is an obscene gesture.

3#
Bush Sr., when he was touring Australia, wanted to give the crowds a victory sign. He flipped his hand around, with the back of hands for his 'V'"s toward the crowd. In America, the gesture has the same meaning, peace or victory (palms out or in). But in Australia, New Zealand, and England, he just told the crowds to 'f--- off' twice!

[abufletcher]

[JimDunlop2]

Actually, truth be told, my wife bought the book.... And you'd be surprised how many of those gestures are actually used on a daily basis when interacting with Japanese people. If you've been here for a while you may not even think about it, as you may already know a number of them, but the meanings are certainly enlightening. For example, I never quite understood why some men would stick two index fingers into the air and put them next to their forehead (like a set of horns or antlers) whenever they mentioned their wives. The gesture means anger (I guess like devil's horns). It means something like, "my wife is gonna kill me when she finds out."

Good book -- but if you buy it and use the gestures, just don't overdo it or people with think you're some kinda freak....

[kdynamic]

Abufletcher obviously knows what he's talking about as far as 'the literature' goes, but actually the gesture thing comes up in daily life all the time. I was personally confused by the go away/come here gesture problem when I first got to Japan. And I have found that my comprehension of casual conversation is far better because I have read up on some of the gestures used specifically in Japan. The boyfriend/girlfriend ones are used quite often, as well as batsu and maru.

But there is a lot of Japanese body langauge that is very important and not as easily qualtifiable. For example, how close people sit to you, leaning forward or not, facial expressions... learning to read these is essential to understanding all the nonverbal ways Japanese people communicate. Especially for that special 'Japanese silence' that is more laden with meaning than I will probably ever really know.

[abufletcher]

[JimDunlop2]

Funny thing about the Japanese silence and its meaning... I remember reading somewhere once that often Japanese silence actually has little meaning aside from it being culturally acceptable for there to be longer lulls in conversation when no one is actually saying anything. I've found that to be true when speaking with Japanese work colleagues or friends... No one seems uncomfortable when conversation comes to a halt and no one says anything for a while... Back home, guaranteed that someone would figure out a way to break the silence -- here it doesn't seem to be a priority.

As for the "go away/come here" gestures... I too was confused at first. Now I do them too! Believe me, it works MUCH better when beckoning Japanese schoolchildren. They come to you a lot quicker.... Sounds funny, but I'm serious! Try it if you haven't. Also, I haven't heard anything about Japan specifically, but I remember also being told that people are very sensitive about how you gesture using fingers. For example, to using only one finger to tell someone to "come here" is apparently very rude, and when referring to oneself, you point to your nose (rather than your chest like we do back home) -- but that one's for China... I don't know about other Asian countries.....

I do know about the thumbs-up and victory signs.... Those are pretty well-known by now I think.... But there's a lot of subtle gestures that can really boost your understanding of what's going on around you.

[Lynn]

[Lynn]

To wave "come here" with your palm facing yourself is only used to beckon dogs.

I'm introverted and often think about what I'm going to say before I say it, sometimes even mid-sentence. Americans always finish the sentence for me, even though they often finish it with the wrong word. Once it turned into a guessing game with my boss until I finally said, "Hold on. Let me finish."

I don't know what's in that book, but one gesture I'm sure of in Japan is the shoulder rub. I don't even think that qualifies for a gesture, really. I've had many Japanese female teacher stand behind me and start giving me a shoulder rub. Children loved to do this, too. My husband says it's "skinship" It's a way of expressing they want to be close to me. I thought it was sweet.

[abufletcher]

[abufletcher]

[mrjohndub]

Two questions:

1) Why do Japanese people claim to actually hate intentional physical contact, such as touching...say, like a pat on the arm...but are so aloof about physical space and paying attention to where they are going and who might be occupying space around them, and can be quite aggressive about pursuing open space, knowing full well that in the end it involves inadvertant physical contact?

2) What are these gestures for boyfriend and girlfriend? Nobody's offerred a description. I'm interested to know what the joke is...

[markle]