Customer Reviews

70 Japanese Gestures: No Language Communication

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If you're a fan of the Japanese culture, then you know that communication is often full of non-verbal communication - hand gestures, body movements. Here's the way to decipher what those mean!

Written by Hamiru-aqui and translated by Aileen Chang, this brilliant book contains photos of a Japanese person doing the gesture, the name of the gesture and its full history. This is invaluable whether you read manga, watch anime, or enjoy any sort of Japanese cinema.

For example, what does it mean when a Japanese person puts a pair of fists in front of their nose, making their nose look longer? Does it mean they're telling a lie, like in Pinnochio? Hardly! It's actually representing a tengu, or Japanese demon. Tengu were known as being very conceited, so this hand gesture means you think the person you're referring to is an overly-proud person.

The book is full of not only standard hand symbols but also swears and 'dangerous hand movements', ranked by intensity. There are some hand movements you definitely do NOT want to do to a Japanese person - but you might not even realize it!

It's like the middle finger in American / British culture. That middle finger movement has a long history and immediately means something to us. To other cultures, it might not mean anything at all. Just as when we see a middle finger stuck at us we get an instant reaction, so do the Japanese get instant reactions to certain hand gestures and body movements.

This book is the key to deciphering what those movements mean, so that your enjoyment of the Japanese culture is even more complete!

Highly recommended, and very entertaining!

This book was funny and insightful. It makes visitors to Japan aware that much can be said through a gesture and great offense or insult as well. It's always a good idea to research any country that you are going to visit and this book brings the reader one step closer to avoiding potentially sticky situations.

This book is hilarious and at the same time informative! Who knew learning could be so entertaining? It has a lot of fun insights into different aspects of Japanese culture. I only wish the book was longer and went more in-depth.

This is a fun little book with pictures showing many common (and some not-so-common) Japanese gestures. So much can be conveyed by non-verbal communication, and while language books and cultural guides are invaluable, so is this!

The way people gesture to say 'come here', 'I agree', or 'you' for example are not exactly what westerners are used to and could easily be misinterpreted. Some gestures are purely Japanese as well.

The gestures are introduced by showing a picture of the motion in question, with swishy/brush marks to indicate direction of movement. I have to admit I am more of a visual learner, but for that to work I have to see the actual movements. The pictures come close but for a couple I do remain stumped (and plan on picking the brains of some co-workers to clear up). The pictures are also accompanied by a brief description that explains the motion, the meaning and the context used.

I think looking this over prior to a visit, then keeping it handy during a visit would be the best use--I really got the picture (so to speak) much more clearly for having seen so many of the gestures in action.

Also of note, the book was written by a Japanese individual and translated. I was eating dinner with my family last night and reading through the book with them, and our Japanese waitress was fascinated and started reading it with us. We wrote down the title/author for her (yay for Amazon.co.jp)! In any case she loved it and thought it was great we were reading it.

To sum up...a great book to supplement other pre-travel reading and learning and one that is very useful after arrival as well. Highly Recommended!

JTG

Oh, and the author recommended looking at manga and old films (such as Kurasawa's) because often they use a lot of gestures instead of words. This will give practice in learning the gestures, and conversely, the book will help you understand the films better I imagine too...

Though I have taken two semesters of Japanese language classes, and have supplemented these studies myself, no one ever taught me about these nonverbal gestures. I recognized plenty of them from Japanese films and anime, however, I had never discearned thier meanings myself. This book was very entertaining and informative. It helped me to have a better understanding of Japanese language and culture. Now, when I see these gestures being done in Japanese films, I understand why they are making them.

Honestly, I didn't have that high expectations when I got it and picked it up to read it. The pictures are strange, with the face blurred out. One or two of the gestures it's hard to tell what they're doing exactly. Still, this book is filled with humor and it was worth the read. It shows different versions of the gestures, and how to make the gestures have different meanings or be more offensive. It also tells you if it used by someone older or younger, male or female, and when to/not to use it. They have a little description of the model at the back of the book, and that to me was neat. But the book has a paragraph with each picture, and the word is written in both romaji and kana, which is nice. I thought it was quite funny and even interesting. Definitely borrow it from a friend or buy it used, because it is short! I enjoyed it quite a bit.

I'm not sure this was a better choice than the rather terrible and strange Hungry Sailor cookbook. I did learn that the way I make a fist in my sleep is a rude gesture but I regret doing this Amazon promo. Instead of getting 25% off on 4 books I wanted, I got one book I liked and three that were a waste. Never again.