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Looks familiar...
Posted 63 months ago.
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During the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, the skater Janet Lynn fell during her routine and managed to smile and flash the V sign, which really struck a chord with the Japanese about good sportsmanship, doing your best and smiling through adversity. The media loved her spirit and girls all over Japan copied it.
If you ask young girls why they do it, though, few if any can tell you any reason at all.
Posted 63 months ago.
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Fascinating jim thanks for that piece of info.
Posted 63 months ago.
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It's not just Japan either. In Korea it's the standard, and I've seen a ton of people (both guys and girls) rocking the V in Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Posted 63 months ago.
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It protects your soul from being captured.
Posted 61 months ago.
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yeah, i wondered that as well.
even being japanese, i never got the point of it.
everyone does it, so i guess its just natural for them saying "peace" in fornt of a camera and putting their hands on faces.
Posted 61 months ago.
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I kind of don't belive the 1972 Olympics story, it's too simple (it's the one most seen quoted in English). If we go with that then we should also find one example to explain why so many hippies did it in the 60s in the US and UK.
Rather more interesting is why so many Japanese people are STILL doing it so long after 1972!
Posted 61 months ago.
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it does meen heiwa = Peace
because the Japanese people are peacfull people
mostly Girls do it. i don't see to many Business men doing it.
its very Kawaii desu ne
Posted 61 months ago.
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 I like the Olympic story, simple, nice!! So do you have a better explaination? Is there a link with the hippie? maybe.
With they still do this long after 1972? maybe for the same reason that they keep many tradional stuff. Why does they continue wearing kimono? coz of Culture.
I think the best way to answer this tipycal "gaijin" question is find when they start making this sign. In the 60's during hippie period, or after the olympic game.
Posted 61 months ago.
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Even the male teachers I work with do it!
After living in Japan for 2 years I can't help but do it when pictures are taken of me. It's like osmosis!
And, like many things in Japan, if everyone else is doing it, then you should be doing it too!
Posted 61 months ago.
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i really like this discussion :-) i thought it strange, but i never thought why we do... i like the olympic story, which i believed makes a sense. but again, as someone said, it doesn't explain the situation in korea and some other countries...
by the way, japanese people say 'cheese' (actually it goes like 'hai chee-zu') when they take pictures. the weird part is.... the photographer is the one who says it, not the one who is photographed. also, the photographer releases the shutter at the end of 'chee-zu.' i think this custom was originally introduced to make the ones photographed look smiling. but now it is just to inform them when the picture is taken.
takezzo
Originally posted 59 months ago.
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takezzo edited this topic 56 months ago.
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I don't think it's just a Japanese thing. It seems to be an Asian thing. I saw it throughout China, too.
Posted 56 months ago.
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like this?
Posted 56 months ago.
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and this.
Posted 52 months ago.
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After having lived in Japan for 5 years and seeing how Japanese act when they are overseas, it's a habit that they carry with them. You can always tell a Japanese in a foreign country by the way they dress and by the peace sign they hold up when getting pictures taken....
Posted 52 months ago.
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Whatever the reason is (I have often heard about the "peace" meaning), it' a better behaviour that the one of many european people, who turns angrily the face from the camera...
Originally posted 52 months ago.
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Cinghius edited this topic 52 months ago.
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I didn't know about the Olympic story, it makes a lot of sense! I thought this gesture was older though...
I know it's very very common on mangas too, so maybe after the Olympic, people started to do it and this gesture continued through mangas (I'm just saying manga because it has always been a strong influence to them... I don't know about movies and other ways that has strong influence on their culture - but I'm sure there are a lot besides manga), that's why it spread to others asian countries (that also has mangas' influence, like Korea and China) and it was preserved until now... does it make sense?
The V sign was very popular in Brazil in 1994 too (due the World Cup), but it disappeared along the years.
Posted 52 months ago.
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Apparently that the V sign _ you often see with Japanese people in front of cameras represents 'Hiroshima' and 'Nagasaki'. Apparently Prime minister of England Churchill spoke during the post war interview and responded to the media with a V sign saying that the peace sign represents 'Hiroshima' and 'Nagasaki'. Japanese people were deeply touched with this comment and hereafter the V sign widespread among them (according to NHK).
I am Japanese American but I don't use the V sign personally. I think war isn't good in any context. It's not only the Japanese who are victims of the war.
Originally posted 48 months ago.
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mitcht772 edited this topic 48 months ago.
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I saw this sign on the other day. Am I the only one who thought it is so bizarre?
Posted 48 months ago.
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Many asian people pose like that (i've seen quite a lots of Chinese women do it too)... My personal guess is that it is just some kind of "ritual" now... like the "Cheese" thing....
Posted 47 months ago.
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Jim's Olympic story isn't entirely true. (No offence of course, Jim)
It's true Lynn fell during her performance, and instead of the typical tears that follow, she smiled, and became an instant heroine in Japan. However she did not flash the peace sign.
Her fall is around the 2:30 mark in this:
uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gFDS-Ukk7bI
Also
articles.latimes.com/2002/feb/22/sports/sp-olywherenow22
Posted 44 months ago.
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Jim. I would love to see that 1972 winter olympic image. Do you have it?
Posted 43 months ago.
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Very intresting. Thank you all.
Posted 41 months ago.
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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-sign
Posted 41 months ago.
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I was wondering why as well. I think it's quite ridiculous when everybody do it on a picture. Not very natural.
Posted 40 months ago.
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I lived in Japan 53 years ago for two years. I went to school at the International Christian University in Mitaka, Japan. Went to language school in Osaka University of Foreign Studies for six months. I had the opportunity to travel all over the country visiting schools and colleges when I was doing my field work and I had observe the same thing. The "V or victory sign." At the time I was there, I had met former Japanese soldiers and their families. I had asked the same question to the older Japanese who knows about the 2nd World War and their defeat from the Americans. They told me that it is a "Peace" sign and a "Victory" sign from the American GI's. It was a common sign when locals met American GI's (they were called "JOE, hi Joe!" Many Japanese young people today, do not know the background of the sign but they do it out of cultural conditioning. I have gone back to Japan several times and I still give them the "V" sign with a big smile.
Posted 38 months ago.
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the hope for peace is deeply rooted in the Japanese culture. having the unfortunate distinction of being the only nation to experience an atomic bombing, and having seen first-hand the effects of a nuclear weapon, the people of Japan have openly sought for a peaceful world. they believe that no one should ever have to suffer as those who were subjected to the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
it is now so entrenched in their upbringing that the younger generations have forgotten why they do it. they do it just because they have always done it and everyone around them does it.
Posted 37 months ago.
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^ I think Eye Scream is closest to correct - Japan having been the only country ever actually nuked in wartime has kept the peace message vital and relevant in Japan, rather than a faddish, era-bound thing.
And I'll echo a lot of other posters here in that most posers would know it means 'peace' but probably are not exactly aware of why they do it in photos specifically.
Posted 37 months ago.
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The 'V' sign is common across many Asian people, for some strange reason. Indeed, it's not the only pose that Asians do. Check out asianposes.com/
Posted 31 months ago.
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Churchill did dthe V sign not for peace but Victory in Europe .
I like the soul from being captured , one !!
great topic...
Posted 29 months ago.
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Its too show great happiness. I asked and apparently if they smile big and do that it distracts from their small eyes. that is usually why some do it.
Posted 28 months ago.
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It is a universal phenomenon of humanity :)
Posted 27 months ago.
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I much prefer it to Western people looking moody or pouting as if they're some sort of model.
Posted 26 months ago.
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www.dannychoo.com/post/en/1104/Japanese+V+Sign.html
Posted 26 months ago.
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flyinfiddlesticks-deleted [deleted] says:
Interesting, altho I havent really seen it much, or at all.
Posted 19 months ago.
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Japanese people are "peaceful" *rolls eyes* from what I remember, they slaughtered innocent people in China during WWII in what was called the Nanjing Massacre. Peaceful my ass!
Posted 16 months ago.
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I wondered this too. I always heard the GI story. Anyways the Japanese have become very peaceful in recent years. I stress recent. During WWII they committed insane amounts of war crimes My grandma is from Korea and remembers the Imperial Army staking dead rebels on the road and taking high-school girls into rape camps. The US covered it up in return for bio-weapon research. Even today Mitsubishi tries to bury the past. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731
Posted 15 months ago.
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What I want to is why are they always falling backwards to land on their rear in movies, sitcoms and cartoons when confronted with something fearful.
In older movies and tv shows I don't see this as much.
Posted 4 months ago.
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Well after living in Japan for awhile I must say that after a few months there I felt compelled to do the peace sign as well, it just makes sense!
Posted 3 months ago.
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