Why the peace sign in every photo?

Rahmie · 5 Oct 2007

I have been looking at some photo of a friend's who is in Japan and in every photo with a Japanese person the person is flashing the peace sign. Why do Japanese people (especially the girls) flash the peace sign. I mean what is the meaning of it or is there one? :?

Mike Cash · 5 Oct 2007

By now it is just a long standing tradition. People do it reflexively.

1. Camera pointed toward Japanese
2. Peace sign(s) go up

What is really odd, I find, is that most Japanese I have talked to about it quite unconscious of doing it and furthermore don't even notice the peace signs in pictures. I remember looking at a group photo of a school trip shown to me my a high school student. Out of about 50 kids in the photo, we counted something like 78 peace signs. None of the people looking at the photo thought it odd or noticed them at all until I brought it up.

I did get some chuckles when I showed some Japanese friends a photo I recently took of a frog and said that it was very obviously a Japanese frog. They wanted to know why, and I told them it was because he was making a peace sign.

Pachipro · 5 Oct 2007

A simple use of the search engine using the word "peace sign" will bring up many threads like this one from a while back. Whereas people in the US usually say "cheese" during a snapshot, people in Japan will usually say "peace" (peesu). Hope this helps.

bakaKanadajin · 5 Oct 2007

I've heard it also signifies 'V' for victory.

It is a very long tradition as far as pop culture goes though, I remember seeing characters in Street Fighter II doing this back in the early 90's when that game came out.

Mike Cash · 5 Oct 2007

bakaKanadajin said:
I've heard it also signifies 'V' for victory.

Now that you mention it....that frog does bear a slight resemblance to Churchill....

bakaKanadajin · 6 Oct 2007

gahahaha

Separated at birth?

Tokis-Phoenix · 6 Oct 2007

Pachipro said:
A simple use of the search engine using the word "peace sign" will bring up many threads like this one from a while back. Whereas people in the US usually say "cheese" during a snapshot, people in Japan will usually say "peace" (peesu). Hope this helps.

Actually that raises another question- why do we say "cheese"? I can understand japanese people doing the v for victory or peace sign, but us doing the cheese thing??

Geostigma · 6 Oct 2007

Tokis-Phoenix said:
Actually that raises another question- why do we say "cheese"? I can understand japanese people doing the v for victory or peace sign, but us doing the cheese thing??

I think it's because saying the word cheese naturally makes people look like they're smiling.

Pachipro · 6 Oct 2007

"peesu" or cheese I guess it makes one smile. Really though it started back in the late 60's/early 70's when many Japanese thought it cool to use the peace sign and say "peesu" as they had seen it said and done in overseas pics and photos of that era. It stuck and became a custom to this day.

Some say "cheezu" while flashing the "V".

Maybe they should say "peesu cheezu pleezu" LOL

Murs · 6 Oct 2007

So when we say chesese we should throw up a "C" with our fingers right? Though we'd look like west-coast gangsters.

MadamePapillon · 6 Oct 2007

It could also be a modified version of the 'bunny ears', you know when you would put the V over someones head in a photo. How many of us have done that without even thinking about it. XD

diceke · 6 Oct 2007

Mike Cash said:

Tokis-Phoenix · 6 Oct 2007

Murs said:
So when we say chesese we should throw up a "C" with our fingers right? Though we'd look like west-coast gangsters.

LOL, thats too funny !

scorpion da black · 8 Oct 2007

well the japs have this war-peace-fobia
ever since they were attacked by nuclear weapons they addopted this " we want peace coz we might get our *** kicked by the U.S again " syndrom

and now it is just unvoluntary to have that peace sign......like we metalheads have the rock on sign, hiphopers have westside ,eastside what ever their record company is sign...
so it is just a gesture

Mike Cash · 8 Oct 2007

scorpion da black said:
well the japs have this war-peace-fobia
ever since they were attacked by nuclear weapons they addopted this " we want peace coz we might get our *** kicked by the U.S again " syndrom
and now it is just unvoluntary to have that peace sign

My goodness, what profundity.

scorpion da black · 9 Oct 2007

Mike Cash said:
My goodness, what profundity.

thank you

i make my explanations seriouse but is a completely humorouse way so it wouldnt be boring to read

and i know you were making fun of that but its cool

Rahmie · 9 Oct 2007

Thanks for all your help guys. I was thinking that maybe they wanted an action shot so they did the peace sign because it is easy and quick.

Mike Cash · 10 Oct 2007

Nope. Just awkwardness about what to do with their hands while being photographed. It is a common phenomenon among most humans. People in Japan tend to deal with it by posing with a peace sign.

Kirie_Maiden · 17 Oct 2007

From looking at Japanese people doing the peace sign, I have now adopted it myself. There are a few pictures of me doing this, and I have come to stop noticing it. Would I fit in if I went to Japan?

I have always wondered why the peace / victory sign seemed to be a Japanese sign. Do any other countries do it as often as Japan does?

Rahmie · 31 Oct 2007

Kirie_Maiden said:
I have always wondered why the peace / victory sign seemed to be a Japanese sign. Do any other countries do it as often as Japan does?

I haven't seen it being done by any other country not like the Japanese.

Kirie_Maiden · 31 Oct 2007

No, I haven't seen it either. It seems to happen a lot more in Japan than anywhere else, and I think if other countries do it, they are likely be copying Japan. Not necessarily all the time though. Celebrities do it to show they promote peace.

mika_r · 3 Nov 2007

lol, in my country it's becoming very common too!

I think it's a way to say hi or a new form to say cheese x)

scorpion da black · 13 Nov 2007

Rahmie said:
I haven't seen it being done by any other country not like the Japanese.

as i said before it is involuntary....people get used to do things they try out couple of times.

like i am used to show the "rock on" (devil horns) hand sign in every picture i am in ...it is involuntary for me i just poke my hand up

Kirie_Maiden · 14 Nov 2007

Haha. I agree with the rock horns thing. I do that quite a lot too. It becomes habit to do stuff like that, like whenever I am saying goodbye to my friend, we do this salute we got from the film "Moon Child" and I sometimes don't even realise I've done it until I see her doing it.

The question is, why do so many people do it? Is there a significance of the sign other than the usual "Peace" or "Victory" or is it just a cute thing to do, like another part of Kawaii culture?

diceke · 14 Nov 2007

Why the peace sign in every photo?

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