The Middle Finger, and other Western Imports

I've been having a problem with some of my students flicking me off.

For example, one of the guys I play basketball with has two daughters, a 1st grader and a 3rd grader. The 1st grader ran up to me last night speaking fake English (think 'blah blah blah') and sticking up her ring finger. The 3rd grader, goes, "No no no, like this!", and shoots up her middle finger. The 1st grader then copied her.

I also get it at some of my schools. I'll be sitting at my desk and some kids will walk by, see me through the windows and shout out "Hey Cliff-sensei!" while flicking me off.

I think they understand the meaning of it in a basic sense and they do it to be funny cause they see it on TV. But what they don't understand is the unsaid words that go with the gesture.

***

Western symbols have also been imported void of any meaning. The ones I see the most are the cross, the marijuana leaf, and the Playboy bunny. Lots of girls wear cross necklaces because it's cute. Christians make up about 2.3% of the population in Japan, so I think it's safe to say they aren't wearing it to get closer to Jesus. This is also the country where people are married by unordained priests. People getting married just want a foreigner to stand at the alter with them to complete the 'image'. Apparently the 'priests' here get paid well, so I've considered doing it myself...  

The marijuana leaf symbol is everywhere: from flags, car air-fresheners, pencil cases, and clothes. One of my students has one such pencil case and it's not uncommon to see my students to wear marijuana t-shirts. This all came from Jamaican imports, of course. Again, I would say the majority of people have no idea what they are actually wearing.

And finally, the Playboy bunny, usually accompanied with the word PLAYBOY. No one knows what this is either. When I saw a 6th grader wearing a shirt, I told a teacher that if a student showed up with a shirt like that in America, she would be forced to change. He asked why and I told him what Playboy was. Not a clue... Also, junior high and high school girls have school uniforms with tall socks. They get to pick their own socks, and I would say half of them is the Playboy bunny.

But to be fair, we have zero knowledge of Asian cultures and tend to group everything as 'Chinese'. For example, my mom has a Japanese robe she's worn for over 20 years that she got from my grandpa when he visited. We found out from Yuka that the design was Shogi chess pieces.

***

This was printed on a kid's t-shirt (worn by my autistic kid, no less) that had a rub-ix cube on it and said:

"Is this object the human challenge to a brain?
What do six colors arranged for such aspect of a cube mean?
And what do we witness when these six colors gathered?
It will be assumed that I challenge this hexahedron with great wisdom."

English t-shirts are in style and no one cares what they mean. They provide entertainment to me when I read them, and they provide entertainment to the kids when they have me read them out loud. Speaking of which, nothing makes you feel more uncomfortable than a 5th grade girl asking you to read their shirt that says, "Juicy Girls". It's the name of the brand.