Apparently there have been some complaints that I have not posted in a while. So here is a post for you. I don't know if I have mentioned jan ken in a post before, but I think it merits it own post and here is why:
Jan ken, or rock, paper, scissors, is extremely common in Japan. Like, everyone uses it to decide all kinds of things. We use it in class to decide who has to go first, or who has to do the English part first; I have seen kids on trains just playing for fun; if you watch dramas, the characters always jan ken for something (my favorite drama jan ken... gokusen when they guys are fighting over who gets to talk to a girl, so they jan ken for it!); on game shows jan ken is used for various purposes, normally resulting in the loser being humiliated in some way; and I have even seen my teachers jan ken for various things.
I am not totally sure of the rules. I know what you are thinking "Elissa, duh, rock beats scissors, scissors beat paper, paper beats rock!" This is true, HOWEVER, they play jan ken here with more than two people, and that makes everything complicated! I have watched groups of 10 students jan ken to decide who gets the extra milk at lunch, but I am just not quite sure how a winner is determined from the mass jumble of hands.
ALSO, when you play jan ken here, there are some set phrases that you say:
First you say "さ い しよ は ぐ う" (sai sho wa gu) which means starting with rock...
Second, you say "じや ん け ん ぽ ん" (jan ken pon) which is like saying rock, paper, scissors
If you both put the same thing, then you say "あ い こ で しよ" (ai ko de sho) as you choose again.
Also important to note are the hand motions. In the US you just make a fist and sort of bounce it as you say "rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" In Japan, its similar.... you make a fist and on the "sai" you bounce your fist down closer to your body, on the "sho" and "wa" your fist is in the upward arc, on the "gu" you bounce it toward the other player(s), on the "jan" you bounce close to your body again, the "ken" your fist is up in the arc again, and on the "pon" you make your choice (also different, if you pick paper, your palm goes up...) Everyone get that? Check out the video below if you are confused... it is easier if you watch it, but it was sort of fun to try to write it out!!!!!! It moves quickly though, so you have to be ready, which often I am not, so my kids just laugh at me.
This video is just silly but fun at the same time... essentially, if you lose, you have to get the bucket on your head before the other person hits you with the stick. There are different variations I think on game shows with helmets and big fans, etc.
silly jan ken
The end.
Yeah exactly! Plus, when players tie(which means when players ended up the same play, ie: Rock vs Rock), the chant is "aiko deSHO!," with players revealing their play at "sho!" But when players begin to tie continuously, the chant is often shortened to simply "SHO," rapidly changing the play each time, i.e, "aiko deSHO! -SHO! -SHO!". Play may continue even past this initial stage; a common secondary stage of the game is "Acchi Muite Hoi!". The players will chant "Acchi Muite Hoi" (Hey, Look over there!) and on "Hoi" the winner of the first stage will point either up, down, left or right, with the opponent tilting their head in one of these four directions. If the opponent tilts their head in the same direction as the finger, they lose again declaring previous stage's winner the overall winner. If not, the original winners win is cancelled and the game reverts back to "Jan-ken-pon". ^_^
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