Anime is a useful bridge between East and West since it allows you to pick up on some of the minute details of human communication, which would never be discussed in a language textbook. In the West, when a person wants to indicate himself with a gesture he’ll likely point at his chest with his forefinger or thumb. In Japan, however, a person will point to their nose if they want to communicate the idea of “Do you mean me?” which takes a little getting used to. Of course, I’ve lived in Japan long that I do these kinds of Japanese gestures while in the U.S., which can feel really strange. Once I went into a store and the employee there decided I must be from France for some reason, although I was as American as he was. I wasn’t sure what he was basing his assumption on, so I just smiled without saying anything.
This Japanese gesture means “who, me?”
