Junken Pon!

As a 2nd grader living in Japan...

...I learned to play this little game:

Junken Pon! 

(pronounced like "Jun Ken Poh")

literal translation that I found at various sites: "It is the fist".

If there is a draw, both players continue with:

Aiko desho! 

(pronounced like "I-ko deh-shoh")

literal translation found at various sites: "It is equal".

It's neat to know that this is played in so many parts of the world. Check out this site to learn more about the Japanese version.

It is what is equivalent to:

Rock, Paper, Scissors!

Rock-paper-scissors is a hand game played by two or more people. The game is known by many names, including other orderings of the three items in the name (with "stone" often substituted by speakers of British English), piedra papel o tijera, fargling, cachi-pún, burung-batu-air ("bird-stone-water"), jan-ken-pon (and variants including jan-ken-poi ..., baau-jin-dup (Cantonese: "wrap-cut-crash"), kauwi-bauwi-bo (Korean: "scissors-rock-cloth"), камень-ножницы-бумага and rochambeau. (source: Wikipedia)

 <><><><><>

A couple of posts ago, I had a few photos and memories of when I lived in Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts.  (1967 to 1969).  

After that assignment, my dad flew to Wakkanai AFB, Japan.  

My mom and I flew later, so for a few months, we lived in West Allis, Wisconsin, where my grandpa and grandma on my dad's family lived.

My two younger cousins and I playing in the backyard of my grandparents' home.

Initially, we rented a local rental home of a very friendly Japanese family, until our military housing was ready.  Here is a photo of me in front of the rental.

(Groovy striped jeans!)

Here are some other photos that I have from that time frame:

(Sight-seeing with my parents' friends...my mom took this photo. I love my dad's cool shades, coral and white polo and grey jacket ;o)  ...the sun must have been real bright, cuz the little girl and I both have our eyes shut!)

Here are two photos of my mom and I in our Japanese rental house.

(My dad had some state of the art reel to reel tape players for music).

 Here is a photo taken on the side of our military townhouse. I was dressed up for a parade that my Brownie Troop would dance in.

Here is a previous post "KIMONO KIDS" of some other memories of when I was little in Japan. And also some photos of our girls wearing my same Kimono, 20 years later!

<><><><><>

While I learned to play "Jun ken po..." in Japan, my hubby was growing up in Hawaii and this was how he learned it: 

"Junk and a munken...a socka socka po!"

I was able to google search more about this game on a number of different sites and on one blog written by someone from Hilo, Hawaii (where my husband grew up), this blogger also mentioned the version of the phrases used, that my hubby and his siblings and friends said.

And Wow! Who would've known?? 

 (source:  Wikipedia)

1. "In 2006, Federal Judge Gregory Presnell from the Middle District of Florida ordered opposing sides in a lengthy court case to settle a trivial (but lengthily debated) point over the appropriate place for a deposition using the game of rock-paper-scissors."

2. The auction houses of  Christie's and Sotheby's " ...were unable to reach a decision. Hashiyama told the two firms to play rock-paper-scissors to decide who would get the rights to the auction, explaining that "it probably looks strange to others, but I believe this is the best way to decide between two things which are equally good". ...Christie's won the match and sold the twenty million dollar collection, with millions of dollars of commission for the auction house."

3. "The common side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana) exhibits a rock-paper-scissors pattern in its mating strategies. Of its three color types of males, "orange beats blue, blue beats yellow, and yellow beats orange" in competition for females, which is similar to the rules of rock-paper-scissors."

4. "Starting in 2002, the World Rock Paper Scissors Society standardized a set of rules for international play and has overseen annual International World Championships. These open, competitive championships have been widely attended by players from around the world and have attracted widespread international media attention."

5. "On July 9, 2010, over 6500 attendees of the LIFE 2010 Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, participated in the largest tournament of Rock-Paper-Scissors ever, shattering the previous record of 1150 participants."

<><><><><>

Joining in 

...with Trisha's Follow Me Wednesday.

...with Jenny's  Alphabe-Thursday's "J" 

...and with Alicia for Friday Photo Flashback. 

...and with Mel for Fancy Friday.

...and with Stacy for Road Trip Fun.

...and with April for  Military Monday blog hop.

& Here are more art orders completed and sent (I like to wait until I know that the art has already been received or given as a gift, before I post them). All art is drawn with a person's name.

This is an order for a farewell gift.

This is an order for a wedding gift.

..keeping busy with more art orders! Thank you to everyone for your interest and to all those that have requested some amazing subjects to draw!

<><><><><>

Have you played a variation of this game before? If you have, I'd love to hear how you played it, pronounced it, and if there is a different meaning to the words you used.

Thank you for stopping by! I'll be by to return your lovely visit and comments. 

Pin It