Kancho!

Japan is internationally known for its bizarre crazes, but few people outside The Land of the Rising Sun have heard of the kancho. According to Wikipedia, kancho is "the act of clasping the hands together so the index fingers are pointing out and attempting to insert them sharply into someone's anal region when the victim is not looking." Yes, you read that correctly...

(Photo lifted from Kancho.org)

The kancho is performed almost exclusively by Japanese school boys, who apparently think it's hilarious and not at all homoerotic. In Japan, the kancho is viewed as a harmless, childish prank and thankfully one doesn't see adult men and women kanchoing each other in public, unless it's drunken foreigners mocking the tradition. I must admit, I have (lovingly) kanchoed my husband on an escalator a few times.

While the kancho is not as popular as it once was, instructors must be on guard at all times while teaching kids' classes. I have not personally experienced the sting of the kancho, but my trainer fell prey one fateful afternoon and felt violated for hours afterwards. When pressed for details, i.e. how hard and how deep, he refused to discuss the experience. The man seemed truly traumatized. A ten-year-old boy once tried to kancho my husband, but was not successful, so the boy kanchoed another student and the two then tried to grab each other's balls for the rest of the class period.

There are some things about Japan that I will never understand.

In the West, we have the wedgie, in the East they have the kancho. I personally, would much rather have underwear shoved up my crack than someone's fingers, but that's just me. Which do you think is worse? What would you do if a child unexpectedly kanchoed you? Discuss...