I don’t remember how but I stumbled upon Wikipedia’s page on the ‘V’ sign as an insult, and it had a section called “Japan and the V sign in Photographs.” It’s pretty interesting actually. I don’t know how much of it is accurate since many things need citations, but who really does studies on this. Well, maybe someone in cultural studies or social movements maybe. Anyway here is what it said:
During the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, figure skater Janet Lynn stumbled into Japanese pop culture when she fell during a free-skate period—but continued to smile even as she sat on the ice. Though she placed only third in the actual competition, her cheerful diligence and indefatigability resonated with many Japanese viewers, making her an overnight celebrity in Japan. Afterwards, Lynn (a peace activist) was repeatedly seen flashing the V sign in the Japanese media. Though the V sign was known of in Japan prior to Lynn’s use of it there (from the post-WWII Allied occupation of Japan), she is credited by some Japanese for having popularized its use in amateur photographs. According to the other theory (actually present in the Japanese version of this entry), the V sign was popularized by the actor and singer Jun Inoue, who showed it in the Conica photo camera commercial in 1972.
(Read on …)
