Have you ever seen a Japanese person spin a pen? If you've ever spent time in a Japanese classroom, you've probably seen people spinning pens. They do it while they reading a test question or between writing notes during class. Most of the time, they don't seem conscious that they're doing it. They're not looking at their hand while they do it.
The basic spin is simple. (Well, it looks simple. I've never really tried to master it, but I can't do it.) Starting with the pen in standard ready-to-write position, you lower your thumb (to get it out of the way), and flick the pen or pencil with your index finger, so that it pivots around the fork between your thumb and index finger, and comes back to the original position. The you do it again. And again. And again. Sometimes to the point of irritating the people around you.
Probably 80% of the Japanese population can do this (and I think I've seen Koreans and Chinese do it, too), but I've never seen it done in the U.S. (except by Japanese).
Well, if you, like me, thought that was all there is to it--spin once around, stop, repeat--you're in for a surprise.
Check out this article, and then see the real thing.
The latter link is the entries sent in by contestants, listed in order of the number of votes they received. Note that the winner, Ryuki Ohmura, is number three on this list. The finalists were apparently chosen based on these videos, and then brought to Tokyo for the final, live competition. The guy whose video got the most votes (by a wide margin) certainly seems to have the most impressive video, but maybe he choked in the finals, or maybe the other finalists, after seeing each others videos, polished their techniques. Too bad they don't have videos of the final competition on the website.
The stuff these guys do with a pen and one hand is amazing, but I have to admit, as the parent of a teenager, that I couldn't help thinking, "So this is what these guys do when they're supposed to be studying." :evillaugh:
The basic spin is simple. (Well, it looks simple. I've never really tried to master it, but I can't do it.) Starting with the pen in standard ready-to-write position, you lower your thumb (to get it out of the way), and flick the pen or pencil with your index finger, so that it pivots around the fork between your thumb and index finger, and comes back to the original position. The you do it again. And again. And again. Sometimes to the point of irritating the people around you.
Probably 80% of the Japanese population can do this (and I think I've seen Koreans and Chinese do it, too), but I've never seen it done in the U.S. (except by Japanese).
Well, if you, like me, thought that was all there is to it--spin once around, stop, repeat--you're in for a surprise.
Check out this article, and then see the real thing.
The latter link is the entries sent in by contestants, listed in order of the number of votes they received. Note that the winner, Ryuki Ohmura, is number three on this list. The finalists were apparently chosen based on these videos, and then brought to Tokyo for the final, live competition. The guy whose video got the most votes (by a wide margin) certainly seems to have the most impressive video, but maybe he choked in the finals, or maybe the other finalists, after seeing each others videos, polished their techniques. Too bad they don't have videos of the final competition on the website.
The stuff these guys do with a pen and one hand is amazing, but I have to admit, as the parent of a teenager, that I couldn't help thinking, "So this is what these guys do when they're supposed to be studying." :evillaugh:
