Equivalent gesture for "air quotes" in Japanese?


In English, we have not just written quote signs like the Japanese have
brackets, but we also have the verbal "air quotes" hand gestures. Is there an
equivalent gesture for air quotes in Japanese? Or an equivalent way in a
verbal conversation to indicate you are using a term ironically? Thank you.




I am going to say that there is basically no equivalent hand gesture in the
Japanese-speaking world. Born and raised in Japan, it took me a trip all the
way to the U.S. some years ago to witness the air quotes for the first time in
my life. When I saw a gentleman do it, I actually thought he was just
mimicking a crayfish as he spoke.

What we often do instead is to add the word 「いわゆる」 right before the
word/phrase you want to "quote" for whatever effect you intend to create.
Again, there is no hand gesture to go with it.

