Stories

Kancho means I love you.
When I was younger I used to do Kancho. Usually I would do it to the boys, but I could never do it to a boy I really liked because I was too shy.
– Harumi 26, Ginza
All you can Kancho
I am usually a patient person, but there was this one boy who just wouldn’t stop kanchoing me, no matter what I tried. So one day during lunch break, after he kanchoed me for the third time, I picked him up, flipped him over, held him by the ankles and yelled to the other children: “Kancho Houdai” which basically means: “Kancho buffet – All you can kancho.” At that point all the children ran over and started kanchoing him for all they were worth. I thought this would make him think twice about kanchoing me, but the boy just laughed through it all.
– Tony 24, Tokyo
Too much of a bad thing
When I was in Junior high school, a friend of mine was kanchoed so hard that he passed out. After he woke up, his butt hurt for a long time. Kancho can be bad can’t it?
– Takeshi 49, Tokyo
Everybody’s doing it
Kancho is very common in Japan. Even mothers do it sometimes. The other day I was sitting on the floor playing my little brother’s Nintendo DS for a long time. I was sitting kind of on my knees with the game on the floor, so my butt was kind of in the air. When my mother saw me, she came secretly from behind and kanchoed me! Of course I was very surprised, but it was her way of saying that I should get up and do some work instead of playing games all day.
– Momoko 27, Nagasaki
It looks like rain.
I was Kanchoed with an umbrella earlier this week. My butt still hurts.
(Kancho.org note – Kancho with an object is not really Kancho, it is just mean.)
– Kenji 21, Asakusa
No stopping it
When I first started teaching in elementary school, I was very surprised to see some students kancho each other on the playground. At first they kept a little distance from me, I guess because they were afraid. But after the first few lessons together, the students really warmed up to me, and always wanted to shake my hand after class, or anytime they saw me. It wasn’t long after that, when students started setting their kancho sites on me. Now I get kanchoed weekly if not daily. The only relief I get is at the beginning of the year when there are new first years, and some of the older kids suddenly feel it’s uncool to kancho their teacher. However, many students never grow out of it, and I even occasionally see drunken adults kancho each other.
– Brian 23, Hokkaido
Torn in Tokyo
Whenever I get kanchoed, I have a huge urge to kancho them back even harder. I know it’s not right, and it wouldn’t help, but that two seconds of vindication before the realization of what I had just done, is definitely tempting sometimes. I have to fight pretty hard not to do it when there is a perfect opportunity, like when a kid who kanchos me all the time is leaned over a desk talking to a friend, thus leaving his target area exposed.
-Nathan 34, Wakayama
Kancho Dame
I try to teach all my students “Kancho Dame” which means “Don’t Kancho!”. It worked at a few of my schools, but in one country school students starting using “Kancho Dame” as a sort of rallying cry. Now each time I visit they cry: “Paul sensei! Kancho Dame!!!” and then they make as if they are going to Kancho me. I tell them I’m serious, and the good kids leave me alone, but I’m always on the lookout for the lone striker who will rush in and Kancho me while I am distracted by the handshakes from the other students.
-Paul 26, Aomori