Japanese Dopers, is this an obscene gesture in Japan?

[Khadaji]

I spent some time in Japan on business. Once at lunch, some of my Japanese coworkers told me that I had a bad habit of making an obscene gesture when I was thinking. The gesture in question was holding my forefinger to the middle of my top lip. I asked what this meant. The men discussed this in Japanese, our translator blushed and refused to translate.

Does this mean something, if so what does it mean, or were they just having me on?

[Bongmaster]

@Khadaji

I spent some time in Japan on business. Once at lunch, some of my Japanese coworkers told me that I had a bad habit of making an obscene gesture when I was thinking. The gesture in question was holding my forefinger to the middle of my top lip. I asked what this meant. The men discussed this in Japanese, our translator blushed and refused to translate.

Does this mean something, if so what does it mean, or were they just having me on?

Give me a couple hours, I’ll ask my (Japanese) girlfriend and post back.

[Bongmaster]

According to her it is not a common obscene gesture, she’s not sure why its an issue. It may have turned into some kind of loosely sexual thing by the guys, who knows? But apparently its not like giving someone the finger.