Japanese Body Language – 腕組みをする

The Japanese are not the gesturers that their American counterparts are.

You don't often see the flailing their arms about.

But, they do let the arms talk for them from time to time.

腕組みをする[うでぐみをする, udegumi o suru] fold one’s arms.

This is not so much an idiom as it is an expression that involves the arms. That is, it doesn't have some meaning behind it.

But if you want to describe that guy over there, and you have a choice between saying the one with the red hat or the one with his arms crossed, which would you choose?

Here is another way to say it – 腕を組む [うでをくむ, ude o kumu] fold one’s arms