Is That Why My Tongue Itches?

One thing I notice in some of the anime I watch is the meaning of sneezes. Frequently, it's shorthand for "someone is talking about you", and this is apparently an old Japanese belief* that anime and manga creators like to use. At least one site says the number of sneezes determines whether they're speaking of you favorably or not**.

Some other poking around mentioned that in Western/Indo-European cultures, sneezing can often serve as an omen. In 309 B.C. a contigent of Greeks who had hired themselves out to Persia as mercs, were deciding what to do, after their officers were killed at a Persian banquet. In the midst of their fevered discussion, someone sneezed, and everyone dropped to their knees, then took it as a sign and fought their way back to Greece***. In India, it's a sign that either someone dear to you has remembered you, or you've remembered someone dear to you.

What I'm curious about is, whether there's an equivalent to that in other cultures, where a bodily reaction is supposed to mean someone is talking about you? For example, I know that's at least one interpretation of "My ears are burning", but I don't know where that originated from. Anyone know of others?

* Actually, doing a bit of skimming through the internet, it looks as though it may be a widespread belief through east Asia, including Vietnam. and China. Hmm, China as a possible site of origin?

** The problem was, it was Answers dot com, linking to a wikipedia article on sneezes, so grain of salt and all that. Unless you know someone who can corroborate, in which please do.

*** I'll cite Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe, here, Volume 14. I don't know which source he would have found that story in.