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Blood Types in Japanese Culture
The Japanese analyze people’s personalities according to blood type |
 Valorado por 1 usuarios
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 The book series, "Ketuekigata Jibun no setumeisyo" |
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Don’t be surprised if a Japanese person asks you what your blood type is the first time they meet you. In Japan, it’s fairly common for people to ask this sort of question. Because some people believe that your personality is determined by your blood type.
It seems this belief dates back to 1916 and was originated by Japanese doctors. To date, many people have tried to prove this hypothesis without success. However, the belief has long since penetrated into Japanese culture, somewhat like the horoscope or the tarot. The media have also helped establish this belief as a part of the culture. Everyday advice is given on TV depending on your blood type, and there are also many similar personality tests on the Internet.
The topic has been more or less popular in different time periods, but lately it has once again become fashionable. Since 2007, a series of books have been published that attempt to analyze personality according to blood type. The series is called "Ketuekigata Jibun no setumeisyo" (Explaining My Personality According to My Blood Type). In 2008, 4 books in this series were among the 10 best-selling books for the year in Japan. To date, the series has sold a total of more than 5.4 million copies.
Not long ago, a show based on the series was launched for Nintendo DS as well as a web page, where you can generate an explanation of your own blood type. I’ve tested the website out with several celebrities, all you have to do is introduce their blood type and name. Here are the results:
Barack Hussein Obama, Type A: He is conscious of looking after everyone. His action is to be of service. His is conciliatory at heart. He’s a flatterer and he basically follows his own tastes rather than fashion.
Madonna, Type O: It’s easy to read her mind. She’s always on the cusp. She wakes up in a foul mood. She makes a lot of physical contact. She has a powerful voice.
Michael Jackson, Type B: He worries about everything. He’s not very passionate and quickly loses interest. He has his own world. He often throws things out. He’s sarcastic.
Beat Takeshi (a comedian whose real name is Kitano Takeshi, but who is better known in Japan by his stage name) Type O: He’s very intuitive, very competitive, capable of surviving in any situation, sloppy and cynical.
An American newspaper wrote about the success this series of books was having, but what they were most impressed with was the strange phenomenon of this belief. The article comments that they do not understand how it’s possible to categorize personalities in just 4 types: It also mentions an anonymous person who was in Japan for 3 months. They Japanese asked for his blood type at least 5 times during his stay. Something so popular in one country can seem very strange in other countries.
Why has this belief been so popular? One hypothesis says that it’s because asking about blood type is relatively inoffensive compared to other sorts of questions, such as asking people what they do for a living or how old they are. Maybe there’s something to that.
References:
Official website of the book series, "Ketuekigata Jibun no setumeisyo"
MONEYzine
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1 comentarios. Valoración media:  |
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Um...  |
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| Oh, wow, Michael's personality critique is so ridiculously inaccurate, lol. |
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| Publicado por . |
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