Japanese Unlucky Numbers – 4 & 9

As we all know, 13 is considered as the unlucky number in almost all cultures. It is called as the number of the Beast. Many people try to avoid the "unlucky" number 13, a fear of which is called "triskaidekaphobia”.

Likewise, the Japanese people consider 4 and 9 to be the unlucky numbers. There are many hospitals that don't have these numbers as the room number or even the floor number. There are no seats with numbers 4, 9 and 13 on passenger planes of the All Nippon Airways. The Japanese also dislike Friday the13th, though many of them are not Christians.

Before we see why 4 and 9 are considered as unlucky numbers, let’s see how to pronounce 4 and 9 in Japanese. The number 4 can be pronounced as shi or yon. The number 9 is pronounced as kyuu or kuu. The pronunciation shi" shares the same pronunciation as death and the pronunciation "ku" shares the same pronunciation as agony or torture. Hence the Japanese people consider 4 and 9 to be unlucky numbers!