Do NOT Hold Doors open for others when you are in Japan

Yes you read that right! I am a native Indian and I personally hold a door open for anyone no matter if it’s a man or a woman or an elderly person. That's just basic manners, isn’t it?

I was shocked when my teacher told me that the Japanese normally don’t do it. It is not discourteous or being rude or something. It is just not in their culture!
So, don’t be surprised if you ever happen to walk through a crowded area through a door. Just watch out for the door not to slap right on your face :D

Sticking chopsticks in the bowl

We already say a few strange beliefs followed in Japanese. This is another such superstition associated with death relating to the incorrect use of chopsticks.

Japanese consider sticking your chopsticks into a bowl to be unlucky because a bowl of rice with chopsticks sticking out of it is placed on the altar at funerals. Also at funerals, after the body has been cremated, family members pass the bones from chopstick to chopstick into the urn. This is not something you should do when eating.


So, if you ever visit Japan remember not to stick your chopstick in your bowl and also not to pass food between chopsticks for they are done only during the funeral!

They also say that chopsticks made from certain woods are lucky in different ways. For a general luck charm, pine chopsticks will do. Cypress chopsticks are for hope

Strange Japanese beliefs

I am unlucky enough to not have a change yet to visit Japan :) but from what I have read and heard from other fellow Japanese learners and few native Japanese mates, I came to know that there are an umpteen number of strange beliefs prevailing in Japan.

These are a few –

• Eating peanuts will make your nose bleed. – I need to know what the Japanese peanuts are made of Lol
• Leaving a window open while you sleep will give you a stomach ache. – I think this makes sense. If you leave your window open when you sleep, you might be a victim of burglary which will make you poor over a night and the next day you will be starving which would cause stomach ache Lol
• Leaving a fan on while you sleep will make you sick and may kill you.- I have no idea how this works. Don’t they have summer in Japan?
• Drinking soda (especially dark ones) will melt your bones. – Exactly! Even the coke spoils our teeth, I have read it somewhere! Coke contains caffeine which uses up the calcium in the bones.
• Leaving a bottle of water outside your home will keep cats away – Are Japanese cats scared of water? Or the bottle? :) Well, I guess they do it in the Ozzie and UK as well, yeah?
• If you cut your nails at night, you will not be with your parents when they die. – What if I bite nails and not cut at night?
• If you lie down immediately after eating, you will become a cow. – Yes you probably will! Just eating and sleeping makes everyone a lazy cow :)
  
• Black cats crossing the street in front of you cause bad luck – Hmmm! Sounds like an imported belief to me.
• Stepping on the threshold is a bad luck – why have a threshold then? :)
  
• It's disrespectful to take pictures of tombs or even to point at them. There is a belief that it is disrespectful to the spirits of the dead.
• They believe in the blood types – Refer Blood Types Culture in Japanese
  

I so wish I would have a chance to visit Japan and experience it all, at least once before I die :)

PS: This list might get added as I come across more such beliefs.

EDIT: Adding few more such superstitions

• If you play with fire, you will wet your bed - Should have been said to keep the kids away from fire
• A cold mid-section will cause diarrhea - Sounds biologically correct :)
• The first dream of a new year will come true - Now I wish I could remember what my first dream of this year was! :(
• Breaking a comb or the cloth strap of a “geta” wooden sandal breaking is an omen of misfortune - Interesting!
• Stepping on the cloth border of a tatami mat brings bad luck - Got no clue why though?
• If you go to a funeral, you should throw salt over yourself before entering your home - Well, the same is done here in South India as well but we use turmeric dissolved water instead of salt. It is for the sake of cleansing, I believe.
• You should never write a persons name in red ink - I have done it umpteem number of times. Nothing scary seem to have happened for them.
• If you catch a crow's eyes, something bad will happen - The South Indian version of this superstition would be, "If you see a dark black fat crow (called as Andankaaka in Tamil), it is luck!" or "If a crow flies just above head then it is a bad luck"
• If you see a spider in the morning, it means good luck so you shouldn't kill it, but if you see one at night, it means bad luck so you can kill it - What ever! I hate spiders with all my soul and heart

Whistling in the night

Image courtesy: www.pgannon.com

I was never told by my grand ma or anyone to not whistle during the nights. That is mainly because I don’t know how to whistle :) Seriously, there are some superstitions prevailing here in India (not on the urban areas though) that if we whistle during the night time, a snake will come and bite you! How funny!

We don’t need an Animal planet to come and tell us that Snakes don’t have ears to listen you whistle. It did not surprise me when my Japanese friend said that this same belief (or should I say superstition) is prevailing in Japanese as well :)

I used to think how lame it is until I came to know that even Japanese believe this crap. Now that Japanese believe it too, Considering how closely packed the houses are in Japan, it may have just been a convenient way to scare the kids into silence at night. I think well it’s cool :D
I am so in love with you, Japan - all is fair in love & war :)

Japanese Lucky Numbers – 7 & 8

Japanese culture considers 7 & 8 to be their lucky numbers. Well, 7 is not only the Japanese lucky number but a universal one. If you see, there are many great things related to the number 7. To list a few, Seven Wonders of the World, Seven Deadly sins, Seven Virtues, the seven seas, seven days of the week, seven colors of the rainbow, Seven swaras in the Indian classical music, the seven dwarfs, Seven Samurai, and a lot more to mention.

When it comes to 8, the Japanese culture calls it lucky because of the shape of the Kanji for the number 8. This is what the Kanji letter for the number 8 looks like:

If you observe it, you could see the two strokes are wider at the bottom. Japanese consider that this suggests a better time or better things to come in the future!

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!