13 March 2009

Today is “Friday the 13th”. I think, many people know that there was “Friday the 13th” even in February. Also we have “Friday the 13th” November. Do you know that?

Anyway, I will write about the numbers today. 13 is the first number of course, in Japan, 13 is not so bad number. We don’t treat it as unlucky numbers in Japan. Of course, there are some unlucky numbers in Japan too. But 13 is not unlucky number in Japan. I didn’t know that 13 is unlucky number in other countries like UK, the United States, Germany and so on. Someone told me about that when I was elementary school student. I don’t know exactly why 13 is the unlucky number so I can’t write about that.

The unlucky numbers in Japan are “4”, “9”, “42” and “49”. I searched about the unlucky numbers in wikipedia... lol
(I believed that “6” is also the unlucky number in Japan. But according to the wikipedia, “6” is not unlucky number in Japan...)
In Japanese, death means “死(shi)”. And 4 has the similar pronunciation in Japanese. (I wrote “shi” but I think it is better to pronounce “C” or “she” in English.) This similar pronunciation evoke 4 as death. Then 4 became the unlucky number in Japan.

Also, 9 is the same reason. We pronounce “9” as “ku” or “kyu(Q)” in Japanese. And “ku” is the similar to this kanji “苦”. “苦” has a lot of meanings, hard, uphill, bad, tough, harsh, bitter and so on. I think, these words has negative meaning. Then 9 became the unlucky number in Japan.

“42” evoke the phrase “go to the death”. “49” evoke the phrase “tough things happen four times”. I think this “four times” is not just “4 times” but it is more than 4 times.

There is unlucky number in English-speaking countries. “666” is unlucky number in English-speaking countries, I think. But it is not unlucky number in Japan. Some friends of mine know about that but most of my friend didn’t know that “666” is unlucky number. I know about that but I don’t know why. Then if you know about why “666” and “13” are unlucky number in English-speaking countries, please tell me..

Thank you.
Good day & Peace and Smile!
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