White Day

Today is 「ホワイト・デー」 (White Day).
(Click here to read my F.A.Q. about 「ホワイト・デー」 (White Day)).

「ホワイト・デー」 (White Day) is the day the men give gifts to the women who gave them chocolate on 「バレンタイン・デー」 (Valentine’s Day)…so I gave chocolate to my wife and daughters today.

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Yesterday was Friday The 13th. Just last month, the 13th was on the Friday too…and I wrote a post about it. (Click here to read it.)

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In Osaka, fans of the Japanese baseball team The Hanshin Tigers are quite zealous.
When their team wins, many fans jump into a nearby river. It’s a Hanshin Tigers tradition.

In 1985, the Hanshin Tigers won the Japan Baseball Championship for the first time.
Many fans, of course, jumped into the river…and one fan took the Colonel Sanders statue* from the front of a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant and threw it into the river.

(*In Japan, KFC restaurants have lifesize statues of Colonel Sanders out front.)

The Hanshin Tigers have never won the Japan Baseball Championship pendant again.

An urban legend developed that the Tigers‘ bad luck since 1985 was due to the 「カーネルサンダースの呪い」 (“Curse Of Colonel Sanders“)!
And the curse wouldn’t be lifted, and the Hanshin Tigers bad luck end, until the statue was retrieved from the river.

(I wrote a comment on another post about this “curse”. Click here to read it).

Well…last Tuesday, the statue of Colonel Sanders was found by divers in the river.

As you might expect, the statue’s not in the best condition after sitting on the riverbed for 24 years…but I guess the 「カーネルサンダースの呪い」 (“Curse Of Colonel Sanders“) has ended.
So, the Hanshin Tigers have no excuse if the continue to lose!

Friday The 13th

今日は十三日の金曜日 (Today is Friday the 13th).

Are you superstitious?

I wonder why Friday the 13th is considered unlucky.

In Japan, the unlucky numbers are four and nine.
American hospitals and hotels don’t have a thirteenth floors (the floor above the twelfth floor is the fourteenth)…in Japanese hospitals and hotels there are no fourth floors.

And old Japanese telephones didn’t have a numeral written on the “four” number slot (old phones were rotary, not push-button). You could dial a “4”…but it wasn’t written.
They don’t make telephone like that anymore, though.

Also, nothing in Japan comes in sets of four (dishes, cups, Chicken McNuggets, etc) are sold in sets of five, usually.
If you give a present to Japanese people…don’t give a set of four.

Unlike “13” in the West, I can tell you exactly why “4” (and to a lesser extent, “9”) are unlucky in Japan.
In the Japanese language, one of the possible pronunciations for “four” (「四」) is “shi“…and “death” (「死」) is also pronounced “shi“.
“Nine” （「九」) can be pronounced “ku“…and “pain” or “bitterness” 「苦」 can be pronounced as “ku“, also.

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明日は「バレンタイン・デー」 (Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day ♥).

When I came home from work yesterday, my wife and daughters were all in the kitchen making homemade Valentines chocolates.

It smelled wonderful!

I wonder how much is for me. I’ll find out tomorrow.

Click here to read my “Valentines Day” FAQ. And click here to read another post in which I wrote about “Valentines Day” in Japan.

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On October 2nd of this year, the host city for the 2016 Olympic Games will be chosen.

Tokyo is one of the four finalist cities. The other three are Chicago, Rio, and Madrid.

Here are the the four 2016 Olympic Applicant City logos:

2016 Olympics Applicant Cities

If Tokyo is chosen to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, I might volunteer my help. It would be fun.