Forget Astrology, What’s Your Blood Type? In Japan, Blood In Your Veins More Accurate Than Horoscopes
Mika Matsui finds out on the first date. First two hours, max. There’s no sense getting your hopes up if Mr. Wonderful is the wrong blood type.
Her last boyfriend, the schmuck, was type O. Never again. O’s are way too needy. Type A’s are too boring. B’s are sweet, but they don’t like her. So it’s the AB man she’s looking for because “he’s interesting to talk to, very kind and very nice.”
“I don’t believe in horoscopes, but I think blood type describes character most accurately,” said Matsui, 29, a clerical worker for a large Tokyo company. “Check it out yourself.”
Japan has an obsession with blood types. The blood in your veins is supposed to determine how well you live and love, how well you manage money, whether you will succeed at marriage or sumo wrestling. Great marriages or lousy careers are attributed to blood type.
Newspaper and magazine profiles of major political candidates always include their blood type. Job applications often ask for blood type. During World War II, Japan’s imperial army and navy are said to have formed battle groups by blood type. The manager of a Japanese major league baseball team studies his players’ blood types. Japanese television this year carried a sitcom about the life of a businessman called “I Am Type O.”
The Japanese buy almost 2 million blood type condoms every year.
“This is a little far-fetched, but according to the survey we conducted, it was reported that the type A tends to have a very simple attitude toward sex, so we took a clue from that,” said Katsuyoshi Yatsunagi, spokesman for Jex, the company that manufactures the condoms. Thus, type A condoms are standard shape, come in pink only and are .03 millimeters thick. Condoms for type B are slightly narrower, thicker and ribbed. For type O, the condoms are covered with a diamond-shaped pattern. Yatsunagi said he wasn’t sure how colors figured into the blood type theory.
Estelle Viskovich, a stylist at the Sin Den, a popular Tokyo beauty salon, said all new customers are asked to fill out a questionnaire that includes blood type. “We thought it was cute to ask,” said Viskovich, an Australian. “We think it’s weird if you don’t know your star sign; the Japanese think it’s weird if you don’t know your blood type.”
Telling a Japanese person you don’t know your blood type invites suspicion, Viskovich said: “It’s like you’re withholding information.”
A Japanese company, Pokka Corp., marketed soft drinks by blood type a couple of years ago. There are key chains and chewing gum, calendars, magazines and books, all geared toward the blood type phenomenon.
While schoolgirls are the chief consumers of most products categorized by blood type, some of Japan’s biggest corporations have looked into increasing their productivity by creating single-type work groups.
One of the most influential companies in the country, Mitsubishi Electric Corp., created a project development team of five ABs who were supposed to be creative and enterprising. The team was called the “Fantastic Project” and was eventually disbanded without producing much more than publicity.
A person’s blood type is determined by what kind of antigen, a type of protein, he has on the surface of his red blood cells. If a person has an A antigen, his blood is type A; if he has a B antigen, he’s type B. People with both are type AB, and those with neither are type O. The most common is O, followed by A, B and AB.
There is no evidence that blood type is related to character.
xxxx SUPPOSED TRAITS TYPE A Positive traits: Orderly, law-abiding, fastidious, soft-spoken, fashionable, calm. Negative traits: Picky, selfish, secretive, pessimistic, inflexible, reckless when drunk. Suitable careers: Accountant, librarian, economist, novelist, computer programmer, gossip columnist.
TYPE B Positive: Independent, flexible, candid, sensitive, passionate, persuasive. Negative: Unpredictable, indiscreet, lazy, impatient, overbearing, can’t wake up. Suitable careers: Cook, hairdresser, military leader, talk show host, journalist, golfer.
TYPE AB Positive: Rational, calculating, honest, diplomatic, organized, strong ESP. Negative: Unforgiving, playboy, easily offended, too conservative, nitpicker, hard to know. Suitable careers: Bartender, attorney, teacher, sales representative, social worker, witch.
TYPE O Positive: Healthy, idealistic, goal-oriented, clear-sighted, good at sports, sexy. Negative: Status-seeking, jealous, greedy, unreliable, obsessive lover, can’t shut up. Suitable careers: Banker, politician, gambler, minister, investment broker, baseball player.
Source: “You Are Your Blood Type,” by Toshitaka Nomi and Alexander Besher. Washington Post