Whatﾂ´s WITH the blood group!?

Just ONE question;
why is everyone japanese obsessed with knowing what blood group one has?

In Sweden, bloodgroup is never even mentioned, I don´t even know what´s mine!

But in Japan, in every magazine when they do an interview with someone, they write the normal stuff, like eye-color, favourite things, height, bla-bla, and THEN: BLOOD GROUP!

Is this also common in America and every other country except for Sweden, or is it something japanese?

Just wondering... why would people wanna know?

From what I know it's something like horoscopes. The different blood groups represent different personalities.

My english seem to suck right now, so I'm gonna take this in Swedish. Don't kill me.

Alltså, blodgrupperna är ungefär som just horoskop. T.ex. så kan en blodgrupp betyda att personen är barnslig, humorisktisk, lugn eller vad som helst. Det är det jag vet, sen om det är nåt mer får du väl reda på det från någon annan. : - )

tack sa mycket, chiefen!

I'm not absolutely sure, but could it be that the Japanese believe that blood type constitutes an essential part of the person and the person's fate?

As an analogy, for people into astrology, knowing the birth date and zodiac symbol is quite meaningful because they believe the birth-stars control the person's fate.

So my thoery would be; the strong interest in a persons blood type stems from the traditional belief in the 8 pillars (2 for birth year, 2 for birth month, 2 for birth day, 2 for birth time) which became modified by the scientific classification of blood types. It's also probably related to the excessive interest in marriage topics, and the popular blood type compatibility charts for prospective couples. There might even be some scientific ground to it, too. You could call it superstition too, but can't stop people from believing something.

In the meantime you should know your blood type in case of a medical emergency when you might need a blood transfusion; or when you might want to give blood to someone. Medically that is!

Yeah, it's like astrology. Your blood group is supposed to mean that you're likely to have certain characteristics. It's all superstition I think. I hate when I tell someone my sign and then they think they know everything about me. As far as I know, it's only the Japanese who do blood groups. I thought it was pretty strange when I first heard about it too.

It is a site written about character judgment of a blood type.
I translated it with translation software.

http://www.ntv.co.jp/FERC/research/19971102/f0216.html

In 1971, "affinity to understand for a blood type" and a book to say of Mr. Masahiko Nomi preached an occupation and relevance of a blood type, and it was it with a best seller more than 300000 parts.
By blood type character judgment, A type is methodical, and but carefulness has a tendency towards pessimistic nature with a cleanliness enthusiast
B type worries in intuition, one's own pace, things || do not think, but hang it in carefulness.
Will is strongly frank, and O type likes a group by a straight, and society, AB type are individual, but it is assumed that I am short-tempered, and there are a double personality and the aspect that said.
The Ibaraki police headquarters announced data to be different in a tendency of violation and an accident by a blood type.
However, it is a difference of an equal thing person of sugar of a red blood cell, and, according to the Professor Akikazu Takada of Hamamatsu Medical College, a kind of sugar and human character have nothing to do with real nature of a blood type at all, and a blood type and relation of human character are not elucidated.
Human character is fixed by the frontal lobe to be concerned with in material in a brain and it, cerebrum side relationship form, and I have a character, and a change appears when I change quantity of a material in a brain.
And a signal going along a nervous system circuit is handed down by quantity of a material in a brain, and people are different.
The frontal lobe and cerebrum side relationship form are concerned in a difference of a signal, and feelings and character are born.
Nippon University honorary professor / psychologist Prof. Masao Omura tells that "Japanese special national traits to get a feeling of relief by belonging to an again small group without blood type character judgment is Japan original thing, and I believe it, and suspecting that I find a part hitting it by character judgment accidentally appear".
I say that the especially clear difference that is easy to get sick by a blood type is seen.
A blood type folds a big role in immune system as expected and creates a difference with a difference = pathogen of blood and protects a seed.
Therefore a blood type to resist a pathogen and a weak blood type are born, and it is thought whether the character characteristic of a blood type was not born while the human repeats a fight with a disease in the history.
(Mr. ethologist Kumiko Takeuchi), in 1900, Dr. Karl Landsteiner discovers an ABO-style blood type.
Because Dr. Jean Dausset confirmed a human leukocyte antigen model (more than 500 kinds of HLA types) in 1954, the accident by a blood transfusion was largely improved.
Because identification ability of a pathogen has a difference by a kind of HLA, I have to raise immunity ability for disease-causing germs to elucidation.
Now there is peptide vaccine (a material coordinating identification ability of HLA) to use by a new ill treatment method of an experiment stage.

Thanks for digging this up, Hiroyuki!

Some parts of the machine translated text is a bit cryptic, but I get the jist.

Hiroyuki Nagashima said:

character judgment of a blood type
A type is methodical, and but carefulness has a tendency towards pessimistic nature with a cleanliness enthusiast
B type worries in intuition, one's own pace, things | do not think, but hang it in carefulness.
Will is strongly frank O type likes a group by a straight, and society
AB type are individual, but it is assumed that I am short-tempered, and there are a double personality and the aspect that said.

Click to expand...

Is there a consensus or recognizable trend among various tables correlating a blood group to a particular personality ? Or are they more or less random ? Do the tables have a theory or even a pseudotheory ?

Hiroyuki Nagashima said:

The Ibaraki police headquarters announced data to be different in a tendency of violation and an accident by a blood type.

Click to expand...

Is there a higher chance for someone to become a suspect, and that to be charged and convicted if one has a certain blood type ? How does such a perception held by the police, prosecutors, and judges affect the legal process ? Is that perception the result of unbiased research, or was the police simply looking for evidence to support their preconception ?

Hiroyuki Nagashima said:

Nippon University honorary professor / psychologist Prof. Masao Omura tells that "Japanese special national traits to get a feeling of relief by belonging to an again small group without blood type character judgment is Japan original thing, and I believe it, and suspecting that I find a part hitting it by character judgment accidentally appear".

Click to expand...

Are the Japanese unique in this? How about the Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese, or Thais? English has the rhyme, a Sunday child......? Another thing is how are the Japanese different from peoples of other countries in their wanting to belong to small groups? I thought this tendency was pretty much shared by all peoples. Isn't this yet another attempt to picture Japan as something totally different?

Hiroyuki Nagashima said:

I say that the especially clear difference that is easy to get sick by a blood type is seen. A blood type folds a big role in immune system as expected and creates a difference with a difference = pathogen of blood and protects a seed. Therefore a blood type to resist a pathogen and a weak blood type are born, and it is thought whether the character characteristic of a blood type was not born while the human repeats a fight with a disease in the history.

Click to expand...

This is interesting theory. Blood type-to-immunity-to-disease recovery may explain certain personality traits such as passiveness or tendency towards radical thinking.

woooow - I'm sooo impressed Hiroyuki Nagashima!! That's a lot of information, and you translated it too!

I read this article, and I find it very interesting.

Thanks a lot!!

Some Japanese pseudo-scientist many many years ago published a book associating blood types with personality traits. It had about as much scientific validity as phrenology, but that didn't stop the Japanese public from buying it hook, line, and sinker.

One of the things they overlook is that the ABO blood typing system is only one of about a dozen different ways to type blood. The average person doesn't know about the others (with the exception of the Rh factor) because they're not important for transfusions, hence we never hear about them. They play, or used to play, a very important role in the criminal justice field, though.

mikecash said:

Some Japanese pseudo-scientist many many years ago published a book associating blood types with personality traits. It had about as much scientific validity as phrenology, but that didn't stop the Japanese public from buying it hook, line, and sinker.

Click to expand...

And it has lived on in dating sims forever since.

... or so I have heard.

I have a low tolerance for stuff like this "blood type reveals personality" crap. It can send me into a rant that leaves my face beet red and the air dark blue.

In fact, I really ought to get out of this thread before it sets me off.

mikecash said:

I have a low tolerance for stuff like this "blood type reveals personality" crap. It can send me into a rant that leaves my face beet red and the air dark blue.

In fact, I really ought to get out of this thread before it sets me off.

Click to expand...

I feel the same way as you about this subject. Maybe I don't go into those same colors, but it does irritate me...a lot.

It just amazes me that people who live in supposedly such a technologically advanced society, can still believe in this type stuff.

.
What I gather. Certain Blood-Groups are considered superior.

Related to the ideas, such as, being pure of one race is superior than mixed race
person.

I just asked one of my coworkers who hapened to be in the office this holiday Friday.

He does new employees introduction every quarter, in a presentation, and blood group is always there, before one's hobby.

He said it's nothing scientific, just a chat provoking hint hint on one's chracter.
A = perfectionist, AB = selfish, AB0 = generous...etc.

Pretty much as zodiac signs.

think_too_mut said:

He said it's nothing scientific, just a chat provoking hint on one's chracter.
A = perfectionist, AB = selfish, AB0 = generous...etc.

Pretty much as zodiac signs.

Click to expand...

Well it _is_ pretty much as zodiac signs - i.e. you get stuck with one whether you want it or not and it is of absolutely no relevance.

However it isn't a 'hint' on one's character. It would only be that if it did mean something - other than being very useful to know if you need blood in a hurry.

PaulTB said:

very useful to know if you need blood in a hurry.

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At last we're getting a rational explanation that probably saved many lives, too!
"Nobody knows why, but it still serves a purpose" kind of logic.

I understood Swedish usually dont know their bloodtype, BUT, if IsayHello's avater is she/her, I think you seriously need to know what your bloodtype is before it's too late!
He/She is dying.

PaulTB said:

Well it _is_ pretty much as zodiac signs - i.e. you get stuck with one whether you want it or not and it is of absolutely no relevance.

However it isn't a 'hint' on one's character. It would only be that if it did mean something - other than being very useful to know if you need blood in a hurry.

Click to expand...

Could be something I don't understand, JP's exposure to earthquakes, many victims and massive need for blood transfusion. Maybe, don't know.

Just posted what my Japanese coworker said (he is a manager) is just what he said. Make of it whatever you want.

Personally, I don't give a hoot about zodiac signs and blood group the way Japanese or anyone might fancy it.

think_too_mut said:

I just asked one of my coworkers who hapened to be in the office this holiday Friday.

He does new employees introduction every quarter, in a presentation, and blood group is always there, before one's hobby.

He said it's nothing scientific, just a chat provoking hint hint on one's chracter.
A = perfectionist, AB = selfish, AB0 = generous...etc.

Pretty much as zodiac signs.

Click to expand...

I didn't know ABO was possible...

think_too_mut said:

Could be something I don't understand, JP's exposure to earthquakes, many victims and massive need for blood transfusion. Maybe, don't know.

Click to expand...

Next time you're close to a construction worker wearing a hard hat, look closely at the label on the side or (more often) the back of the hard hat. In addition to the worker's name, you will also find his blood type.

People who work in professions with an elevated risk of physical injury need to know their blood type.

for valentine's day
http://www.asianewsnet.net/level3_template1.php?l3sec=9&news_id=35174
My boyfriend is type-B (Korean Movie, 2004, B형 남자친구)
type ab

Nice dig for Valentine's, Budd!
The article actually covers the history of the blood grouping phenomenon from an interesting point of view.
Women trying to figure out their significant other: What the heck is he thinking?

One paragraph that really grabbed ny attention:

Korea Herald said:

Do type-B men resent all this name-calling? You bet. And they react in a characteristically type-B manner. When a newspaper article was published about the Internet cafe, the Web site was deluged with angry responses from the irked B men. "That day I got over 3,000 messages, most of them abusive. One posting said, 'Let's calm down. This is exactly why people say Bs can't help themselves,'" recalled Kim.

Click to expand...

This is bad science. "Push a B-type hard enough and you'll get what you want."
Blood typology may be comforting for some, amusing for others, but the slanderous remarks were clearly uncalled for. I'd call it witchcraft. Unless she meant sarcasm.
And that reporter deserves some serious slaps on the wrist!

With construction jobs, I can understand the importance of one's blood type. However, for some desk job giving out your blood type seems a bit prolific if you ask me. I think that's crap that they have to know your blood type, and would make decisions based on that. That's like hiring all beautiful people who are dumb as a rock for public image rather, than average looking people who get the job done.

Doc

This reminds me...

For some odd reason, this thread reminds me of the end of The Ghost of Frankenstein, where Ygor's brain is transplanted into the Monster's skull and he goes blind due to mismatched bloodtypes.

"Vot goot is a brain vit out eyes to see?!"

Another movie comes to mind...

To draw an analogy, language studies wouldn't be so exciting and rewarding without all the strange and convoltued exceptions.
But once you get used to the, it becomes part of you, like Col. Brando in Apocalypse Now.
All the irrational things going on in Japan; could that be the source of Japan's attraction?
Insanity in a perfectly modern, industrialized country!
How exotic! How interesting! How exciting!
To explore the heart of darkness!
I think I have unravelled the mystery of all you gaijin in Japan
like a swarm of dusty moths fluttering to the flickering flames of death!!
The smell of blood, blood, blood!!!