“Hey, baby, what’s your sign†is a cheesy pickup line developed, no doubt, in the late sixties/early seventies when astrology was all the craze. Astrology itself (in some form another), however, has been around for thousands of years. Time was when wise men made or broke an empire with the complex way they charted the heavens. These days it’s easy to get in touch with your inner star sign; just flip open a newspaper or stand in line at a grocery store to get yourself a horoscope in a tube.
In Japan astrology is popular, like it is here in the US. Unlike the US, the Japanese have developed their own system to configure personality types to people…by blood!
How does our blood define who we are personality-wise? According to this theory, which isn’t all that scientific, there might be certain hormones or enzymes associated with certain blood types that govern moods which may in turn, affect personalities.
ABO blood typing, or ketsu eki gata, was made popular in the 1970’s by Masahiko Nomi, a Japanese journalist with absolutely no medical background. After his death, his son Toshitaka Nomi took the reins and started the “Ketsueki-gata Ningen-gaku Kenkyusho” which is translated as: Institute of Blood Type Humanics.
Ketsu eki gata is immensely popular in Japan and has been used to hire employees, broker marriages, and define how some people raise their children. People are now complaining, however, that they are being discriminated against because of their blood type.
The four blood types that exist within the ketsu eki gata are: A, B, O, and AB (the Rh factor is meaningless in ketsu eki gata).
TYPE A: The Farmer
- Calm
- Patient
- Sensitive
- Responsible
- Overcautious
- Stubborn
- Unable to relax
TYPE B: The Hunter
- Individualist
- Dislike custom
- Strong
- Optimistic
- Creative
- Flexible
- Wild
- Unpredictable
TYPE O: The Warrior
- Trendsetter
- Loyal
- Passionate
- Self-confident
- Independent
- Ambitious
- Vain
- Jealous
TYPE AB: The Humanist
- Cool
- Controlled
- Rational
- Sociable
- Popular
- Critical
- Sometimes standoffish
- Indecisive
Type A is the most popular, Type B is considered by many to be selfish and lazy, and Type AB for some reason is the most unpopular blood type you can be.
Some companies actually go by blood type to form work forces. Check out this quote from the November 21, 1990 issue of Aisha Daily: “Only those with blood type AB were organized to launch a project which plans the development of and sales strategies for new facsimile machines.”
(Now just try and see how that would fly in the US if we tweaked the sentence to read : “Only those with Mercury as an ascendant to the fifth house of Venus in Taurus were organized to launch a project which plans the development of and sales strategies for new facsimile machines.” I think Westerns can be pretty fruity when it comes to astrology, myself included, but there just has to be a separation between New Age BS and company policy.)
Blood typing is so popular in Japan that it’s even soaked its way into anime! Companies list their anime characters’ blood type right along side their measurements.
In Japan it’s as common as rice to have somebody ask your blood type. I personally, like many Westerners, have no clue as to my blood type, so if anyone asked I’d have to say “Red and warm, baby, red and warmâ€. And when it comes down to dishing out personality traits via unscientific method, I think I’ll stick with the “tried and true” BS 12 step method of star signage.
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Type AB is supposed to be crazy. That’s why a lot of the “psycho” fighters in video games (ie: Nina Williams in Tekken) have their blood types listed as AB.
Huh, I always wondered why blood type would be listed in profiles of video game characters. Interesting.
How is Type AB crazy -Chris? From the description given they sound perfectly stable to me, but that might be from an American point of view. What have you read or heard that makes AB nuts? I’m dying to know now ^^.
It’s something my wife was telling me once. Something about how they are split between the A and B while not completely belonging to either. I can’t remember the specifics, but yah. They’re supposed to be a bit emotionally unstable
But wouldn’t that make them balanced? You know, half of this, half of that, but not committed to either? Geminis and Libras sound like AB and no one’s running away from them that I know of. How unfair to label ABs as crazy! I can see why some people might get discriminated against if the society swallowed this all wholesale…
Ah, for those of us who don’t understand Japanese, here’s a translation for comment #1:
“Area Believer Number 1″ says:
You cannot use the word “ketsuekigata” to describe both the scientific term “blood type” and the discriminatory and unscientific “ketsuekigata”. If you say blood type and ketsuekigata are different than that is OK.
Thank You CK for the translation!
That’s…
ridiculous.
I wonder why/how people come up with this. I have type A blood – and have hear others describe me as a bold, cunning, creative, ambitious, independent, critical and unpredictable individual all the time, which can’t be any more different than the description alongside the chart.
-jay, the “why” for ketsu eki gata, dates back to the 1930’s, some time after after blood typing was first discovered (1901).
The Nazis got their hands on it and naturally corrupted it to further their propaganda. They stated that since Type B (mostly Jews and Asians) blood had much in common with animals (BS) they were inferior to the Germans (mostly Type A and O).
The Japanese were incensed at this, rightly so, and developed ketsu eki gata as a way to counter these baseless claims. It faded away after a time and was only revived in the 70’s.
“How” is a question I could only theorize upon.
Rachel, I’ve no idea
I’m just repeating what I’ve heard. Still, as you’ve noted, these classifications should be taken with a grain of salt.
I am an AB and trust me the AB profile fits!
hello everybody. my Japanese is not good but it seems like a very nice web site. thanks
9iI’ll thingk about it.7t I compleatly agree with last post. cfn
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