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It`s Reiko`s birthday today. She has reached a “special” age which I am not allowed to disclose but her birthdate is interesting.

Firstly because I have two friends who have the same birthday as her. 8th August. If you`re reading this Martin and (less likely) Mike. Happy Birthday too. What is more interesting is that in Japan and perhaps Asia, 8 is a very lucky number. Thus being born on the 8th day of the 8th month is like being blessed.

Four however is very unlucky as pronounced “shi” it can also mean death. Also in the same vein 9 “ku” is unlucky as it can also mean painful in Japanese. Thirteen isn`t such a taboo yet they have the seven is lucky thing in Pachinko. Reiko said Lucky seven came from baseball. Is that true? Seventh Inning and all that?

Edit: Via the mighty Outlaw Fish

From the Lucky Numbers entry at Wikipedia (see link):

“A lucky number is a natural number in a set which is generated by a “sieve” similar to the Sieve of Eratosthenes that generates the primes. We begin with a list of integers starting with 1…”
“…Stanislaw Ulam was the first to discuss these numbers, around 1955. He named them “lucky” because of a connection with a story told by the historian Josephus.”

Technorati Tags: Japan, Osaka, Asia, Quaisi, Kansai, Expat, English, Blog, Birthday, Eight, Nine, Four, Birthdate, Lucky