“What`s your sign?”
The ultimate conversation starter lost with the demise of the horoscope in the 70`s. Perhaps it got tangled up with disco. Whatever the reason, I stopped looking for a Leo soul mate and that groovy Sagittarius embroidered chambray shirt went to Good Will along with my velvet big bells.
But should I have been studying Eastern philosophy instead?
In Japan and many other Asian countries, the better question is, “What`s your type?”
As in blood type.
Perhaps this is best told with a story.
Once upon a time there was a male Japanese twenty something looking for love in Roppongi.
The Japanese twenty something asked the shy, kawaii (Cute) girl twirling the straw between her fingers,
“What`s your type?”
“O.” She lied, looking toward the floor, sneaking a peek through her bangs toward his face to see if he bought it.
Imagine she has bangs, no fan, and Western style clothing.
He knew she was lying.
An “O” would never act like that.
This savvy fella knows his “O” blood types. And likes them. Considered by Japanese and other Asian cultures to be the most desirable of the options. At their best, an “O” is usually leading the conga line, laughing, sociable, realistic, energetic and optimistic. Rude and lacking follow through at their worst.
Since he`s a “B” type, “O” works well with his personality. Creative, bold, reckless, prone to being a lone wolf, playful, practical, he and an “O” make a nice balance, even when he is being reckless or going his own way.
He suspects this girl was an “AB“. The worst. They usually lie about their blood type. Probably the Wicked Witch of the West, Cruella de vil, and Darth Vader were AB. All villains are. Everybody knows it. Cool, controlled, rational, spiritual, sensitive, and bookwormish. A tendency to have a split personality. Most Japanese anime villains are AB.
(Offspring #1 has hurled accusations of AB at OS#2. A bloody, blood type blood feud boiled over.)
AB is best matched with A. Our bar fly watches the “A” types arrange shot glasses in a perfectly straight line along the bar. Neat, fastidious, responsible, teacher`s pets, perfectionists, and hard-working. On the negative – workaholics.
I used to work with an A. I loved to re arrange the stick pins haphazardly on his bulletin board when he was at lunch. Good times.
I forgot about the story.
Go ahead and imagine the rest. I`ve lost interest. Chalk it up to my blood type.
Used by matchmakers arranging marriages, listed on baseball cards and social networking sites, this information is considered a mandatory part of the information gathering process when assessing compatibility. 90% of Japanese know their blood type as opposed to a small unverifiable number of Americans.Which is borne out in the Clampitt family of whom only one is sure of their blood type.
Our local guide on all things Japanese, declared bachelor, and expert on blood types claiming accuracy within 99%, Andretti-san, was asked to predict for the three unknown Clampitts.
He predicts A for Spouse. His elementary teachers still talk about what a nice student he was to their nursing home orderlies.
Offspring #1- The teenager who can walk through any airport in the world and run in to four people and two teachers he knows- O.
Offspring #2-the teenager who asked Ouisar -san to stop putting her clothes away because they weren`t folded neatly enough – A.
The one verified by blood donor card?
Holla
Ouisar-san- O- favorite pass time- photo bombing- while on the dance floor.
Sources: Wikipedia
Ketsuekigatabetsuseikaku
Issendai`s lair – Detailed description and links to all blood type descriptions
Hey from Japan- or wherever the moving van arrives- Emily Cannell 
My blood type is “O” 🙂
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Rock on!
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B Positive here
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O
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I’m scrambling to find my wallet so I can check my blood type… I’m RH negative! Ask someone about that blood type – I feel left out that it’s not even mentioned in your blog!! :0
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hahaha! I don`t think the neg or positive makes a difference from what I`ve been told and have read. Only the letter. I bet you`re on O…. We`ll see.
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Haha… you’ve forgotten how important blood type was in all those 70-80’s drama blood transfusion scenes when suddenly long lost relatives comes forward with the revelation and an offer of blood to their dying cousin/sister/brother/mother/father…
As if any doctor on a hillside in snowstorm could administer a blood transfusion with a pocket knife and en empty pen anyway! (^-^;)
I happily don’t know my blood type, leading to wild guesses! But my mother is O. Perhaps…?! Gasp…!
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Could it be?????
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Very funny post! After what seemed to be the 100th time my vampire-doc had drained my blood, I finally got around to asking him what my blood type is. After reading your post, I won’t divulge it. Lets just say: it explains a lot! 🙂
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There is no discrimination by type here Lisa. We accept you for you. Hahahah!
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Ha! This is awesome, way simpler than my usual answer “Rooster Libra”, my way of combining my Chinese placemat sign and astrological sign. That pic is so you!
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I like that- I`m a O Saggitariun Dragon …. Rarrrrrr. Ping. Holla.
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Your sign combo sounds like a great make for a band!
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Haha. It took me 4 years of living in Japan until I finally gave in and found out what my blood type was. Everybody kept guessing. “Oh, you’re like this and doing that. You must be XY type!!”
Not that I care much about my blood type, but at least all the speculation stopped. *g*
I was surprised to see that most people guessed right, though.
I guess my behavior matches my blood type after all?
On top of that the doc told me that my blood type is extremely rare in Japan.
Not so good, I guess. (^-^’)
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Hey ZoominginJapan- thanks for stopping in. I think it`s easier to guess than say horoscope. But- the master Andretti-san is always right. Makes you wonder…..
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So funny – I have no idea what my blood type is. I’d better find out. Who knows I might be looking for love in all the wrong places? Come to think of it the best place would probably be a hospital – as they wheel the patients in you can check their charts and make a beeline for your true love.
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Every little bit helps right?
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Hmmmm…I guess I take issue with this because my blood type is A and “Neat, fastidious, responsible, workaholic” has never been a way that ANYONE would describe me. Perfectionist, maybe, but the rest are laughable. My personality is much more O or AB. How does that work?
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You must be AB- the universal recipient. You absorb the best of all blood type traits!!! I`ll vote AB- LOL
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The funny thing is that I had no idea this whole blood type thing was a “thing” and then last night my daughter and I were looking up some bands that she likes, and on their pages they list their blood type. If I hadn’t read this blog, I would have totally thought it was just a weird goth thing. Now I get it. Thanks for the insight.
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Who knew this could lead to you increased kinship with your daughter! Hahah! Glad it was useful!
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I’m an O. Go Me!
You had me laughing with the first paragraph – I had truly forgotten how endemic “what is your sign” used to be. I had horoscope mugs, table mats, posters – the only thing I didn’t have was a book about horoscopes, cos the space in my bookshelf for that sort of crap was taken up by the I-Ching and a Tarot deck.
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Hilarious! It was so in…. I still miss that Sag shirt. What is I-Ching?
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I like your post.
If I read that characterizing from the other page, I HAVE to be an AB type.
But I don’t know it. Very interesting 🙂
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I’ve heard of this, but when I asked my mother which one I was (surely a good mother would know?), she didn’t know. I used to have a friend who read a manga series called Absolute Boyfriend. Not exactly my type of manga, but I remember when she had it at school, I saw a profile of a character on the back, and it included his blood type.
I didn’t know what it meant, or why it was there. I thought it was a rather random thing to have in a profile of someone. Later, I found out about the blood type thing. Thus why I asked my mother about my blood type.
I hate that I don’t know. Sometimes I wonder if the only way I’d know is if I gave blood. Which isn’t likely to happen soon…
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I’m an O, too– Sing it, sister! 🙂
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Hallelujah!
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I’m a B, and I’m not like what a B should be! 😆
Heard about this blood type mini-obsession some time back and could never understand it. It’s fun nevertheless. And it seems like only Japanese and Koreans are into blood-type personalities.
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Hahaha this brings back a lot of memories! Glad I stumbled upon you blog!
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So glad to hear it! Thanks for stopping in.
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