就職にも影響する？！ニュージーランドと日本の占いの違い All about horoscopes and fortune telling in Japan and NZ!

皆さん、こんにちは！
先日は家の近の公園で咲いてる河津桜を見て、春やっと感じました！
冬が大好きだけど、春の気温が丁度良いです！
母親によりますとオークランドは少しずつ温度が下がりますがbbq続く方まだまだいます！
日本に来て初めてのお仕事が英会話教師でした。
レッスンの最初5分がウォーミングアップと言いまして、お生徒さんと自己紹介的な会話が多かった。初めて会う生徒さんとレッスンのときはだいたい：　血液型、何型？っと聞かれます！
どうして血液型？ニュージーランドも血液型気にしてますか？とちょっと驚きました！
さて皆さんは占いどう思いますか？信じる派ですか？信じない派ですか？
※ホロスコープや星占い ※数学
※血液型占い ※うまれ年
私は信じるか？信じないか？　考えてましたが、やはり色んな種類があって、はっきりした答えはできません(笑)
上の占いカテゴリー二つになってますが、皆さんお気づきでしょうか？どうして二つなんでしょうか？
最初の二つがニュージーランドでポピュラーの占い方、下の二つ、私日本来てからすぐに出会った占い方です！
ニュージーランドをで、ホロスコープや星占い、数学が一般の方でも、聞いたことある、自分は何座かご存知なはずです。
私は幼い頃から、母親が：うまれた月によって人の星占いサインが分かる。星占いサインによって性格が分かるようになると言ってました。
ニュージーランドの新聞や、週間雑誌Womens Weeklyなどで必ずのってます!　入社する前に、もし情報が手に入れれば、社長は何座か調べる方もいます！
どんなボスになるかやはり先に知りたいですよね?
ちなみに私は7月30日日生まれですので、しし座です(笑)　プライドが高く、気付ききやすい、ハッピー、寛大な性格だそうです。
続いて、生年月日を人数字にして、多数っという最後の一文字が残る占い方、数学。
私の生年月日（1979.07.30）を使ってみると： 1+9+7+9=26[2+6=8] 0+7=7 3+0=3 8+7+3=18[1+8=9] 私は「9」だそうです。
慎重派、自己認識を持ってる人だとか。 日本で確かに星占いや数学もたまに見かけますが、自分が日本に来てからもっとも聞かれた質問がさっきほども言いましたが、血液型は何型?　初めて聞かれたとき、え?!血液型?!それはわからないょ!っと相手に答えました。
不思議がってて、インターネット調べてみたところ、なんと、だいたいの日本人が自分の血液型知ってたっと驚いた！
ニュージーランドと日本はもしかして医療方の少し違いによって血液型情報が知らせるかっとの事かしら？
私は日本で妊娠中の時27歳でやっと自分が「A型」とわかるようになりました。
長女出産したさい、「O型」と教えてくれました。
ニュージーランドの星占いみたいに、自分の性格やボスの性格調べる方もいます！
Jamais Jamaisさんが書いた本のシリーズ「○〇型自分の説明書」が大ベストセラーになりました!
血液型の次に聞かれるのがうまれ年はいつ？最初は、ん？！っての感じでした！
もしかして動物サインの十二支について私は何の動物か知りたいかしら？
一般のパケハのニュージーランド人に同じ質問したらほとんどの方は知らないと思います！
元々中国から来た十二支の動物サインシステムですが、日本来て１年目で出会いました。年末になって、年賀状、翌年の動物の置物等がお店によく見かけました。
でも、調べてみたところ,年賀状の事より、うまれた年がその方の性格分かる事や他の動物サインに合うかどうか、だとか!
どうやらお母さん、お父さん世代の方聞かれますが、やはり世代的なものでしょうか？ ちなみに私は未年です(笑)
ニュージーランド、日本、どっちもポピュラーな占い方あります。文化の関係などで、人気あるものに大きな違いがありますね!
うれしい事ですが、私はその四つの占い方を好きなように使うと４つの中から、必ず良い事があります！
日本とニュージーランドの占い方が面白いですね！今度相手国の占い方調べてみてたらいかがでしょうか？
 
Hi everybody!
The other day I finally got to see beautiful Kawazuzakura Cherry Blossoms blooming in a park near me home.
I finally feel like spring is here! According to my Mum who live is Auckland even though the temperature is dropping little by little there are still people that BBQ!
That’s great! So kiwi!
The first job I had when I came to Japan was that of an English teacher. The first 5 minutes of my lesson where spent ‘warming up’ or using questions to get to know each other.
From first time students I was almost certain to be asked this one specific question:
“Whats your blood type?”
The first time I was asked about it, I was totally surprised! Why blood type? I was sure in New Zealand we didn’t really worry about what blood type people were…
This brings me to today’s theme! Fortune Telling and Horoscopes!
Do you believe in it? Perhaps yes? Perhaps not?
*Horoscope/ Star Signs *Numerology
*Blood Type Fortune Telling *Birth Year Animal Signs
Do I believe in fortune telling and horoscopes?
Well..I had a good think about it and to tell you the truth, there are so many different types I can’t really say for sure!
Okay, so have a look at the two categories of fortune telling above.
Can you guess why there are two categories? The first two are what I think are quite popular fortune telling methods in New Zealand, and the other two are the first two methods of fortune telling in Japan that I came across!
I New Zealand I think most people have heard of horoscopes, star signs and numerology and if you ask them, “What’s your star sign?” they will most likely be able to answer.
Star sign information and colomns are in the New Zealand Herald and in most weekly magazines like, The Women’s Weekly for instance.
Occasionally some people try to find their potential bosses birth date so they can figure out which star sign they are and work out what they would be like as a boss!
I’m born on July the 30th by the way so that makes me a Leo! Like the lion that Leo symbolises, my personality is proud, and easily hurt but happy generous.
Next lets have a look at numerology.
As far as I know it’s taken from you year, month and day of birth and adding all those numbers together to get a final number which reveals you personality and destiny! My date of birth is 1979.07.30 so: 1+9+7+9=26[2+6=8] 0+7=7 3+0=3 8+7+3=18[1+8=9] It appears I am a number 9 which means I am cautious and self aware.
It is true that numerology and star signs can both be seen here and there in Japan however the most asked question I receive when meeting someone is, “What’s your blood type?” The first time I was asked, I replied, “I have no idea!”.
Intrigued, I search the internet about this blood type question. I was greeted with the information that most Japanese people knew their own blood type! It made me wonder, perhaps there was some difference in medical practice that had led to people being told or not told about their blood type?
When I was pregnant for the first time in Japan at 27 years old I finally got told I was an A blood type. Over here there are a series of blood tests necessary during pregnancy and during that time I was told. When my daughter was born the clinic told me my daughters blood type was O.
It turns out that similar to star signs, blood type horoscopes can reveal your personality, and there are even some people who check their own bosses blood type too!
A hugely popular book series by Jamais Jamais called “The Instruction Manual for Blood Type XX” became a best seller as people were interested to learn more about their own personalities and compatibility with other blood types!
After the blood type question the next most asked question for me was, “what year were you born?” At first I was like, what?? I didn’t understand why they would want to know.
I was sure that if a regular New Zealander was asked over in New Zealand they would most likely have a similar reaction!
So it turns out that I was getting asked about what we call the Japanese Zodiac (taken from the Chinese Zodian originally).
There are 12 animal signs and Japan swaps Goat for Sheep and Pig for Wild Boar. I got to know about the animal signs during the first year I was in Japan.
During the end of the year, shops had nengajo or new years greeting postcards on display, as well as small figurines of animals to be placed in the entrance to the house in the form of the animal sign for that coming year.
After researching further I came to realise that more than greeting cards, the animal signs were a way to tell ones personality and character, as well as compatibility with other animal signs.
Also as a side note, I have noticed the people that ask me also tend to be of a slightly older generation of Japanese people. Perhaps the interest in the animal signs has gotten less over generations?
By the way I am born in the year of the sheep, which people always comment “is perfect because you’re from New Zealand.” Both New Zealand and Japan have popular forms of fortune telling.
Due to differences in culture the difference of the methods of fortune telling are just huge! In my case, I’ve come to learn about the four methods I talked about above. I can pick and chose from those four to my advantage meaning I will always have a happy fortune! Fortune telling is interesting in both countries!
Try checking out the other country’s method and seeing what results you get!