Which type are you?

"What would you think if someone you just met at a bar asked your blood type?"
"Eww, that's kinda creepy."
"But in Japan, that's totally normal."
"Eek!"

I once heard a conversation like this on British radio.

Many Japanese believe that blood type influences personality traits and compatibility—like Type A being meticulous and Type O being optimistic. Setting aside scientific evidence, countless books on the subject are published and enjoyed. I'm not a believer myself, but I never imagined blood type talk would strike British listeners as odd until I heard that broadcast.

Japanese people love categorizing people, fitting them into boxes, and using it as conversation fodder.

Illustration: Yuzorabitch

For ages, we've described Western-style faces with strong, defined features as "sauce faces" and Japanese-style faces with narrow eyes and delicate features as "soy sauce faces," getting excited saying things like "My preference is soy sauce" or "Sauce!" Recently, a female client mentioned, "I hear 'salt-type guys' are popular these days." Salt. Even lighter than soy sauce. Guys who don't have beards (though they probably do), are fair-skinned, and just seem to be there without you noticing... that's the vibe.

The term "meat-eating type," referring to those aggressive in pursuing the opposite sex, has recently shifted to describe "girls" rather than "boys." On the other hand, when did we start hearing about the increase in gentle, reserved "herbivore men"? Lately, there's apparently also a "fish-eating type." They're more carnivorous than herbivorous, yet not as aggressive as true carnivores—somehow more intellectual types, it seems. Furthermore, men who actually want to be aggressive but deliberately suppress their desires and avoid interacting with the opposite sex are apparently called "fasting-type guys." It's a bit sad to be labeled "fasting-type" when you don't even intend to fast...

The other day, I saw a headline on a women's magazine cover that practically jumped out at me: "Classify the men around you into 50 types!" Fifty types! How much fieldwork would it take to categorize men that finely? If you date 50 people and get 50 types, that's no different from saying "ten people, ten colors." Hats off to the writer (though I didn't read the article).

It just goes to show how much Japanese people love categorizing people and using them as conversation fodder. Well, maybe not "Japanese people"—on second thought, it's "especially Japanese women," isn't it? Sorry about that.

(Supervised by: Dentsu Inc. Aegis Network Business Bureau)