There's more to blood than feeding a vampire

Photo Source: Anna_T @ Flickr: License: Attribute/Share-Alike/Non-Commercial Use

What's the best ice breaker at a party? My guess would be “What's your sun sign?”. Well, that would be the case unless you are seriously opposed to astrology in general and would prefer a delightful banter about the rainbow controversy of Diablo III. Coming back to my original point, if fortune telling as a whole does not make the bile rise in the back of your throat, what do you think is the perfect ice breaker at a party in Japan? Judging from the popularity of this strange phenomenon, I would go for blood group discussions.

Have you heard about blood typology? About the personality analysis based on each blood group? It's the same concept as astrological signs where people born under certain signs have distinct traits (i.e. angry, moody or just plain aloof). So, here's a general breakdown of each blood group personality. Type A are supposed to be loner types, who shoulder responsibility and just want to do everything right. And from what I have so far, Type B sounds like the typical plodding, painstakingly thorough manager. As for Type O, they seem to be the bubbly, life-of-the-party kind of folks. Type AB seems to have got the short end of the stick. So far, the descriptions of this group range from a ditzy flake to just a tad manipulative. If you would like to uncover more about this typology can find details here and here.

Where blood typology is concerned, it is quite a craze in Japan. Almost every character in a manga or anime series will point out their blood type at one point or another. On that note, you will be amused to know that it took me a while to catch onto this concept in one of my favorite manga series (Bleach). Yes, apparently Kurosaki Ichigo's blood type revelation had nothing to do with his dad owning a clinic. Blood typology's immense popularity can be gauged by the vast number of products targeted at the four blood groups; take for instance, different chewing gums, blood drips and even condoms.

Much as I am inclined to take this topic lightly, I am also curious to read about possible blood group discrimination. Has it captured people's imagination to such a great extent, I ask myself at this point? One Canadian news site covered blood typology and they pointed out a word for blood group discrimination - “burahara”. So, the fact is, for such a term to exist, there must be a certain degree of bias towards certain blood groups, right? It does seem to be the case. The aforementioned article points out how nursery schools, sports teams and dating sites can group or separate people according to their blood types. That's pretty mind-boggling. As it is, I would hate to think of varying immigration procedures for all the blood types.