Friday the 13th in Japan

If you have ever wondered if Friday the 13th a thing in Japan, I can tell you that it isn't. I was curious when I first came to Japan and over the years I've repeatedly asked different people in Japan about it and it would seem that it is not even known here.

However, there is some evidence that the number 13 is considered ominous for another reason in Japan, although not a widely accepted unlucky number the way the number 4 is. The number four sounds like "shi" for death. Hence, it is a commonly avoided number. To the point that some hospitals don't have a 4th floor or rooms with the number 4. There is actually a word in English for this "tetraphobia". The reason some people consider 13 unlucky in Japan too, is that it is a combination of "4" plus "9" and nine, "ku", sounds like the word for "pain" or "suffering". 

So you would think that the superstition around Friday the 13th may have caught on here. But Japan has its own long‑standing system of auspicious and inauspicious days, especially the rokuyō calendar, where butsumetsu is considered far more ominous than any date tied to the number 13.