Fortune Telling in Japan

The fellow on the left of the pic is a fortune teller. You will occasionally see them at random spots around Tokyo and spotted in bunches huddled in small alleyways and under bridges with a little table (like the one in the pic) in Shinjuku and Ueno.

Some of these are experts in fortune telling by reading your palm, some can see the spirits floating about you and some are more of the standard fortune-by-birthdate/time variety. The average cost per fortune is about 1,000 yen to 2,500 yen.

Met up with a comrade yesterday who casually asked a fortune teller to read his fortune. The fortune teller spoke of a conversation held with my comrade and another person - a conversation that only my comrade had knowledge of - and obviously the other person but she died a while ago.

My comrade's skepticism disappeared and he listened on to be told something about his future that he realized is beginning to come true.

As I was listening I thought that it would be interesting to have my fortune told but after thinking about it for 10 seconds, I thought that I'd rather continue living without being given any hints.

I throughly believe that having a destination in life and being focused and passionate in getting to that destination will bring about a fulfilling future - thus not having to worry about knowing about what the future has in store for me.

For those who have "Mondays" down as the day you hate most and the reason as being "because I have to go to school/work after the weekend", then give the Destination article a read as it may help make not just Monday, but everyday a day to look forward to.

If you had the chance to have a fortune teller tell you your future and you was guaranteed that the information was going to be accurate, would you go ahead?