Japan's fortune-telling tradition thrives on Tokyo streets
ChannelNewsAsia.com / 01 September 2004 1131 hrs
TOKYO : Every night when the offices close and the shops pull down their shutters, the fortune-tellers of Tokyo set up their tables in the darkened doorways, keeping a centuries old tradition alive.
"The Japanese love having their fortune told," said Terutsugu Eguma, who has been getting his palm crossed with silver - or rather crisp banknotes - for telling fortunes on Ginza's sidewalks for eight years...."Basically, I learned to do this from books, but I've also attended classes.
....the national fascination with destiny lives on, with magazines swamped with fortune-telling articles based on the western and Chinese zodiacs, blood types and Chinese Feng Shui....
While this nightly show is tolerated on streets all over Tokyo, "strictly speaking, they are not allowed to be on the sidewalk," said Isamu Kikuchi, a policeman who has been patrolling the upmarket Ginza district....
One of the fortune-tellers, who declined to be identified, confirmed that yakuza periodically demand a commission from some clairvoyants.....
"For them, it's purely business. They never ask anything about their future," he said. "Can you imagine a yakuza asking how his affairs of the heart will work out?"
