Using
Japanese beliefs in superstitions
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LYNN
NEARY, host:
Commentator
Sharon Moshavi was recently in a quandary. But she didn't turn to her family for
advice. Moshavi lives in
SHARON
MOSHAVI:
My
Japanese friend Junko and I like to call 1) _________ other up and complain, and
lately we've had plenty 2) _________ complain about: work problems, men problems,
medical issues, as 3) _________ as run-of-the-mill existential
crises. One day,
Junko decided our 4) _________ of bad luck was more than just coincidence. `We're
5) _________ a yakudoshi,' she said. `A what?' I asked. `A 6) _________,' she
said, `an inauspicious year. It can affect women
7) _________ their 30s,' she
explained, and she knew exactly what 8) _________ had to do about it. We had to be
9) _________. This is
13)
_________was
ready to throw logic to the wind and
14) _________ myself
purified when another
friend, Yuko, stepped in. `Forget 15)_________ the purification,' she said. `What
you need is a 16) _________ fortune telling,' the Japanese version of going to a
17) _________. In
I
realize that in my heart of hearts I
20) _________
taking it seriously, too. I was
actually scared. Of 21) _________ it's absurd, of course it's
sheer chicanery. If I
22) _________ a good fortune--you know, I live to be 23) _________ hundred and win the
lottery--I'd laugh it off. 24) _________ what if my fortune was terrible? What if I
25) _________ about to hear that I was going to die 26) _________ horrible early death?
I was face to face with 27) _________ inner irrationality and I didn't like it one
bit.
28)
_________
only way to win that battle, to prove such 29) _________ was indeed nonsense, was,
of course, to go and 30) _________ the fortune-teller. He turned out to be a small
31) _________ who looked exactly like a carnival barker
in a 32) _________ pinstripe
suit and white-on-white tie, but he had a 33) _________, almost professorial
manner.
On place mat-sized paper, he sketched 34) _________ charts that looked like EKGs. My
future didn't hold 35) _________ especially bad, he said. Emboldened, I pressed for
more 36) _________. Would my novel get published? Would I have children? 37) _________
gazed at the charts and he said I would 38) _________ to make the most of my
opportunities.
I
was 39) _________ and, to be honest, annoyed by all his vagueness,
40) _________ I also
felt something else well up inside my 41) _________: relief. There was no wonderful
news, but no horrible 42) _________, either. For the first time, I felt the power
43) _________ charm of superstition. Of course, it demands
relinquishing a 44) _________
amount of control, not an easy thing for a 45) _________ freak like myself. I think
I'm like many Americans. 46) _________ believe in our unlimited powers. We take
credit for 47) _________ success and accept the blame for our failures. Maybe,
48) _________ maybe, it isn't up to us. Maybe it is 49) _________ in the stars.
A
comforting thought, but what if
50)_________stars conspire against you? My friend
Yuko has an 51) _________ for that one. `You just try another fortune-teller and,
52) _________ necessary, get another. As many as it
takes,' she 53) _________, `to find
a fortune you like.'
NEARY: Sharon Moshavi lives and wonders about her future in
Questions
1. What did Sharon's friend Junko recommend they do about their "bad luck?"
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2. What did her friend Yuko recommend?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. According to Sharon, how do Japanese people think of fortune-telling?
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4. Did the fortune-teller give Sharon clear answers to her questions? Explain.
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5. How did Sharon feel after talking to the fortune-teller?
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