BLOOD TYPE PERSONALITY THEORY

A pseudoscientific belief exists in some East Asian countries, that a person's

ABO blood type is predictive of a person's personality, temperament, and
compatibility with others. This superstition is similar to how astrological signs
are perceived as influencing factors in a person's life in other countries.

One of the reasons Japan developed the blood type personality indicator theory
was in reaction against ethnic stereotypes coming from Europe. The popular
belief originates with publications by Masahiko Nomi in the 1970s.

The scientific community generally dismisses blood type personality theories as

a superstition or pseudoscience because of lack of evidence or testable criteria.
Although research into the causal link between blood type and personality is
limited, research does not demonstrate any statistically significant association
between the two. Some studies suggest that there is a statistically significant
relationship between blood type and personality, although it is unclear if this is
simply due to a self-fulfilling prophecy. Recently, some medical hypotheses have
been proposed in support of blood type personality theory.

HISTORY
The idea that personality traits were inherited through the blood dates as far
back as Aristotle. Hippocrates also sought to link personality biologically, linking
traits with the four bodily humors — sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric and
melancholic.

In 1926, Rin Hirano and Tomita Yashima published the article "Blood Type
Biological Related" in the Army Medical Journal. It was seen to be a non-
statistical and unscientific report motivated by racism.

TAKEJI FURUKAWA
In 1927, Takeji Furukawa, a professor at Tokyo Women's Teacher's School,
published his paper "The Study of Temperament Through Blood Type" in the
scholarly journal Psychological Research. The idea quickly took off with the
Japanese public despite Furukawa's lack of credentials, and the militarist
government of the time commissioned a study aimed at breeding ideal
soldiers.The study used ten to twenty people for the investigation, thereby failing
to meet the statistical requirements for generalizing the results to the wider
population.

On the other hand, in 1934, Fisher announced the chi-squared test, which is
very popular at present, for the first time. Several scholars said that they found
statistically significant differences analyzing Japanese work conducted at that
time.

In another study, Furukawa compared the distribution of blood types among two
ethnic groups: the Formosans in Taiwan and the Ainu of Hokkaidō. His
motivation for the study appears to have come from a political incident: After the
Japanese occupation of Taiwan following Japan's invasion of China in 1895, the
inhabitants tenaciously resisted their occupiers. Insurgencies in 1930 and in
1931 resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Japanese settlers.

The purpose of Furukawa's studies was to "penetrate the essence of the racial
traits of the Taiwanese, who recently revolted and behaved so cruelly." Based on
a finding that 41.2% of Taiwanese samples had type O blood, Furukawa assumed
that the Taiwanese rebelliousness was genetic. His reasoning was supported by
the fact that among the Ainu, whose temperament was characterized as
submissive, only 23.8% had type O. In conclusion, Furukawa suggested that the
Japanese should increase intermarriage with the Taiwanese to reduce the
number of Taiwanese with type O blood.

MASAHIKO NOMI
Interest in the theory faded in the 1930s. It was revived in the 1970s with a book
by Masahiko Nomi, a journalist with no medical background (he graduated from
the engineering department of University of Tokyo). Few Japanese psychologists
criticized him at that time, so he continued to demonstrate statistically
significant data in various fields and published several books with these results.
Quite some time after his death in 1981, Masahiko Nomi's work was said to be
largely uncontrolled and anecdotal, and the methodology of his conclusions was
unclear. Because of this, he was heavily criticized by the Japanese psychological
community, although his books remain popular. His son, Toshitaka Nomi,
continued to promote the theory with a series of books and by running the
Institute of Blood Type Humanics. He later established the Human Science ABO
Center for further research and publication in 2004.

BLOOD TYPE PERSONALITY CHARACTER

BLOOD TYPE A
Most of the Japanese population is type A. People with this blood type are
described primarily as kichōmen, or well-organized. They like to keep things neat
but can be stubborn and get stressed out easily. They also value harmony with
others. Agricultural people are the root of blood type A, and it's been said working
collaboratively on farms developed these blood type personality traits.

BLOOD TYPE O
Blood type O is often described as rakkanshugi, or optimistic. They are outgoing,
have leadership abilities, and are able to set the mood for groups of people. They
don't care much about little things (as you can see from the mikan picture
above), so their behavior sometimes freaks out more sensitive A types. Though
they're often late to events (and sometimes rude), O types are incredibly resilient
and flexible, enabling them to roll with the punches.

BLOOD TYPE B
Blood type B is generally described as jikochū, or selfish. They are also known
for their creativity. Blood type B has a strong sense of curiosity, but at the same
time, loses interest easily. Though there are a lot of positives to B types, people
tend to focus on the negatives for reasons we'll get into later. Some say their root
is in nomadic peoples who roamed from place to place.

BLOOD TYPE AB
Blood type AB is a hybrid of A and B, two different personalities mixed together.
They are often seen as dual-natured and complicated. For example, they are shy
like A types, but also are outgoing like type B. Blood type AB is the rarest in
Japan (and many other places in the world, too), so they are hard to find. This
reinforces the stereotype that AB people are are kawarimono, or eccentric.