Bura-Hara

Japanese term for blood-type harassment.

Reporting for The Associated Press on the Japanese yen for blood-typology (the belief that personality traits are determined by blood group), Mari Yamaguchi wrote:

Matchmaking agencies provide blood-type compatibility tests, and some companies make decisions about assignments based on employees’ blood types.

Children at some kindergartens are divided up by blood type, and the women’s softball team that won gold at the Beijing Olympics used the theory to customize each player’s training.

Not all see the craze as harmless fun, and the Japanese now have a term,bura-hara, meaning blood-type harassment.

In a December 2008 article for The Guardian, Justin McCurry also noted the “darker side” of blood typing:

It has been blamed for bullying among kindergarten children, denying jobs to otherwise ideal candidates and ending happy relationships, all because of an imagined haematic mismatch.