Originally Posted by DoubleJ
The numbers 4 (death) as well as 9 (pain) are missing from various items and places in Japan as well. I'm curious as to why the HGI in San Mateo would be missing the fourth floor. Large Asian population (and therefore clientele) in the area?
Yeah "shi" in Japanese is death or four although the characters are different. Seven (shichi in Japanese) is also concerned with death. After someone dies a ceremony is held every seven days up until the 49th day (7x7) and then you have a big party and go back to being a mindless consumer. Or something like that. I don't understand Japan much, I just go with flow.
