# Q Re Japanese Folklore/Wives' Tale Re Pregnancy **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 30, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-re-japanese-folklore-wives-tale-re-pregnancy/512110 "2009-09-30T15:38:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-re-japanese-folklore-wives-tale-re-pregnancy/512110/1 "2009-09-30T15:38:24Z")
Was at a gathering with, among others, two Japanese acquaintances, one of whom is pregnant. The other girl noted afterward, “I think she’ll have her baby very early, maybe 4-6 weeks early.” I queried why she thought that and she got kind of coy and said, “well, it’s a girl thing we believe we can predict in Japan based on certain things.” I’m \ it’s that Acquaintance 1’s rack has been pretty generously embiggened in the past few months, and Acquaintance 2, a business associate, didn’t feel comfortable telling me she’d been eyeing the other girl’s assets (I obviously noticed myself, so no shame there in my book . . …). Is this a common notion among Japanese women, for anyone who knows any (or is any), or is there some other more obscure Eastern superstition going on that I missed? ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-re-japanese-folklore-wives-tale-re-pregnancy/512110/2 "2009-09-30T16:11:05Z")
I don’t know the answer to the OP’s question, but I’ll throw out a similar anecdote related to Japanese pregnancy. Some American friends of mine were in Japan teaching English, when the wife missed a couple of periods. Thinking she might be preggers, they went to the doc to find out. Doc took one look at her and said “You’re not pregnant.” Sez my friend, “How about a pregnancy test?” Sez the doc, “No need, you’re not pregnant.” She wound up taking a pregnancy test anyway, and she wasn’t pregnant. :eek: WTF? How did the doctor know just by looking? ---
**Author:** ![UncleFred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@UncleFred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleFred)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-re-japanese-folklore-wives-tale-re-pregnancy/512110/3 "2009-09-30T17:56:23Z")
Sounds a bit like the guy who, for $50, could tell if a baby would be male or female, without resorting to any tests. He offered a money-back guarantee. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-re-japanese-folklore-wives-tale-re-pregnancy/512110/4 "2009-09-30T18:08:36Z")
> [@UncleFred](#): > > Sounds a bit like the guy who, for $50, could tell if a baby would be male or female, without resorting to any tests. He offered a money-back guarantee. I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-re-japanese-folklore-wives-tale-re-pregnancy/512110/5 "2009-09-30T18:11:44Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I don’t get it. If he’s right, as he will be 50% of the time, he keeps your $50. If he’s wrong, as he will be 50% of the time, he gives back your $50, and he gets nothing, but doesn’t lose anything either. So on average, he gets $50 from half his customers, nothing from the other half. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-re-japanese-folklore-wives-tale-re-pregnancy/512110/6 "2009-09-30T18:12:09Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I don’t get it. He gets to keep the money half the time even if he guesses randomly. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-re-japanese-folklore-wives-tale-re-pregnancy/512110/7 "2009-09-30T18:33:55Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > He gets to keep the money half the time even if he guesses randomly. … or if he guesses “boy” every time. Or “girl”. Or if he alternates his predictions back and forth. Basically, all strategies have the same result in this case. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-re-japanese-folklore-wives-tale-re-pregnancy/512110/8 "2009-09-30T20:33:23Z")
Oh.