×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
Answerman - Is There A "Tooth Fairy" In Japan?




Note: this is the discussion thread for this article

Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
svines85



Joined: 30 Sep 2011
Posts: 42
PostPosted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 10:57 am Reply with quote
Heh, bravo, Thomas, I enjoyed your question quite a bit more than most.....those funny little differences, eh? Very Happy

Thanks, Justin, a great article Smile
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
Location: Another Kingdom
PostPosted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 11:14 am Reply with quote
I remember those weird traditions about throwing teeth from my parents and their home country, though only most hazily as neither of them really taught me to do it. We had no ritual, really. When my baby teeth fell out, they just threw it in the trash (and not vigorously like these Asian rituals do).

I do wonder why they exist though. Is it to encourage kids to eventually remove them from their mouths and not keep them for as long as they can?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
yuna49



Joined: 27 Aug 2008
Posts: 3804
PostPosted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 11:37 am Reply with quote
I still don't know why Erika hadn't learned these traditions years before. It seemed a little silly for her mother to be telling her what to do with her tooth when nineteen of them or so had already fallen out. It makes me think the scene was inserted for Western audiences. Surely Japanese viewers of Sakura Quest would not have needed the mother to inform them of these practices either.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Mr Who Cares



Joined: 06 Sep 2017
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 3:36 pm Reply with quote
Didn't think my question would get answered! Interesting to see all the big and small differences with how different countries handle teeth. Didn't realise Japan was more specific with what you do with the tooth depending on where it was in your mouth. Where I live it's just "stick it under the pillow and that's it!"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
Posts: 5113
Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready...
PostPosted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 5:05 pm Reply with quote
leafy sea dragon wrote:
I
I do wonder why they exist though. Is it to encourage kids to eventually remove them from their mouths and not keep them for as long as they can?

I think it's because losing baby teeth can be traumatic for kids--it can be painful and cause bleeding. So the idea is to attach it to a ritual to give kids something to be excited about. Even if they don't get presents or money in exchange for the tooth, making a big deal about a cultural ritual that marks growing up is in itself exciting. And the idea of disposing teeth in a way that would ensure the next set grows in straight makes superstitious sense from the days before orthodontists and braces.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
Posts: 13540
Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP
PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 2:11 am Reply with quote
(Sarcasm): Coming soon to anime/manga: a monster girl version of a Tooth Fairy.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
GunnerVee



Joined: 07 Sep 2017
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 11:57 am Reply with quote
I come from some where in Africa and what we did was throw the tooth as far as we can as we say a rhyme. It went like this (I think) "I'm a cub no longer. take this donkey's tooth and give me a lions fang".
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group