Originally posted by robthebloke iirc, '4' sounds like 'death' in Japanese, so you tend to find house/flat/floor numbers skipping from 3 to 5. It's much the same as with 13 in the us/uk....
Eh....that is not universally true, and while there may be some relationship, afaik it's not as simple as "sounds like death"...
Either way...
The 3 hotels I stay at when in Japan all have floors 4 (and 14).
Incidentally, my favorite lunch restaurant in Shinju-ku is on the 4th floor.
As I most often go to Japan for work, the office I occupy when in Tokyo is on the 4th floor.
Perhaps the Japanese is trying to cause my "death" by sticking me in contexts with 4 being prominent - but I really doubt it
I also think that there's a Japanese camera company that has released cameras with the labels both F4 and D4 .... and I think I remember the same company having a F404 at some point (without the company "dying twice" from that)
On the other hand....in South Korea, I have so far not seen the digit "4" in or around Seoul. I was staying at a hotel there a few weeks back, and the floors went "1-2-3-F-5-6-7-8-...", for example.....that said, I do not spend as much time in Korea as I do in Japan....