Today is Lottery Day! (only in Japan)
Sep 2nd, 2008 by Ad Blankestijn
In Japan, almost every day of the month has been claimed by some institution or other. After Disaster Prevention Day on September 1, now on September 2 we have something quite different: Lottery day! (Takarakuji no Hi). Why? Well, apparently, non-winning tickets from the previous year get a second chance today.
I have to confess that I have nothing with lotteries. I can not get excited about them as the real chances to win something are so minimal that I think it is better to spend money and energy on something else. They are not even fun, because you are almost certain to be disappointed.
In Japan, the chances to win the lottery are said to be even lower than in other countries.
Organized by the Central Bank or local governments, at least half of the income goes to those same local organizations. The highest prize, usually 100 million yen, is 924,000 dollars or 634,000 euro…
Tickets are often sold at special booths. People remember which booths sold winning tickets and (with complete disregard for the laws of chance) at those shops the lines of prospective buyers tend to be by far the longest.
Takarakuji, anyone?
