Why does the hospital in Another have no fourth floor?


In the hospital where Sakakibara was having his checkups and where Sanae
worked, the elevator had no 4th floor.

Now, I know in Japanese culture the numbers 4 (四 _shi_ ) and 7 (七 _shichi_ )
have "shi" in them which is "death" (死 _shi_ ) and the Japanese are very
superstitious, so they have alternate names for 4 and 7 ( _yon_ and _nana_ ).

So I'm wondering, is it just in _Another_ , where the theme is death, that the
4th floor (and possibly the 7th floor, never really noticed) is missing, or is
it a cultural thing in Japan to label the 4th floor as the 5th floor?




This is true for many East Asian cultures, because, as you pointed out, 4
sounds like "Death". You can read about it
[here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraphobia). It's the same as the idea
that many western hotels skip the 13th floor and instead label it the 14th
floor because 13 is a superstitious number.

Japanese hotels sometimes also skip the 13th floor.




This is true for many East Asian cultures, because, as you pointed out, 4
sounds like "Death". You can read about it
[here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraphobia). It's the same as the idea
that many western hotels skip the 13th floor and instead label it the 14th
floor because 13 is a superstitious number.

Japanese hotels sometimes also skip the 13th floor.

