Cleanliness has long been next to godliness for the hygiene-conscious Japanese, but fortune-tellers are now advising those who want to succeed in life to start by scrubbing the smallest room.

        Cleaning the Toilet to Attract Luck published this month is the latest in a series of books advising readers on how to attract good fortune using a brush and an array of cleaning fluids. “Don’t just wipe the floor, polish it,” the book instructs. “It’s important to maintain a positive mood while cleaning.” The books are inspired by Buddhist teachings and feng shui, a traditional Chinese belief that people’s fortunes are determined by their surroundings. 

        The idea that Lady Luck may be hiding in the lavatory has been taken up by magazines and television programs. “I won the lottery! I married my ideal person! I got pregnant!” read some of the claims on the cover of another book on the topic, published last year

        The idea that a clean toilet can bring good fortune, or even make you more beautiful, has existed in Japan for many years, according to Yuka Soma of Makino Publishing in Tokyo, editor of one of the toilet books. But she is still waiting for a big stroke of luck. “I’ve always cleaned my toilet every day, so it never really gets dirty,” she said. “At least it’s easy that way and it probably helps keep my family healthy,” she said.

    A potato farmer was sent to prison just at the time when he should have been digging the ground for planting the new crop of potatoes. He knew that his wife would not be strong enough to do the digging by herself, but that she could manage to do the planting; and he also knew that he did not have any friends or neighbors who would be willing to do the digging for him. So he wrote a letter to his wife which said, “Please do not dig the potato field. I hid the money and the gun there.” 

   Ten days later he got a letter from his wife. It said, “I think somebody is reading your letters before they go out of the prison. Some policemen arrived here two days ago and dug up the whole potato field. What should I do now?” The farmer wrote back at once, “Plant the potatoes, of course.”

 A generation of new pain clinics now operates on the basis that drugs are best avoided. Once patients have undergone the initial physical and psychological check up, their medication is cut down as much as possible. Taking patients off drugs also prepares them for physical activity by making them more physically and mentally alert. In some pain-relief clinics, patients begin the day with muscle contraction and relaxation exercises, followed by an hour on exercise bikes. Later in the day, they practice t’ai chi, a Chinese system of calisthenics, self-defense, and meditation. This compares with an average of two-and-a-half hours’ physiotherapy a week in a conventional hospital program. “The idea is to strengthen and to increase stamina, flexibility and confidence,” explains Bill Wiles, a consultant pain doctor in Liverpool. “Patients undergoing this therapy get back to work and resume healthy active lifestyles much sooner than those subjected to more conservative treatment”.