Should You See a Fortune Teller? Aika Kanda Shares Her Thoughts

It all started with the “Great Misfortune Period”

Have you watched the Netflix drama “You’ll Fall into Hell?” The series, which has been generating a lot of buzz, is based on the life of the late fortune teller Kazuko Hosoki, who became a household name through television appearances in the early 2000s. It’s unclear how closely the drama follows the facts, but many people say, “Even that version tones things down,” or, “Her real life was even more dramatic.”

I find those comments fascinating because, for people of my generation, Kazuko Hosoki was an unforgettable presence. There wasn’t a day when her face wasn’t on television, and everyone seemed to be talking about her. Then, one day, she suddenly disappeared from TV and was rarely seen again. As a high school student at the time, I found it incredibly shocking.

That was also when I first became interested in fortune-telling—because of her. Until then, I hadn’t believed in fortune-telling at all, but Hosoki’s concept of the “Great Misfortune Period” (Daisakkai) genuinely frightened me.

I remember thinking, If I’m in the middle of my Great Misfortune Period, I’d better change my behavior—or, just as she says, I’ll “fall into hell!” So I looked up whether I was in that period. From then on, I became interested in fortune-telling in general. Whenever I picked up a fashion magazine, I’d turn to the horoscope pages at the back before reading anything else.

A few years later, I joined NHK and was assigned to its Fukuoka station as my first posting. I was the station’s first newly hired female announcer in more than a decade, and nearly every senior announcer in the department took the time to mentor me. I was grateful, but each person gave different advice, and I quickly realized it was impossible to follow everyone’s guidance at once.

As I struggled with what to do, one senior colleague offered some advice.

“Pick one senior person to be your mentor. Follow only that person’s advice. If, after a while, you feel it’s not the right fit, then choose someone else.”

I immediately thought, That makes perfect sense! and decided that this would be the person whose guidance I would follow.

Coincidentally, I was facing the exact same dilemma with fortune-telling. I was reading the horoscope section of every magazine I could get my hands on, hoping to find some guidance or words of encouragement. But every magazine said something different, and it was impossible to follow all of their advice.

It was exactly the same situation as with my senior colleagues.

I’ll do the same thing with fortune-telling, I decided.

I chose the horoscope at the back of my favorite magazine as the one I would trust, and stopped reading all the others.

More than twenty years have passed since then, and these days I rely exclusively on the fortunes of Tamako Suisho. I can’t really tell whether her readings about my own life are accurate, but when I look at other celebrities, her predictions about their careers often seem remarkably on target. So I suppose she’s probably right about me as well.

Are we living in the Gods’ sandbox?

Recently, several acquaintances have told me something that sounds quintessentially show business:

“Apparently, if you go through so-and-so, you can get an appointment with that fortune teller who’s almost impossible to book. Want to try?”

Of course, it would cost a considerable amount of money.

As much as I pay attention to fortune-telling, the only thing I’ve ever spent money on is Tamako Suisho’s annual fortune book, which I buy once a year.

Is a fortune-telling session that costs tens of thousands of yen for such a short time really worth it? Do the people who go leave free of worries and go on to achieve the outcomes they hoped for?

I’m skeptical about many things. At the same time, it’s true that plenty of people in the entertainment industry—where no one knows when their work might suddenly disappear—rely on fortune tellers. If that’s the case, it wouldn’t be strange for me to do the same.

But here’s the problem.

I have my own personal theory about how this world works.

What if we’re born through our parents’ choices and merely believe we’re living according to our own free will, when in reality we’re nothing more than playthings for the gods?

Imagine the universe enclosed inside a giant fish tank called “the Universe,” with the gods saying things like:

“I’m going to watch the entire life of this person living on that planet called Earth.”

Or:

“Then I’ll make this person win the lottery and see what happens afterward!”

What if they’re manipulating human beings purely for their own amusement?

If that’s true, then what meaning could fortune-telling possibly have? It would be nothing more than entertainment.

To me, before spending a fortune on a reading, it seems more important to determine whether my the gods are playing with us theory is actually true.

How would I even go about finding that out?

Can I really change the course of my life through my own choices?

Maybe that’s what I should ask a fortune teller to predict first.

Aika Kanda was born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1980. After graduating from the Department of Mathematics in the Faculty of Science at Gakushuin University, she joined NHK as an announcer in 2003. She left NHK in 2012 to become a freelance announcer and has since built a career centered on variety television. She currently serves as a regular main MC on the daytime program “Poka Poka” (Fuji TV).

Her first book, “Where Does the Road Called the ‘Royal Road’ Actually Lead?,” which compiles this serialized column, is now on sale.

From the June 26 & July 3, 2026, combined issue of “FRIDAY”