Quote:
Originally posted by Bill Norrie:
I was told that the reason for the skip from 3000 to 5000 is due to a Japanese dislike of the number 4, 40, 400, 4000 etc. It's something to do with an oriental superstition

I think you are correct. Isn't the number 4 rendered as "Shii" which is also the name of "Death"? For this reason, some superstitious prefer "yon".(Superstition is hard to imagine in modern technology.)