Picking an object wasn’t easy this week. The Hare with Amber Eyes had made me realize that I really don’t collect anything. That was until my friend was going through my wallet last night and found about 12 fortunes from fortune cookies. Some from this past weekend, others from years ago. Let’s just say, I have a fortune problem.
“Fortunes” are pieces of paper with words of inspiration, wisdom and vague prophesies or phrases. About an inch and a fourth long, the fortune also holds a chinese word or phrase on the back with lucky numbers attached to them. Mine currently says family and my lucky numbers are four, 25, 27, 52, 11 and 24.
According to Wikipedia (not exactly the best source for information) fortune cookies were “introduced by the Japanese, popularized by the Chinese but ultimately consumed by Americans.” According to ABC News, fortune cookies originated in Japan, and then were brought over to California. It wasn’t until the Japanese-American internment period that the Chinese took over the booming fortune cookie market and began spreading their fortune cookie wealth. The Japanese never achieved their fortune cookie status again.
The white piece of paper with red or blue writing was an essential part of Japanese culture. The fortune cookie in Japan, both larger and darker than the modern object, contained fortunes from Japanese temples. These cookies were seen as a dessert delicacy and were sold in some regions of Japan. Wikipedia reports that the most notable neighborhood was Fushimi Inari-taisha.
Erik Sumiharu Hagiwara-Nagata is the relative of the original Japanese-American introducer of the fortune cookie, Makoto Hagiwara. They reveal that the Japanese fortune cookie was also eaten at New Year’s festivities at Shinto shrines. They were called “folkcraft” or the Japanese name, tsuji ura sembei. These treats also weren’t owned or manufactured by one individual. They were a Japanese tradition, much like how apple pie or pizza have been called an “American” tradition today, according to ABC News and Hagiwara-Nagata.
However, today the object is much different compared to its original form in Japan. They still do have the same function as a treat, but they’re smaller, shaped differently and contain fortunes written by retired history professors and freelance writers in Brooklyn, N.Y. (Wonton Foods) The largest fortune cookie manufactures today, Wonton Foods, contains a databank of 10,000 fortunes which are rotated frequently. This is much different compared to the original fortunes, created in temples.
The only form of ownership was in America where Makoto Hagiwara served the first American fortune cookie at his restaurant, Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco during the early 1900s. Since then the fortune cookie trend expanded throughout the United States by the Chinese due to the Japanese American internment period.
Although the original fortune cookie is from Japan, both Japanese and Chinese citizens say that the fortune cookie is an American food and is only expected to be served in American Chinese restaurants. Today, the fortune cookies are sold in China and Japan as American imported treats. So, remember: Next time you receive a fortune cookie at a restaurant, the words are actually written by a writer and not some wise man or woman in a temple.
The Materials of History, Thought, and Art 
This is such a cool post (even though you destroyed my dream of a wise man in a temple giving me my fortune haha)! Have you ever seen fortune sticks? I have them in my room- you’re supposed to shake the can so that the sticks come out a bit, and the one that is sticking out the furthest is your fortune. I don’t know if this is related closely to fortune cookies but it is a very similar idea.
Really thought-provoking post! I, too, am now disenchanted by my fortunes. Thanks a lot! But in all seriousness, I’ve kept some fortunes (there’s currently one taped up on my wall.) I’d like to think that although they’re not written by wise men (or wise women), that there must be some small element of fate/randomness/what have you that matches an individual with their fortune and let’s leave it at that. Actually, last week as I was walking down Main St. I saw a man get out of a truck across from China House and deliver them their fortune cookies. It wasn’t exactly a spiritual experience… the box wasn’t even glowing or anything!
I found this post really interesting. With fortune cookies and also horoscopes, I have always been somewhat of a skeptic (I like to say realist), understanding that they were just cold readings and vague phrases that could be applicable to almost any human being. But I always had fun as well receiving them regardless, I find it interesting and funny that we tend to hold on to the ones that seem to “perfectly” apply to our lives at the moment and think of how freaky it is, but then discard them as just general words or nonsense when the fortune is something we don’t like or is not applicable to us.