Why do the Chinese and Japanese have such different interpretations for 9/9/9?

Hi there :)

Well, first of all, both of them are different countries with different cultures. But they have superstitions about numbers, based in how the character for that number is pronounced.

Okay, in english, the symbol 9 sounds "nine", right? Well, in japanese number nine is written like 九, and it can be pronounced either kyuu or ku. But, 苦 is also pronounced ku, and it means pain or anguish. So: (9 = ku) + (anguish = ku) ---> (9 = anguish). See?

Well, I don't know chinese but I'm guessing the same happens. 9 sounds in a certain way and "long-lasting" (saw it in the article) sounds like that certain way, therefore, 9 is the same as "long-lasting".

Interesting, no?

:)

Kanji that is used by the Japanese was adapted from the Chinese character system. Therefore since it is adapted, Japanese have different pronunciations or "names" for each character and use them differently.

China and Japan are different countries. So you would expect them to have different traditions

Mainly because numerology is a load of hogwash.