As Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 draws closer, TV stations around the world are airing more and more Japan/Tokyo-themed programs. Hopefully these TV programs are a good source of facts about Japan, but just in case I’m throwing a fun fact party in this post:-)
Let’s see how many of the fan facts about Japan you are familiar with. Here we go, folks, our super randomly chosen Japanese fun facts!
40 Fun Facts about Japan:
- According to WHO, 3.6 percent of Japanese adults have a body mass index (BMI) over 30, which is the international standard for obesity, while 32.0 percent of Americans do. Japan ranked in 166 out of 189 countries for obesity rate.
- Up to 2015, dancing at nightclubs past 1am was banned.
- The world’s oldest hotel is Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan, in Yamanashi, Japan.
- The oldest continuously operating family business in the world was a temple construction company Kongo Gumi, which had been doing so for 14 centuries until it became a subsidiary of Takamatsu Construction in 2005.
- Japan is made up of 6,852 islands.
- Japanese railway service is the most punctual in the world, with an average delay time of 18 seconds.
- In 2005, the number of pets outnumbered childbirth. In 2009, the number of pets was 23,300,000 compared to that of below 15 years old at 17,000,000.
- Japan is a home of 5.52 million vending machines.
- Japanese kids clean their classrooms.
- Individuals with a tattoo are banned from public baths.
- Up to the 1970s, there was no salmon sushi. Norwegians introduced salmon to the sushi makers in Japan in the 1980s.
- The number of people aged over 100 was 54,397 in 2013 and it’s on the rise.
- On the Valentine’s Day, women give gifts to men, while on the White Day (March 13th), men return gifts to women.
- In Japan, taxi has an automatic door, which became a norm during the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.
- There are 290,000 family names in Japan and 6.3 million first names. The most common name is Keiko Sato (22,000 registered).
- Two major brands, “National” and “Panasonic”, were run by the same company, Matsushita.
- Shinjuku Takashimaya is actually located in Shinjuku Ward, not Shinjuku Ward.
- Japanese postmen were the first official personnels who had to carry arm, so as to prevent mugging for cash registered mail on the street.
- The part of Mt. Fuji above 3,360m is a private property of Fuji Yamamoto Miyashita Asama Taisha, a shinto shrine.
- There are 90 days for which Mt. Fuji is not snow capped.
- The founder of Nisshin invented instant noodles.
- The majority of Japanese companies are still using fax machines. In 2015, 42% of households and 92% of companies used fax machines.
- The majority of Japanese people and companies rely on inkan/ hanko or seals to validate day-to-day documents and contracts.
- Japanese peel off skin of grapes.
- Driven by a buddhist idea, eating meat was banned between 1687 and 1872 in Japan. Death penalty was applied to those who broke the law.
- Japan hosts 7% of world’s active volcanoes.
- Sleeping with your head pointing north is considered as bad luck in Japan.
- Shinjuku has world’s busiest station with the record of 3.42 million passengers on a day.
- Tokyo Tower was supposed to be named Showa Tower.
- Sumo wrestlers never wash their mawashi, the belt (loincloth) that they wear during the match until they retire.
- Tomika’s miniature cars do not have side mirrors for safety reasons.
- Tokyo is not officially Japan’s capital city.
- Tokyo Tower was built in 1958 with scraped steels of American tanks that were used during Korean War.
- Japanese language is not officially Japan’s national language. The only country that officially declares Japanese as a national language is Palau Republic.
- Decreed in Japanese family law, either wife or husband has to change their family name to their partner’s. But when a Japanese marries a foreigner, he or she gets to keep their name and their partner, too.
- Japanese monarchy is the oldest continuous hereditary monarchy in the world.
- Approximately 310,000 festivals are held each year in Japan.
- The most expensive land in Japan is Tokyo’s Ginza 2-6-7, Chuo Ward at 38,900,000yen per square meter.
- The average height for Japanese men is 167.3cm and for women 154.2cm.
- In 2013, Yoko Ono was made an Honorary Citizen of Reykjavík, Iceland.