Japan
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This Japanese trivia quiz has 147 free questions with answers and covers Japan from every angle: Mount Fuji and the four main islands, the shoguns and samurai, the Meiji Restoration and the postwar boom, sushi, ramen and matcha, Shinto shrines and cherry-blossom season, the bullet train, Nintendo and Studio Ghibli, and the Japanese words that English has borrowed. Questions run from ones anyone who has watched a Japanese film can answer to ones that will test people who have lived in Tokyo. Each question is multiple choice with a short explanation after you answer, and every answer has been checked against a reliable source. Play it solo, or use it as a ready-made Japan round for a trivia night or classroom.
30 of 147 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Japanese volcano last erupted in 1707, showering ash on Edo?
Mount Fuji
Mount Fuji's Hōei eruption began in December 1707 and tore new craters in the mountain's south-eastern flank, yet it released no lava, only a vast cloud of ash; the volcano has been quiet ever since.
Q 02Which wrapped robe, tied with a broad sash, is the national dress of Japan?
Kimono
The kimono is always wrapped left side over right; the reverse, right over left, is used only to dress the dead for burial.
Q 03Which city was home to Japan's imperial court for more than a thousand years, from 794?
Kyoto
Kyoto, founded in 794 as Heian-kyō, was laid out on a grid modelled on the Tang capital Chang'an; the court stayed for some eleven centuries.
Q 04Which dish, introduced to Japan by the British in the 1800s, is now popular enough to be called a national dish?
Curry
Curry reached Japan from India by way of the British; the navy adopted it, and today Japan's naval ships serve curry every Friday.
Q 05What is the name of Japan's high-speed rail network?
Shinkansen
Shinkansen, Japan's high-speed rail network, opened between Tokyo and Osaka in 1964; its 'bullet train' nickname translates dangan ressha, the name of a 1939 proposal.
Q 06What style of Japanese art, known for woodblock prints, flourished in the Edo period?
Ukiyo-e
Ukiyo-e means 'pictures of the floating world'; when the prints reached Europe, Van Gogh was so taken with them that he painted his own copies of two by Hiroshige.
Q 07What are the two main religions traditionally practiced in Japan?
Shintoism and Buddhism
Shintoism and Buddhism coexist in Japan; many people practise both, visiting Shinto shrines at New Year and Buddhist temples at Obon.
Q 08Japanese writing combines two home-grown syllabaries with thousands of characters borrowed from which country?
China
China's characters, known in Japan as kanji, took hold there around the 5th century; the two kana syllabaries were later made by simplifying kanji, so a sentence mixes all three scripts.
Q 09Which word borrowed into English comes from the Japanese for 'picture character'?
Emoji
Emoji joins the Japanese e, 'picture', and moji, 'character'; its resemblance to the English word 'emoticon' is pure coincidence.
Q 10What is the official currency of Japan?
Yen
The yen is named for a word meaning 'round', after the shape of the coin; the yuan and the won take their names from the same root.
Q 11What is the Japanese custom of picnicking under blossoming cherry trees each spring called?
Hanami
Hanami, 'flower viewing', is said to have begun with 8th-century nobles admiring plum blossom; by the Heian period the cherry had taken over.
Q 12Which traditional Japanese dance-drama is known for kumadori makeup, glamorous costumes and heavily stylised performances?
Kabuki
Kabuki was begun by a woman, Izumo no Okuni, and her troupe of female dancers; after women were banned from the stage in 1629, men took every role, as they still do.
Q 13What is the largest island of Japan?
Honshu
Honshu has been joined by rail to its northern neighbour since 1988; the undersea Seikan Tunnel was set in motion after a 1954 typhoon sank five ferries on the crossing, killing more than a thousand people.
Q 21The Japanese tea ceremony, chanoyu, centres on which green tea?
Matcha
Matcha comes from tea bushes shaded for weeks before harvest; the leaves are ground to a fine powder that is whisked into the bowl rather than steeped.
Q 22Which work by Murasaki Shikibu is often called the world's first novel?
The Tale of Genji
The Tale of Genji made its author famous, yet her personal name is unknown: 'Murasaki Shikibu' is a descriptive name, not the one she was born with.
Q 23Article 9 of Japan's 1947 constitution famously renounces what?
War
War is renounced 'forever' in Article 9, which adds that land, sea and air forces will never be maintained; it took effect while Japan was still under Allied occupation.
Q 14Which martial art of throws and grappling did Kanō Jigorō create in 1882 from older jujutsu schools?
Judo
Judo, 'the gentle way', dropped jujutsu's strikes and weapons work and put free sparring ahead of set forms.
Q 15Kongō Gumi, the world's oldest documented company, has spent some 1,400 years building what?
Buddhist temples
Buddhist temples have been Kongō Gumi's trade since 578, when its founder is said to have come from Korea to build Shitennō-ji; debt ended its independence in 2006.
Q 16Which island-dotted sea separates Shikoku from Honshu?
Seto Inland Sea
The Seto Inland Sea was first bridged in 1988, when the Great Seto Bridge turned a ferry crossing of about an hour into a ride of some 15 to 20 minutes by road or rail.
Q 17In a karesansui, Japan's dry 'Zen garden', raked gravel or sand usually stands for what?
Water
Water is only suggested: gravel raked into ripples stands for it and rocks for mountains, in a garden meant to be viewed while seated outside it, not walked through.
Q 18What is considered the national sport of Japan?
Sumo
Sumo grew out of Shinto ritual, which is why wrestlers still throw salt to purify the ring before a bout; six 15-day tournaments are held each year.
Q 19Which Japanese city was known as Edo until it was renamed in 1868?
Tokyo
Tokyo began as Edo, a small fishing village; after the shoguns made it their base it grew into a city of over a million people by the 1700s.
Q 20Which prefecture is Japan's largest by area?
Hokkaido
Hokkaido was known as Ezo until 1869, when Japan annexed the whole island, renamed it and sent in settlers; it is still the only prefecture that forms a region by itself.
Q 24Which animal roams freely in Nara's central park, long protected as a sacred messenger of the gods?
Deer
Deer became sacred in Nara after a god was said to have arrived riding a white one; killing a deer there was a capital offence until 1637.
Q 25Which 13-string Japanese instrument is laid flat and plucked with finger picks?
Koto
The koto is retuned by sliding the movable bridge under each of its 13 strings, so a player resets the instrument from one piece to the next.
Q 26What term describes the rapid economic growth Japan experienced after World War II?
Economic Miracle
The Economic Miracle had a slogan to match: in 1960 Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda launched a plan to double the size of Japan's economy within ten years.
Q 27In Japan, during which month does the academic school year typically begin?
April
The academic school year in Japan traditionally begins in April, following a spring break.
Q 28Which Japanese castle, a UNESCO site, is renowned for its elegant white exterior?
Himeji Castle
Himeji Castle has never been destroyed by war, fire or earthquake; during the 1945 air raids a firebomb landed on its top floor and failed to go off.
Q 29What is the general term for traditional Japanese hot springs, often enjoyed for relaxation and health?
Onsen
Onsen often refuse bathers with tattoos, a rule that began as a way of keeping out yakuza gangsters, who are known for their full-body tattoos.
Q 30What traditional Japanese puppet theater uses large puppets operated by multiple visible puppeteers?
Bunraku
Bunraku puppets each need three operators working in full view, robed and usually hooded in black; they never speak, and a chanter beside the stage voices every character.