Q 01/05

What does the 'kara' in the Japanese word karaoke mean, as it also does in karate?

A) Empty

B) Loud

C) Together

D) Night

Answer · why

A) Empty

Empty: karaoke is an 'empty orchestra', a backing track with the singer's part left out for you, just as karate is the 'empty hand' that fights withou...

Q 02/05

Kyu Sakamoto's 'Ue o Muite Arukō' topped the US chart in 1963 under the name of which Japanese dish?

A) Sukiyaki

B) Tempura

C) Teriyaki

D) Yakitori

Answer · why

A) Sukiyaki

Sukiyaki: the beef hot-pot appears nowhere in the lyrics, in which a man walks along looking up so that his tears won't fall, yet the song spent three...

Q 03/05

At which Tokyo venue did the Beatles become the first rock band to perform in 1966?

A) Yoyogi National Gymnasium

B) The Nippon Budokan

C) Kabuki-za

D) Tokyo Dome

Answer · why

B) The Nippon Budokan

The Nippon Budokan was built for judo at the 1964 Olympics, and protesters objected that a pop group would defile a hall reserved for the martial arts...

Q 04/05

Which band's proof that rock could be sung in Japanese is held to be one origin of modern J-pop?

A) The Peanuts

B) The Tigers

C) Happy End

D) The Drifters

Answer · why

C) Happy End

Happy End sang their 1970 debut entirely in Japanese, setting off a public argument with the rocker Yuya Uchida, who held that rock needed English if ...

Q 05/05

Which trio, formed in 1978 by Haruomi Hosono, Yukihiro Takahashi and Ryuichi Sakamoto, pioneered Japan's technopop?

A) Yellow Magic Orchestra

B) Pizzicato Five

C) Southern All Stars

D) Sadistic Mika Band

Answer · why

A) Yellow Magic Orchestra

Yellow Magic Orchestra found listeners far beyond Japan: they played Soul Train, and Michael Jackson recorded their 'Behind the Mask' for Thriller bef...