JAPANESE CULTURE TRIVIA

 The population of Japan is approximately 127 million.

This makes it the tenth most populated country in the world, ahead of Mexico, and
behind Nigeria. In terms of density of population, Japan is 18th in the world, with
approximately 327 persons per sq.km., roughly equivalent to Holland or Belgium.

 The total area of Japan is 378,000 square kilometers (145,945 square miles).
That's approximately 0.3% of the world. Most Japanese perceive Japan as a small
country, but it is bigger than Germany or Italy, though smaller than Sweden.

 Japan is composed of over 3000 islands, 600 of which are inhabited.

Honshu, the main island, is the 7th largest island in the world. Hokkaido, Japan's 2nd
largest island is the 22nd largest island in the world.

 The largest city in the world is Tokyo.

In terms of total population size, the Greater Tokyo area is the largest city in the
world ('city" is here defined as a contiguous urban area, not the
administratively/politically defined Tokyo). With a population of 26.5 million, more
than 20% of all Japanese people live there. The second largest city in the world is
Mexico City with 18 million inhabitants.

 Japan has the highest density of robots in the world.

There are approximately 800,000 industrial robots in operation around the world, and
fully half of them in Japan. That's about 1 robot for every 310 people in Japan.

 The longest river in Japan is the Shinano.

Beginning in Nagano (the Japanese Alps) it flows north and east 367 kilometers and
enters the Japan Sea at the city of Niigata.

 The biggest lake in Japan is Lake Biwa, situated in Shiga Prefecture, near Kyoto.
It is 670.3 sq. kms. in area, with 450 streams and rivers entering along its 235 km.
shoreline. Its maximum depth is 103 metres. The name Biwa refers to a 4-string lute-
like instrument whose shape the lake resembles. The lake supplies water to 14 million
residents of the area.

 The highest mountain in Japan is Mount Fuji.

Standing at 3,776 metres or 12,388 feet, it is probably the most easily recognized
image of Japan, Fuji-san is climbed by about 300,000 visitors each year. An active
volcano, its last eruption was in 1770. Japan is home to almost 10% of the world's 840
active volcanoes.
 The largest Yakuza (Crime Syndicate) gang in Japan is the Yamaguchi-Gumi.
With more than 36,000 members, thats 43% of all Yakuza in Japan. The police can
have such good information about the Yakuza, because until recently the Yakuza
operated quite openly, with offices, newsletters, etc. However a new law has caused
many yakuza to relinquish "membership" in a gang, so the official numbers are far
smaller than the real numbers.

 Japan is the World's biggest consumer of fish.

Japan took more fish out of the sea (almost 10 million tons) than any other country.
Now they catch almost half that, and have slipped to third place in the world ranking.
However, they remain the biggest consumers of sea food, consuming fully one third of
all seafood consumed in the world, importing 25% of the total world catch. "Seafood"
means much more than fish, and includes crabs, lobsters, assorted shellfish, many
kinds of seeweed, jellyfish, walrus, sea cucumbers (which aren't a vegetable), sea
urchins, and of course whales.

 There are 5 million vending machines (Jidohanbaiki) in Japan.

That's one for every 25 people. They are everywhere. I have yet to find one that was
vandalized, or that did not work properly. Far and away the most common vending
machines are for soft drinks: a dazzling array of coffees and teas, both hot and cold, a
limited range of "colas", various juices, "sports" drinks (such as the unfortunately
named Pocari Sweat). Alcohol vending machines are easy to find, dispensing primarily
beer and sake from 5am-11pm, and there are over 600,000 cigarette vending
machines. Other items I've seen dispensed by machine are uncooked rice, batteries,
condoms, newspapers, "Casual Food" (fried chicken, hamburgers etc), ice-cream,
pornographic magazines and videos, and "used" schoolgirls' panties. Strangely, I haven't
come across any machines vending chocolate or candy bars.

 The Japanese send more than 35 BILLION New Year cards (Nengajou) every year.
That's approximately 30 cards for every man, woman, and child in Japan. They
account for almost 20% of all annual postal revenues. The post office will hold any
nengajou posted early, and delivers them all on the 1st of January

 The oldest festival in the world is reputed to be the Aoi Matsuri.

The festival is held every May 15th and 16th in Kyoto. It began in the mid 6th century
to give thanks to the gods for deliverance from floods. A procession of about 500
people dressed in Heian Period (794-1192) costume carries hollyhock (aoi) from the
Imperial Palace to Kamigamo and Shimogamo Shrines. Up to 100,00 spectators line the
route.

 The most-visited amusement park in the world is Tokyo Disneyland.

Opened in 1983, more than 17 million people visit it each year.

 The biggest statue of the Buddha in Japan is the "Daibutsu" (Big Buddha.
It is found at the Todaiji Temple in Nara. At 15 metres in height (49 ft) it is also the
largest gilded-bronze Buddha in the world. It was completed in 749. It is housed in the
 Daibutsu-den, which is the largest wooden structure in the world, measuring 48 metres
in height, 57 metres in width, and 54 metres in depth. The original Daibatsu-den was
completed in 743, but was destroyed in a fire in the mid 16th century. The current
building was constructed in 1692, and is actually smaller than the original.

 The biggest industry in Japan is the Construction Industry.

If you had guessd the Automobile or Consumer Electronics Industry, you must had been
disappointed. Fuelled by a Public Works program that has no peer anywhere in the
world, Japan's construction industry employs more than 6 million people, roughly 10%
of the working population. On a per capita basis that is twice the rate of Europe or
North America. Japan's construction industry is the biggest in the world, consuming
close to 10% of Japan's GDP. The result of all this construction is roads that go
nowhere, a coastline covered in concrete, and close to 3,000 dams.

 In 1958, in a shack in North Osaka, Ando Momofuku invented the instant ramen
noodle (the first flavor was chicken).
5.2 billion servings are consumed each year in Japan, making an average of 41 servings
per person per year, but that pales by comparison with China's staggering 16 billion
servings a year. World-wide there are 880 brands of instant noodle.

 Another great contribution to world food by Japan is Monosodium Glutamate

(MSG), the flavor-enhancer used in Chinese cooking and in a lot of processed food.
In 1908, Kikunae Ikeda was experimenting with the flavor of kombu, a type of seaweed
used in Japanese soup stocks. He isolated MSG, which in Japanese is called Umami.
Recent research suggests that MSG is in fact a fifth taste.

 The longest transportation tunnel in the world is the Seikan tunnel.

It connects the main island of Honshu with Hokkaido. Like the Channel Tunnel that
opened 6 years later, the Seikan is also a railway tunnel and is 33.5 miles long (more
than 2 miles longer than the Chunnel.) In the list of longest rail tunnels in the world,
Japan has 7 in the top 16.

 The longest suspension bridge in the world is the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge.
It connects Kobe with Awaji Island. Opened in 1998, the central span is 6,570 feet in
length. That's about 1.5 times the size of the Golden Gate Bridge, and 4 times the size
of the Brooklyn Bridge. The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge also has the tallest bridge towers in
the world, at 928 feet. The longest cable-stayed bridge in the world is the Tatara
Bridge which connects Hiroshima to Shikoku. Completed in 1999 the overall length is
1480 metres, with a central span of 890 metres.

 The fastest Rollercoaster in the world is the "Dodonpa".

It is located at Fujikyu Highland Park in Fujiyoshida. It reaches a top speed of 172 kph,
beating the previous record of 148 kph set by another Japanese rollercoaster, the
"Steel Dragon".
 The official language of Japan is...... surprise, surprise.... Japanese.
Spoken by 125 million people, it is the 8th most common language in the world.
However it's not the only language spoken in Japan. Both the Okinawan people and the
Ainu people have their own languages, and Korean and Chinese is spoken by many of
the million or so residents from those countries. Portuguese is also spoken, due to an
influx of Brazilians of Japanese ancestry. However, the strangest language spoken goes
by several names: "Engrish", "Japlish", "Katakana English". Japan has a huge number of
"loan words", taken from other languages, primarily English. The pronunciation of
these words is changed to fit the Japanese phonetic system, and in many cases the
meaning is also changed. In a recent survey, the three most commonly recognised loan
words were sutoresu (stress), risaikuru (recycle) and borantia (volunteer).

 Japan has more active volcanoes than any other country in the world.
More than 10% of all the earth's volcanoes are found in Japan. All these volcanic
activity has created more than 10,000 known thermal vents in the surface of the
country, and of these, over 2,100 have been developed into hot-spring spas - Onsen.

 The most common blood group in Japan is type A.

Almost 38% of Japan population are Blood A type. In the U.S. and Britain the most
common blood group is type O. Many people in Japan believe that a person's blood-
type is an indicator of personality.

 Japanese doesn't have much sex.

In an annual global survey of sexuality, Japan consistently ranks last in terms of the
frequency of which people have sex. In Japan the average is a paltry 36 times a year,
compared with a global average of 97 times a year. When asked what activities they
would rather do than have sex, 20% of Japanese said sleeping, and 13% said shopping.
Japan fares better in other areas of sexuality though, ranking 7th in the world in the
number of sexual partners, with an average of 10.2 partners compared with the global
average of 7.7. Japan is close to the average in the age of first sexual experiences at
18.2 years old, close to the world's average of 18.0. Another statistic of interest from
a survey within Japan is that almost half of Japanese men have paid for the services of
a sex-professional, 75% of those by visiting brothels in Japan and 25% using prostitutes
in a foreign country.

 When they do have sex, it all happens in Love Hotels.

The Japanese Love Hotel industry is estimated to generate an annual 4 trillion yen in
sales- four times the 2003 profit of Japan's richest company - Toyota Motor
Corporation. The occupancy rate for a love hotel is 260% compared with around 70%
for an average hotel. Love Hotel charges in the capital, Tokyo, range from between
¥3,000 and 4,000 yen for a two-hour "rest" or 8,000 yen for an overnight stay; prices
that compare favorably with room rates at most hotels in Tokyo. After the downturn in
the Japanese economy in the 1990s and the decrease in the price of land, foreign
equity firms are now buying into this lucrative businesss. The majority of love hotel
customers are in the 20-27 year-old age group. 20% of all Japan's Love Hotels are
believed to have organized crime (yakuza) connections. The most expensive part of a
 Love Hotel room's decor is the bathroom, with a large part of the average 4 million - 5
million yen (US$36,000 - US$45,000) spent on each room being splashed on the
bathroom, in an attempt to attract repeat business from the industry's main target
customers - young Japanese women - many of whom still live at home. Short-term
hotels for sexual pleasure and privacy have existed in Japan since the early 1600s.
 The oldest novel in the world was written in Japan over a thousand years ago.
The Tale of Genji was written in the 11th Century by Murasaki Shikibu, a member of
the Imperial Court. Her lengthy (over 500,000 words) novel concerns the romantic and
sexual exploits and intrigues of the Imperial Court centered on the main character of
Genji. If written today, it would probably be classified as a soap opera.

 The Japanese read more newspapers than any other people in the world.
67% of all Japanese read at least one daily newspaper, which is almost twice the rate
of the British or the Dutch, the countries closest in newspaper readership. The
newspaper with the highest circulation in the world is the Yomiuri Shinbun, with a
daily circulation of 14.5 million copies. Compare that with the highest circulation of
an English language newspaper, The Sun in Britain, which sells less than 4 million
copies. In fact, of the 10 most read newspapers in the world, 6 are produced in Japan.
However, in terms of press freedom, the international organization of journalists,
Reporters Without Borders, ranks Japan 26th in the world (along with Austria & South
Africa). This is largely due to Japan's kisha (press club) system that limits access to
news sources.

 Japan is starting to become a force in the world of soccer.

The J-League was formed only in 1993 and since then, Japan soccer has grown by
leaps and bounds. The most consecutive top-level games in which a single player has
scored a hat trick is four. Playing for Jubilo Iwata, Masashi Nakayama scored 5 goals
against Cerezo Osaka on 15th April, 1998, followed by four goals against Sanfrecce
Hiroshima on 18th April, then on 25th April he scored 4 against Avispa Fukuoka, and
finally, on 29th April he scored 3 against Consadole Sapporo.

 Japan has long been labeled a "smoker's paradise".

According to WHO figures published in 2002 about 49% of the adult male population
smokes in Japan compared to 28% in the US and the UK and 17% in Sweden. This figure
has seen an year-on-year decrease for the last eight years. 13.4% of women now smoke
and this percentage is gradually rising. Japanese smokers consumed 312.6 billion
cigarettes in 2002 which is the equivalent of 2,861 per adult smoker. Tax revenues
from tobacco amount to 2 trillion yen a year. Anti-smoking legislation has recently
been passed and many offices, public buildings and schools are now smoke free. In
response Japan Tobacco (JT) - the world's third largest tobacco company - has
introduced "SmoCars" in Tokyo's business district - mobile trailers equipped with drinks'
vending machines where smokers can puff away in peace.

 More than 48 million households in Japan keep pets.

In 2003, the number of dogs rose by more than 1.5 million to 11.3 million. The number
of dogs being kept as domestic pets in Japan (along with other more exotic animals)
 began increasing sharply during the economic boom of the "Bubble Years" of the 1980s.
The domestic pet population is experiencing a second spike as the economy picks up
again and Japan's population rapidly ages. Nearly a fifth of Japanese - 24 million
people - are aged 65 or older; by 2050, they will account for 35% of the population.
More pensioners are turning to pets for companionship as their children leave home
and dogs are also cute accessories for the younger generation. Specialist restaurants
for pets have appeared in Tokyo and there is now a 40-room pet hotel at Kansai
International Airport - costing up to US$100 a night - for owners to leave their animals
while away on holiday.

 Japanese are suicidal.

Maybe it's the long history of double-suicide being a noble solution to the dilemma of
ill-fated lovers that permeates Japanese literature, or maybe it's the samurai tradition
of committing ritual disembowelment (seppuku or harakiri) for the maintenance of
honor as exemplified by what is perhaps the most popular story in Japan, the 47
Ronin, or maybe it is even the infamy of the original suicide-bombers, World War II's
kamikaze pilots, but whatever the reason, Japan is considered to have a high suicide
rate. However, in actual fact, for most of the twentieth century Japan's suicide rate
was on a par with the European average. For the past ten years though the suicide
rate has been rising, and is now among the highest in the world, but still less than
some of the eastern European and former Soviet countries. Last year more than 34,000
committed suicide, an increase of 7% over the previous year, making suicide the sixth
most common cause of death in Japan. Among young people, the suicide rate rose an
alarming 22%. The most common method is hanging, and the most common day chosen
is Monday. Men prefer 5 a.m., and women prefer noon.

 The longest monorail system in the world is the Osaka Monorail.

Opened in 1990, it runs from Osaka's Haneda Airport to the Hankyu Railway Station,
with a spur line opened in 1997. It is 23.8 kilometers long and is planned to eventually
be 50 kilometers and encircle the city. About 80,000 passengers are carried each day.
The first monorail in Japan runs one third of a kilometer in Tokyo's Ueno Zoo. It
opened in 1957.