Countries of the World Trivia | 50 facts about Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. It’s the 11th most populous country in the world, and it is famous about its culture including manga, and anime.

Let’s find out more about the Asian county!

1. Japan is an island country in East Asia.
2. It is in the northwest Pacific Ocean and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Taiwan in the south.
3. Japanese melons can cost you over $200. These precious fruits play a large role in the country’s gift-giving culture- samurai would offer tangerines or melons to their shogun as a token of appreciation.
4. Nowadays, farmers meticulously tend to these fruits by hand, which adds to the allure.
5. Crown melons are one of the most renowned varieties and can cost over $200 each.
6. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire.
7. In Japan there is 1 vending machine for every 24 people
8. With 5 million vending machines- Japan has the highest density in the world. Batteries, ramen, sake, umbrellas. flowers- you name it and the vending machines probably stock it.
9. Japan spans an archipelago of 14,125 islands.
10. The five main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu (the “mainland”), Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa.
11. Tokyo is the country’s capital and largest city.
12. Japan has over 125 million inhabitants.
13. It is the 11th most populous country in the world.
14. It is also one of the most densely populated.
15. About three-fourths of the country’s terrain is mountainous, concentrating its highly urbanized population on narrow coastal plains.
16. Japan is divided into 47 administrative prefectures and eight traditional regions.
17. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world.
18. Japan has the world’s highest life expectancy.
19. Despite that it is experiencing a population decline due to its very low birth rate.
20. Japan has been inhabited since the Upper Paleolithic period (30,000 BC).
21. Between the fourth and ninth centuries AD, the kingdoms of Japan became unified under an emperor and the imperial court based in Heian-kyō.
22. Beginning in the 12th century, political power was held by a series of military dictators (shōgun) and feudal lords (daimyō), and enforced by a class of warrior nobility (samurai).
23. After a century-long period of civil war, the country was reunified in 1603 under the Tokugawa shogunate, which enacted an isolationist foreign policy.
24. In 1854, a United States fleet forced Japan to open trade to the West, which led to the end of the shogunate and the restoration of imperial power in 1868.
25. In the Meiji period, the Empire of Japan adopted a Western-modeled constitution, and pursued a program of industrialization and modernization.
26. Amidst a rise in militarism and overseas colonization, Japan invaded China in 1937 and entered World War II as an Axis power in 1941.
27. After suffering defeat in the Pacific War and two atomic bombings, Japan surrendered in 1945 and came under a seven-year Allied occupation, during which it adopted a new constitution.
28. Under the 1947 constitution, Japan has maintained a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a bicameral legislature, the National Diet.
29. Japan is a developed country and a great power, with one of the largest economies by nominal GDP.
30. Japan has renounced its right to declare war, though it maintains a Self-Defense Force that ranks as one of the world’s strongest militaries.
31. A global leader in the automotive, robotics, and electronics industries, the country has made significant contributions to science and technology.
32. Japan is one of the world’s largest exporters and importers.
33. It is part of multiple major international and intergovernmental institutions.
34. Japan is a cultural superpower as the culture of Japan is well known around the world, including its art, cuisine, film, music, and pop culture.
35. It encompasses prominent manga, anime, and video game industries.
36. The oldest company in the world is in Japan
37. Kongo Gumi is the oldest operating business in the world, established in 578. It specialises in the construction of temples and shrines
38. The name for Japan in Japanese is written using the kanji 日本 and is pronounced Nippon or Nihon.
39. The name “Japan” is based on Wu Chinese pronunciations, and was introduced to European languages through early trade.
40. In the 13th century, Marco Polo recorded the Early Mandarin Chinese pronunciation of the characters 日本國 as Cipangu.
41. The old Malay name for Japan, Japang or Japun, was borrowed from a southern coastal Chinese dialect and encountered by Portuguese traders in Southeast Asia, who brought the word to Europe in the early 16th century.
42. The first version of the name in English appears in a book published in 1577, which spelled the name as Giapan in a translation of a 1565 Portuguese letter.
43. Nearly half the zippers worldwide are made in Japan
44. If you check your zipper, chances are, it will say YKK on it, which stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha. Founded in Tokyo in 1934, it is estimated that 7 billion zippers are produced by this manufacturer each year.
45. Japan imports over 80% of Jamaica’s annual coffee production
46. The coffee known as Blue Mountain, grown in Jamaica’s namesake region, is highly sought after. Only grown on small family-run plantations at elevations of over 7000 feet, this gourmet brew boasts mild flavours and lacks the bitterness found in most coffees.
47. Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo was the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world. It used to be famous for its tuna auctions. In 2018 a portion of it moved to a new site in Toyosu where it reopened as Toyosu Market.
48. Sushi is Japanese. It is dating back to Ancient Japan.
49. Japan is also famous for its whiskey.
50. The Shinkansen also known as the bullet train, is  among the fastest trains in the world, with speeds reaching up to 320 km/h (200 mph).