Things you didn't know about Japan
Hello all! It's been ages, eh?
Just a little update of my RL. I'm going to start a part-time job as a Japanese teacher next week. And for starters, I'm going to hand out this questionnaire just so my students learn a little more facts about Japan.
Try them yourself and see how many you've got right ;)
It's TRUE or FALSE questions. No cheating! *tee hee* Answers under the cut.
General facts
1) Life expectancy for Japanese women is 86 years and 79 years for men.
2) Japanese people have the best eye sight in the world with only 4% of its population using glasses or contact lenses.
3) Before Japan was known with its current name, it used to be called Waguni.
4) The family crest of the emperor of Japan is a rising sun.
5) The current Constitution of Japan declares the abandonment of wars as a consequence of the two atomic bombs and has no military army.
Geography and demography
6) Two out of every 100 people are Japanese.
7) In Tokyo, 11 people live in an area of 180 m2 (about 200 square yards).
8) Japan consists of 50 prefectures.
9) Japan is formed by 6,852 islands.
10) With an area of 378 thousand km2, Japan is the size of the state of California.
Culture
11) Japan has produced thirteen Nobel laureates in either physics, chemistry or medicine.
12) Japan has the highest suicide rate among the developed nations with an average of 90 suicides daily.
13) Kabuki, sadou, origami, and shaolin are some of the cultural practices that have distinctly developed in Japan.
14) In spite of practicing traditional rites based on Shintoism and Buddhism, the majority of Japanese people don't consider themselves as religious.
15) 96% of Junior High graduates go to High School in Japan.
Food
16) Despite having drinkable tap water, Japan imports 1.16 billion 500 ml PET bottles every year from around the world.
17) Japanese people consume around half of the world's total Tuna fish caught every year.
18) 23 billion disposable pairs of chopsticks are used in Japan every year.
19) The amount of food produced in Japan is only around 20%.
20) 23.2 million tons of food go to waste.
General facts
1) TRUE. It's the longest life expectancy in the world.
2) FALSE. Actually, they have the worst eye sight with 40% of its people using glasses or contact lenses.
3) FALSE. It was known as Wakoku.
4) FALSE. It's a chrysanthemum flower and is used on the cover of Japanese passports in stead of the Government crest. Strange, eh?
5) TRUE. Japan only has Self-Defense Forces, which is not quite the same as military army :P
Geography and demography
6) TRUE. The world population is around 6.8 billion while the Japanese population is a little less than 130 million people, which doing the math gives you that answer.
7) FALSE. While in the US, there's one preson per every 180m2 of livign space, in Tokyo, there are 192 people crammed in the same space.
8) FALSE. It's got 47 prefectures.
9) TRUE. It's a fact very few Japanese people know.
10) TRUE.
Culture
11) TRUE.
12) TRUE. Unfortunately, that is true. It is reported around 35 thousand cases of suicide yearly, that means one person every 16 min. takes their life.
13) FALSE. Kabuki, sadou, origami are certainly Japanese cultural practices, however, shaolin is not. It's Kung-fu, which is Chinese. Just for the record, Sadou is the tea ceremony and origami is paper folding.
14) TRUE. Unless they belong to a specific religion or cult, most of the Japanese people don't consider themselves as religious.
15) TRUE.
Food
16) TRUE.
17) FALSE. But they do consume 1/3 of the world's total Tuna fish caught every year. ;)
18) TRUE. That's 200 pairs of chopsticks per person disposed every year. And sadly because of that, Chinese natural forrest resources are used to make 90% of the chopsticks Japan imports every year.
19) FALSE. Close call, though! Japan can only provide 40% of its own food.
20) TRUE. How sad it is that Japan has to import 60% of its food and yet so much of it ends up as waste...
For the record, I took some of the facts from this information graphic. This was, however, made for Japanese audiences to raise awareness, so some of the facts depicted here may seem stereotypical and ridiculous, but I personally take it more as a self-criticism to our nation and it should be our reminder.
Just a little update of my RL. I'm going to start a part-time job as a Japanese teacher next week. And for starters, I'm going to hand out this questionnaire just so my students learn a little more facts about Japan.
Try them yourself and see how many you've got right ;)
It's TRUE or FALSE questions. No cheating! *tee hee* Answers under the cut.
General facts
1) Life expectancy for Japanese women is 86 years and 79 years for men.
2) Japanese people have the best eye sight in the world with only 4% of its population using glasses or contact lenses.
3) Before Japan was known with its current name, it used to be called Waguni.
4) The family crest of the emperor of Japan is a rising sun.
5) The current Constitution of Japan declares the abandonment of wars as a consequence of the two atomic bombs and has no military army.
Geography and demography
6) Two out of every 100 people are Japanese.
7) In Tokyo, 11 people live in an area of 180 m2 (about 200 square yards).
8) Japan consists of 50 prefectures.
9) Japan is formed by 6,852 islands.
10) With an area of 378 thousand km2, Japan is the size of the state of California.
Culture
11) Japan has produced thirteen Nobel laureates in either physics, chemistry or medicine.
12) Japan has the highest suicide rate among the developed nations with an average of 90 suicides daily.
13) Kabuki, sadou, origami, and shaolin are some of the cultural practices that have distinctly developed in Japan.
14) In spite of practicing traditional rites based on Shintoism and Buddhism, the majority of Japanese people don't consider themselves as religious.
15) 96% of Junior High graduates go to High School in Japan.
Food
16) Despite having drinkable tap water, Japan imports 1.16 billion 500 ml PET bottles every year from around the world.
17) Japanese people consume around half of the world's total Tuna fish caught every year.
18) 23 billion disposable pairs of chopsticks are used in Japan every year.
19) The amount of food produced in Japan is only around 20%.
20) 23.2 million tons of food go to waste.
General facts
1) TRUE. It's the longest life expectancy in the world.
2) FALSE. Actually, they have the worst eye sight with 40% of its people using glasses or contact lenses.
3) FALSE. It was known as Wakoku.
4) FALSE. It's a chrysanthemum flower and is used on the cover of Japanese passports in stead of the Government crest. Strange, eh?
5) TRUE. Japan only has Self-Defense Forces, which is not quite the same as military army :P
Geography and demography
6) TRUE. The world population is around 6.8 billion while the Japanese population is a little less than 130 million people, which doing the math gives you that answer.
7) FALSE. While in the US, there's one preson per every 180m2 of livign space, in Tokyo, there are 192 people crammed in the same space.
8) FALSE. It's got 47 prefectures.
9) TRUE. It's a fact very few Japanese people know.
10) TRUE.
Culture
11) TRUE.
12) TRUE. Unfortunately, that is true. It is reported around 35 thousand cases of suicide yearly, that means one person every 16 min. takes their life.
13) FALSE. Kabuki, sadou, origami are certainly Japanese cultural practices, however, shaolin is not. It's Kung-fu, which is Chinese. Just for the record, Sadou is the tea ceremony and origami is paper folding.
14) TRUE. Unless they belong to a specific religion or cult, most of the Japanese people don't consider themselves as religious.
15) TRUE.
Food
16) TRUE.
17) FALSE. But they do consume 1/3 of the world's total Tuna fish caught every year. ;)
18) TRUE. That's 200 pairs of chopsticks per person disposed every year. And sadly because of that, Chinese natural forrest resources are used to make 90% of the chopsticks Japan imports every year.
19) FALSE. Close call, though! Japan can only provide 40% of its own food.
20) TRUE. How sad it is that Japan has to import 60% of its food and yet so much of it ends up as waste...
For the record, I took some of the facts from this information graphic. This was, however, made for Japanese audiences to raise awareness, so some of the facts depicted here may seem stereotypical and ridiculous, but I personally take it more as a self-criticism to our nation and it should be our reminder.
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