Japan has been centre of economic activities for long. It has contributed to this world with its tech. We as families must admit that we all have least one electronic gadget in our houses that was built in Japan. It doesn’t just ends here, we all grownups must have least once tried the ever delectable Japenese dish Sushi, which tends to rule the menus of large to small continental restaurants. The cherry blossoms of Japan give us major photography goals.
If you are headed to Japan or if the country is on your bucket list, then this blog is for you to know the fun and the bizarre side of Japan. So here are some facts that you didn’t knew about Japan.
1 – In Japan praying in shrines involves clapping. Yes that be must reserved for something praiseworthy in rest of the world but here you also got to clap, bow when praying. So the process is to bow twice, then clap twice, make a wish you want to come true, then bow once again. Japanese bow a lot, in many of their traditions, its a part of their culture.
2- Since 7th century to 19th century Japan was a vegetarian country. For 1200 years they kept their staple food as rice, along with vegetables and beans. It was because of the Buddhist laws passed there. But eating fishes and birds was an exception. Eating beef was considered a taboo, with many shrines imposing a 100 days of fasting as a punishment for consuming it.
3 – Japanese do not wear shoes inside the house, they have separate slippers, and they are very serious about this tradition. Japanese are very conscious about cleanliness and hygiene. They have meals on Tatami mats, and they even sleep on the tatami floor. Hence they ensure that the floor and the house doesn’t has dirt.
4 – Bathing naked in communal baths is normal in Japan. The good part being that almost every bath house is gender separated. Another fun fact about these bath houses are that they will not allow you in if you have tattoos, as tattoos in Japan are associated with organized crime.
5 – Japanese eat horse meat and this culture is prevalent since 16th century. You will find restaurants in Japan serving horse meat. The cooking of horse meat rapidly took up pace in 1960’s when usage of horses diminished in agriculture. Raw horse meat is called Basahi in Japan, and it is eaten ginger and shoyu.
6 – More than 90% of the smart phones sold in Japan are water proof as people use them even while bathing. Big telephone maker giants like LG have a different policy for Japan. They make waterproof phones only for Japanese market. Even Samsung and Apple follow the same strategy in Japan.
7 – Kongo Gumi was the oldest company of this world from Japan. It ran nearly for 1400 years. It was a construction company, and their main line of work was to design, construct, restore, repair, the popular shrines, castles, temples and other heritage buildings. It was founded in 578 AD to build the Shitenno Ji Buddhist temple.
8 – On an average Japanese people work more than that of any other country. It is since normal to take a power nap in Japan. One of the major reasons why Japanese work culture include longer hours is that they believe in group work, and hence no individual likes to leave the office early. Also to sustain the growing economy of Japan there is pressure on people.
9 – Seafood consumption of Japan is highest in the world with closing to more than 7 Million Tonnes. The demand of sea food is so high in Japan that half of their consumption is met by imports of sea food from other countries.
10 – In Japan adult diaper sales is higher than babies diaper sales. Japan is growing to be an old country. More than quarter of Japanese population is of age above 65. Top top that the birth rate in Japan is also on a downfall. It is estimated that the worth of senior population of Japan is around 900 Billion Dollars.
11 – In Japan more paper is used to print Mangas (comic books) than for producing toilet papers. Reading Mangas is very common in Japan, even the adults read it. It is estimated that each month around 600 categories of Mangas are released. The value of Manga industry in Japan is more than 600 Billion Yen.
12 – Salmon sushi was introduced to Japan by Norway. This idea originated in minds of Norwegians to increase their export of excess Salmon to Japan. Yes this is how they established new export category to Japan and changed the culinary world forever.
13 – Public transportation in Japan is overly used. The railways operate at 199% capacity, to an extent that city hires people to push the passengers into the cabin in rush hours. The punctuality and safety aspects of public transportation in Japan makes them so favorite. One of the other reasons is also that Japan lacks the sources of fossil fuels making it a costly affair.
14 – As per a study in 2013 by Goldman Sachs it was found that there are more registered pets in Japan than the children at that time. The declining birth rate is also one reason why the ratio of pets is so high than kids. Japanese families that have no kids, often pamper and take good care of their pets as they were their own children.
15 – The most popular sports in Japan is baseball, and soccer comes second. Surprised to see that not only Americans love baseball! In fact Japanese treat baseball as their second religion. Even the high school base ball is important in Japan, and a high school base ball championship is held every year with loads of viewership.
16 – Aokigahara forest in Japan is known as the suicide forest. It is very popular for people who want to take their own life. By number of incidences that happen here it is just second to Golden Gate bridge. It is estimated that between 30 to 100 people take their lives annually here. Some of the dead bodies even go unnoticed for years while some are never found.
17 – In Japan the schedule of trains is measure in hours, minutes, and seconds. That is their precision and punctuality. The average delay here is just 18 seconds. They even apologize when the train leaves 20 seconds earlier. In Japan if the train is more than five minutes late, the railways issues a certification which can shown to your employer or school.
18 – The Japanese travelling in Titanic was called coward by his countrymen for not dying with the other passengers. His name was Masabumi Hosono and he escaped through the lifeboat. He was lucky enough to be present near a lifeboat that had space for two. To be able to see his loved ones again he quickly took the spot and was one of the survivors.
19 – Every year Japan uses close to 24 billion pairs of chopsticks. It sums around to be 200 pairs of chopsticks used by each Japanese every year.
20 – People that commit suicide by jumping in front of the train get a disruption fee imposed on their families. This penalty is applied for causing disruption and cost of stoppage of the rail. There are around 7 major rail companies in Tokyo and each one of them have different policy to prepare the bill. The larger the disruption the bigger the penalty is going to be.
21 – There are more number of rice cookers than ovens in Japan. Rice is their staple diet, hence you will find rice cookers in every household. The first automatic rice cooker was introduced in Japanese markets in 1950’s and since then there has been no stopping.
22 – The most expensive tuna ever sold was in Japan with a price tag of 3.1 million dollars. The weight of the fish was 278 Kilograms. It was purchased by Kiyoshi Kimura, who owns the Sushizanmai which is a Sushi restaurant chain.
23 – The world’s largest seafood market is in Japan, named Tsukiji fish market. It is estimated to employ somewhere around 60000 people. It is home to more than 400 shops. It was founded in 1935 and it is the place where the popular Japanese Tuna auctions take place.
24 – Japan has the worlds largest number of vending machines, close to 5 Million which makes 1 for every 23 people. In Japan you will find a vending machine in every street. These vending machines sell almost all kinds of items from snacks to liquor to personal hygiene to ready to eat fresh fruits.
25 – More than half of the world’s produce of zippers are produced in Japan. The popular YKK brand embossed on zips is a Japanese firm and it produces, 7 billion pieces every year. Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha was founded in 1934.
26 – On an average every year there are close to 1500 earthquakes that hit Japan. Most of these earthquakes are recorded in Tokyo or the neighboring regions. The main reason is that Japan sits on a belt called Ring of Fire in the pacific which is the source of world’s total 75% of the earthquakes.
Japan is where modern meet the tradition!
