Japan is a small country, but there are a lot of big and interesting things here. Here is the most expensive amusement park in the world, Disney Sea, four of the ten highest roller coasters. Tokyo has the most developed subway system in the world, the largest railway hub and the largest mixed pedestrian crossing.
80 interesting little known facts about Japan
1. In Japan, on Valentine's Day, they show sympathy and give gifts to girls. I won’t tell you what this tradition is connected with, but today it performs an important social function: allows girls to say "yes" without waiting for a Japanese man to work up the courage to approach her.
2. In Japan, fish and meat are cheap, but fruits are very expensive. One apple costs two dollars, a bunch of bananas five. The most expensive fruit is a melon, a variety like our "torpedo" will cost two hundred dollars in Tokyo.
3. In Japan, pornography is sold absolutely everywhere. In every combi (grocery store), on the counter with the press, there is always a separate shelf with hentai. In small bookstores, hentai makes up a third of the entire assortment, in large bookstores, 2-3 floors are allocated for pornography.
4. Hentai is allowed to be sold freely to minors.
5. The two most popular sub-genres of hentai are violence and sex with minors.
6. Wrapped in a cover, hentai is calmly read on the subway.
7. The Japan Subway and JR have women-only carriages. They are attached in the morning so that no one harasses the girls during rush hour. The Japanese are voyeurs, and groping girls in crowded trains is something of a national sport.
8. At the same time, Japan has one of the lowest percentages of rapes in the world. Five times less than in Russia. It seemed to me important to note this, after all that I have said above.
9. Most Japanese characters consist of 2-4 syllables, but there are surprising exceptions. For example, the character 砉 reads like “hanetokawatogahanareruoto”, these are thirteen syllables! Describes the sound made when flesh is separated from bone.
10. Another interesting fact about Japan is that the issue of honor still plays a central role in Japan, even in politics. Last prime minister Minister Yukio Hatoyama resigned after failing to deliver on a campaign promise (sic!). Two of his predecessors too.
11. Japan is a small country, but there are a lot of big things here. Here is the most expensive amusement park in the world, Disney Sea, four of the ten highest roller coasters. Tokyo has the most developed subway system in the world, the largest railway hub and the largest mixed pedestrian crossing.
12. In Japan, it is customary to sculpt snowmen strictly from two balls, and not three, as in the rest of the world. And then the Japanese excelled.
13. Colonel Sanders is one of the main symbols of Christmas in Japan, like Coca-Cola in the USA. On Christmas Eve, the Japanese like to go to KFC with the whole family and eat a large portion of chicken wings.
14. In Japan, 30% of weddings still occur as a result of matchmaking and お見合い (omiai) arranged by parents.
15. In all the northern cities of Japan, where snow falls in winter, sidewalks and streets are heated. There is no ice, and the snow does not need to be removed. Very comfortably!
16. However, there is no central heating in Japan. Everyone heats the apartment as best they can.
17. In Japanese there is a word 過労死 (Karoshi) meaning "death by overwork". On average, 10,000 people die each year with this diagnosis. Studio Ghibli director Yoshifumi Kondo, author of my beloved the whisper of the heart died with this diagnosis.
18. Japan has one of the most liberal tobacco laws. You can smoke everywhere except railway platforms and airports.
19. Japan - last country in the world, formally retaining the title of the Empire.
20. The Japanese imperial dynasty has never been interrupted. The reigning Emperor Akihito is a direct descendant of the first Emperor Jimmu, who founded Japan in 711 BC.
21. Japan turns 2725 this year.
22. The Japanese are constantly talking about food, and when they eat, they discuss how they like the treat. Having dinner without saying “oishii” (delicious) a few times is very impolite.
23. In general, the Japanese love repetition. When girls do it, it's considered kawaii.
24. The Japanese language uses three types of writing at the same time: Hiragana (a syllabary system for writing Japanese words), Katakana (a syllabary system for writing borrowed words) and Kanji (hieroglyphic writing). Crazy, yes.
25. An interesting fact about Japan is that there are almost no guest workers in the country. It's been achieved simple law: minimum wage, which is allowed to hire a foreign worker in Japan exceeds the average salary of a Japanese worker. Thus, the way to the country remains open for highly paid specialists, and unskilled visiting labor does not dump wages. local residents. Solomon's decision.
26. More than half of the railways in Japan are private. Non-state carriers are responsible for 68% of the country's total rail traffic.
27. Hirohito was never removed from power, after the war he led the reformation and ruled until 1989. Hirohito's birthday National holiday and celebrated every April 29th.
28. Mount Fuji is privately owned. In the Shintaist temple of Hongyu Sengen, a donation from 1609 was preserved, with which the Shogun transferred the mountain into the possession of the temple. In 1974, the authenticity of the donation was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Japan, after which he had no other choice but to transfer the mountain to the property of the temple. Because property rights in Japan are inviolable.
29. The Japanese language consists of several levels of politeness: colloquial, respectful, polite, and very polite. Women almost always speak in a respectful form of the language, men in colloquial.
30. Seven percent of the male population of Japan is Hikkikomori. Seven!!!
31. In Japanese, months do not have names, instead they are indicated serial numbers. For example, September is 九月 (kugatsu), which means "ninth month".
32. Before Japan opened up to the west, the only word to describe romantic affection was 恋 (koi), literally meaning "irresistible attraction to something unattainable."
33. Japan is a mono-ethnic country, 98.4% of the total population are ethnic Japanese.
35. Dolphins are eaten in Japan. They make soup, cook kushiyaki (Japanese kebab), and even eat it raw. The dolphin has rather tasty meat, with a pronounced taste and completely unlike fish.
36. There are practically no personal pronouns in the Japanese language, and those words that are sometimes used as pronouns have at least one more meaning. In Russian, for example, the pronoun "I" does not mean anything but "I", and in Japanese 私 (vatashi, I) also means "private, personal"; 貴方 (anata, you) - "my master". It is polite to use “anata” only at the first meeting, then it is customary to address the interlocutor by name or position.
37. Tokyo is the safest metropolis in the world. Tokyo is so safe that six-year-olds take public transportation on their own. This is fantasy actually.
38. The Japanese consider the outside world very dangerous and are afraid to travel. So a Japanese woman friend once asked me if it would be too dangerous for her to stop alone in the Kensington Gardens area in London. most dangerous country they consider the USA.
39. The ninth article of the Japanese constitution forbids the country to have its own army and participate in wars.
40. In Japan academic year begins on the first of April and is divided into trimesters. Schoolchildren study from April to July, then September to December and from January to March.
41. There are no garbage cans in Japan, as all garbage is recycled. Waste is divided into four types: glass, incinerable, recyclable and non-incinerable garbage. Each type of waste is taken out on a specific day and it can be thrown away only on strictly allotted dates. There is a large fine for violating the procedure, in my house it is one hundred thousand yen (about a thousand dollars).
42. There are also no trash cans on the streets at all, only special bins for collecting bottles. Case in point what is clean where they do not crap.
43. Japan has very low pensions. The maximum social allowance for distressed old people is 30,000 yen, which is about three hundred dollars. There is also no compulsory pension insurance, it is assumed that every Japanese must take care of his old age himself.
44. Godzilla (Japanese for Gojira) is not an accidental name. It is a portmanteau of the words "Gorilla" and "Kujira" (whale). One can only guess how they interbred so that a reptile turned out.
45. Transport in Japan is very expensive, the cheapest subway ticket will cost 140 yen (50 rubles).
46. In Japan, men are always served first. In a restaurant, a man is the first to place an order, and the drink is brought to him first. In stores, they always greet the man first.
47. The Japanese drive big cars. City cars are impossible to meet even in close Tokyo, but there are a lot of jeeps.
48, In all my time in Japan, I have never seen a toilet without heated seat and less than 10 buttons. I recently discovered that the toilet in my house can make the sound of running water to hide, uh, its own sounds.
49. Everyone in Japan knows that Hello Kitty comes from England.
50. Tipping is strictly not accepted in Japan. It is believed that as long as the client pays the appointed price for the service, he remains on an equal footing with the seller. If the buyer tries to leave extra money, he thereby devalues the service / product provided to him, reducing the equal exchange to handouts.
51. During the year of my life in Japan, I have never encountered manifestations of racism against myself. I think it's very cool.
52. Japan best country in the world.
53. Japanese MTV is on popular series Usavich, a cartoon about two birds with one stone, Putin and Kiriyenko, trying to survive in a police state.
54. The age of consent in Japan is 13.
55. Japan is three times the size of England. The area of Japan is 374,744 km², England 130,410 km².
56. Japan is often cited as an example of an overpopulated country. In fact, Japan's population density is only 360 people per square kilometer. This is less than in England, where there are 383 people per square kilometer.
57. In Japanese, the words “wrong” and “different” are denoted by the same word 違う (chigau).
58. Things have taken root in Japan that seemed to be the future twenty years ago, and today leave a strange retro-futuristic impression. Automatic doors in taxis, vending machines selling everything from fruit to soups to used underpants. Fantastically shaped trains and funny fashion. All this is very cool.
59. The Japanese word 御来光 (goraiko) describes the sunrise seen from Mount Fuji. There are many capacious words in Japanese.
60. Hitler admired the integrity of the Japanese nation and called them "honorary Aryans". AT South Africa During apartheid, the Japanese were the only ones who were not deprived of their rights, since they were considered “honorary whites”.
61. Japanese phones have a built-in national emergency alert system. When some kind of cataclysm occurs, a loud beep sounds on all phones (even if the sound was turned off) and a message appears explaining what happened and how to behave.
62. There is no looting in Japan. If you type “looting in japan” into Google, you will only find tens of thousands of surprised foreigners who cannot understand why empty houses are not robbed in Japan.
63. The Japanese hardly speak English, but they use a fantastic amount of anglicisms. Alex Case tried to make a list, counted over 5000 words and got tired of continuing (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) At the same time, their Japanese pronunciation distorts them so much that you can not hope to understand them, or that they will understand you if you pronounce the word with the original accent.
64. Few people know that the words “wata”, “pollock” and “ivashi” are borrowed from Japanese. I think everyone knows about the “tsunami” and “typhoon”.
65. Japanese also has borrowings from Russian. The words イクラ “ikura; caviar” and ノルマ “noruma; norm". There is also funny expression“ヴ・ナロード” “wu people; to the people”, it was inherited from Alexander II.
66. In Japan there is the death penalty. Eight criminals were executed in Japan last year. The last two executions were attended by the Minister of Justice of Japan.
67. An interesting fact is that Japan has the most low level homicides and the lowest rate of violent crimes per 100,000 population among all analyzed countries. Here is the highest average duration life in the world.
68. Tokyo has one of the largest gay areas in the world, Shinjuku-Ni-Chome. It has the largest concentration of gay bars in the world.
69. Japanese and Chinese characters are the same. There are regional differences in Chinese characters more and in a simplified form they are written differently. But knowing Japanese, you can understand common sense Chinese signage.
70. Instead of a signature in Japan, they put a special nominal seal of hanko. Every Japanese has such a seal and it is used many, many times a day. You can also buy it at any store.
71. Japan is the only country in the world where the criterion for a train being late is a minute mark.
72. In Japan, it is considered impolite to open a gift in front of the giver. They thank him for it, after which they set aside to open it in private.
73. The Japanese believe that a person should be able to hide suffering behind a smile. There is even a saying 顔で笑って心で泣く (kao de waratte kokoro de naku; smile while you suffer inside).
74. The Japanese are a nation of very passionate people. If they do something, they strive for complete authenticity. So, in all French bakeries, Japanese inscriptions are duplicated in French. In the Italian gelateria, the ice cream will be signed in Italian, and in the Spanish restaurant, the menu will be in Spanish. In English, however, there will be nothing. Sometimes it seems that for them it is just “another European language”.
75. In Japan, property rights are strictly observed, so there are dozens of companies with more than a thousand years of history. For example, the Hoshi Ryokan Inn has been in continuous operation since 718. It has been run by the same family for 46 generations (sic!).
76. Tanuki - wayward Japanese werewolf animals that bring happiness and prosperity. Their eggs are traditional symbol good luck. The canonical happiest tanuki has an egg area of 8 tatami, which is 12 meters. In case of trouble, they bear retribution with them. Studio Ghibli has a wonderful Pom Poko cartoon about them, check it out.
77. Two-thirds of Japan is covered with forests. Japan prohibits commercial logging of its own forests, but it consumes 40% of all timber that is mined in tropical forests.
78. For 10 years, from 1992 to 2002, Japan was the largest donor of international aid in the world. This is by the way to everyone who is now gloating over the Japanese misfortune.
79. When the conductor enters the next car high-speed train, he always takes off his hat and bows, and only then begins to check the tickets.
80. In Japan, the third way was successful, which we have been looking for for a long time and will never find. Here is a unique organization of society: on the one hand, a completely Western legal state, on the other, a distinctive culture that lives not only by traditions, but is constantly evolving. I don't understand why no one in Russia studies the Japanese experience.
Other interesting facts about japan in this section.
Japan is very developed country, but its people are known to us for their oddities, which only the Japanese themselves can understand. Many oddities are associated with the traditions of this people, as evidenced by interesting facts about ancient Japan that await you further.
For more than two and a half centuries, Japan has been a closed country.
In 1600 after a long period feudal fragmentation and civil wars, in Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder and first head of the shogunate in Edo, came to power. By 1603, he finally completed the process of unifying Japan and began to rule with his "iron fist". Ieyasu, like his predecessor, supported trade with other countries, but was very suspicious of foreigners. This led to the fact that in 1624 trade with Spain was completely prohibited. And in 1635, a decree was issued prohibiting the Japanese from leaving the country and prohibiting those who had already left to return. Since 1636, foreigners (the Portuguese, later the Dutch) could only be on the artificial island of Dejima in the harbor of Nagasaki.
The Japanese were low because they didn't eat meat.
6th to 19th century average height Japanese men was only 155 cm. This is due to the fact that it was in the 6th century that the Chinese “neighborly” shared the philosophy of Buddhism with the Japanese. It is not clear why, but the new worldview was to the liking of the ruling circles of Japanese society. Vegetarianism began to be seen as a way to save the soul and better reincarnation. Meat was completely excluded from the diet of the Japanese, and the result was not long in coming: from the 6th to the 19th century, the average height of the Japanese decreased by 10 cm.
In ancient Japan, the trade in "Night Gold" was widespread.
Night gold is a phraseological unit that denotes a product of human life, its feces, used as a valuable and balanced fertilizer. In Japan, this practice was used quite widely. Moreover, the waste of rich people was sold for more high price, because their diet was plentiful and varied, so more nutrients remained in the resulting “product”. Various historical documents from the 9th century onwards, detail the procedures for toilet waste.
Pornography in Japan has always flourished.
Sexual themes in Japanese art originated many centuries ago and date back to ancient Japanese myths, among which the most famous is the myth of the emergence Japanese islands as a result of the sexual relationship between the god Izanagi and the goddess Izanami. In ancient monuments there is no hint of a disapproving attitude towards sex. “This frankness in the story of sex and literary materials, - writes the Japanese cultural anthropologist Toshinao Yoneyama, - has survived until our day ... In Japanese culture there was no consciousness of original sin in relation to sex, as was the case in Christian cultures.
Fishermen in ancient Japan used tamed cormorants.
It all happened like this: at night, the fishermen went out to sea in a boat and lit torches to attract fish. Next, about a dozen cormorants were released, which were tied to the boat with a long rope. At the same time, the neck of each bird was slightly intercepted by a flexible collar so that it could not swallow the caught fish. As soon as the cormorants gained full crops, the fishermen pulled the birds onto the boat. For their work, each bird received a reward in the form of a small fish.
In ancient Japan there was special form marriage - tsumadoi.
A full-fledged small family - in the form of cohabitation - in ancient japan was not typical shape marriage. basis family relations constituted a special Japanese marriage - tsumadoi, in which the husband freely visited his wife, maintaining, in fact, a separate residence with her. For the bulk of the population, marriage was concluded upon reaching the age of majority: at the age of 15 for a boy and at 13 for a girl. The conclusion of marriage assumed the consent of numerous relatives, up to the grandparents on the part of the wife. Tsumadoi marriage did not imply monogamy, and it was not forbidden for a man to have several wives, as well as concubines. However, a free relationship with their wives, leaving them without a reason to marry a new wife, was not allowed by the laws.
There were and still are quite a lot of Christians in Japan.
Christianity appeared in Japan in the middle of the 16th century. The first missionary who preached the gospel to the Japanese was the Basque Jesuit Francis Xavier. But the missionaries did not last long. Soon the shoguns began to see Christianity (as the faith of foreigners) as a threat. In 1587, the unifier Toyotomi Hideyoshi forbade the stay of missionaries in the country and began to persecute believers. As justifications for his actions, he pointed to the fact that some Japanese converts desecrated and destroyed Buddhist and Shinto shrines. Hideyoshi's political successor Tokugawa Ieyasu continued the repressive policy. In 1612, he banned the practice of Christianity in his domains, and in 1614 he extended this ban to all of Japan. During the Tokugawa era, about 3,000 Japanese Christians were martyred, the rest were imprisoned or exiled. Tokugawa policy obligated all Japanese families register at a local Buddhist temple and receive a certificate that they are not Christians.
Japanese prostitutes were divided into several ranks.
In addition to the well-known geisha, who by and large were simply leading ceremonies, in Japan there were also courtesans, who, in turn, were divided into several classes depending on the cost: tayu (the most expensive), koshi, tsubone, sancha and the cheapest - street girls, bath attendants, servants, etc. Behind the scenes, there was the following agreement: once choosing a girl, it was necessary to adhere to her, “settle down”. Therefore, men often kept their own courtesans. Tayu rank girls cost 58 momme (about 3,000 rubles) at a time, and this is not counting the mandatory 18 momme for servants - another 1,000 rubles. Prostitutes of the lowest rank cost about 1 momme (about 50 rubles). In addition to the direct payment for services, there were also related expenses - food, drink, tips for many servants, all this could reach up to 150 momme (8000 rubles) per evening. Thus, a man containing a courtesan could well lay out about 29 kenme (about 580,000 rubles) per year.
The Japanese often committed pair suicides from unhappy love.
After the "reorganization" of prostitution in 1617, the entire extra-family sex life of the Japanese was moved to separate quarters like the "red light district", where the girls lived and worked. The girls could not leave the quarter, unless they were bought by wealthy clients as their wives. It was very expensive and more often it happened that the lovers simply could not afford to be together. Despair brought such couples to "shinju" - paired suicides. The Japanese did not see anything wrong with this, because they have long honored rebirth and were completely sure that in the next life they would definitely be together.
Torture and executions in Japan for a long time were written into the law.
To begin with, it should be said that there was no presumption of innocence in the Tokugawa-era Japanese legal system. Each person who went to court was more likely to be considered guilty in advance. With the coming to power of the Tokugawa, only four types of torture remained legal in Japan: scourging, squeezing with stone slabs, tying with a rope, and hanging on a rope. Moreover, torture was not a punishment in itself, and its purpose was not to cause maximum suffering to the prisoner, but to obtain frank recognition in a committed crime. It should also be noted here that the use of torture was allowed only for those criminals who were threatened with the death penalty for their deeds. Therefore, after a sincere confession, the poor fellows were most often executed. The executions were also very different: from a banal beheading to a terrible boiling in boiling water - this is how ninjas were punished who failed a contract killing and were captured.
Japan, without a doubt, is a unique state. The ancient traditions of the people have always been of interest to residents of other countries. Interesting Facts about Japan they will tell not only about the peculiarities of life in this state, but also about the nature, number, culture of this people.
70 facts about Japan
2. In Japan, it is customary to eat dolphins.
3. On Valentine's Day in Japan, gifts are given and only girls show sympathy.
4. Japan has the slowest McDonald's.
5. In Japan, it is customary to make snowmen from only two balls.
6. Fruits are very expensive in Japan, but fish and meat are cheap.
7. Tips are not given in Japan.
8. There is no looting during earthquakes in this state.
9. Colonel Sanders is one of the most important symbols of Christmas in Japan.
10. In Japan, even the grocery store sells pornography.
11. In the Japanese subway, there are cars only for women. This is done so that no one harasses girls during rush hour.
12. This country has one of the lowest rates of rape in the world.
13. Police officers from Japan are the most honest people in the world, because they never take bribes.
15. The age of 13 in Japan is the age of consent. From this age, residents can voluntarily agree to intimate relationship and it won't be violent.
16. Skirts school uniforms in Japan, they differ in length depending on age: the older the student, the shorter the skirt.
17. If a dress, skirt or shorts on a woman in Japan is short to such an extent that panties and buttocks are visible, then this is normal. Deep cleavage in Japan is unacceptable.
18. Japan is the only country in the world where a train delay of 1 minute is considered a significant delay.
19. In this country, one of the most high levels suicide.
20. In Japan, 30% of marriages occur as a result of parent-organized matchmaking.
21. Residents of Japan are terrible workaholics.
22. In all the cities of Japan, located in the north, where snow falls in winter, there is heating of sidewalks and streets.
23. There is no central heating in this country. Everyone heats their home as best they can.
24. It is bad manners to come to work on time in this country.
25. In Japan, you can smoke everywhere except airports and train stations.
26. Formally, Japan is still considered an empire.
27. On the streets of Japan you can see a flowerpot with umbrellas, which are designed for those who forgot their umbrella at home.
28. In Japanese, 3 types of writing are used simultaneously: katakana, hiragana and kanji.
29. There are no guest workers in Japan.
30. Almost everything railways Japan are private.
31. Months do not have names in Japanese. They are designated by numbers.
32.98.4% of the population of Japan are ethnic Japanese.
33. In this country, prisoners do not have the right to vote in elections.
34. About 200 volcanoes are located on the territory of Japan.
35. The capital of Japan is the safest metropolis in the world.
36. Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution forbids the country from having its own army and from taking part in wars.
37. There are no landfills in Japan. This is due to the fact that all garbage is recycled.
38. There is not a single trash can on the streets of Japan.
39. Pensions are very small in Japan.
40. The lowest level of vandalism is in Japan.
41. In Japan, men are always the first to greet.
42. All toilets in Japan are heated.
43. Favorite drink in Japan is tea.
44. Theatrical performance in Japan can even last 8 hours.
45. Japan has the death penalty.
46. Instead of a signature in this country, they put a nominal seal - hanko. Every Japanese has this seal.
47. In the cities of Japan, left-hand traffic.
48. In Japan, it is considered offensive to open a gift in the presence of the person who gave it.
49. The sixth part of Japan is covered with forests.
50. In Japan, it is illegal to cut down trees for commercial purposes.
51. In Japan, you can eat loudly champing.
52. Approximately 3,000 companies that are over 200 years old are located in this State.
53. In 2017, Japan celebrated its 2677th anniversary. It was officially founded on February 11, 660 BC.
54. There are over 50,000 people in Japan who are over 100 years old.
55. In Japan, a public transport ticket is very expensive.
56. Monkeys who live in Japan know how to steal wallets.
57. There are more animals in Japan than children under the age of 15.
58. Japan is called the land of the Rising Sun.
59. Hinomaru - this is the name of National flag Japan.
60. The main Japanese goddess is the goddess of the Sun.
61. Translated into Russian, the anthem of Japan is called "the reign of the emperor."
62.Most of the phones sold in Japan are waterproof.
63. In Japan they sell square watermelons.
64. Vending machines are very common in Japan.
65. Crooked teeth in Japan are a sign of beauty.
66. The art of folding paper figures - origami, originally from Japan.
67. In Japan, there is a restaurant where monkeys work as waiters.
68. Japanese cuisine is very popular all over the world.
69. Rice is a staple food in Japan.
30 facts about the Japanese
1. The Japanese love to make pizza with grains and mayonnaise.
2. The Japanese eat rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
3. Residents of Japan are considered one of the leaders in life expectancy.
4. Before entering the house, the Japanese always take off their shoes.
5. Instead of cutlery, the Japanese have chopsticks.
6. Every day, residents of this country buy meat, vegetables and fish, as they prefer fresh products.
7. There are no floors in hospitals for the Japanese.
8. To protect their home, the Japanese use not only dogs, but also crickets.
9. While bathing, while soaping their body, the Japanese do not sit in the bath. They lather outside the tub, then rinse before getting into the hot tub.
10. Blow your nose in public place not correct for the Japanese.
11. The Japanese are incredibly polite people.
12. The Japanese do not know how to relax. They even call 4 weekends in a row a vacation.
13. Many Japanese people sing and draw beautifully.
14. Until the age of 8, little Japanese take a bath instead of with their parents.
15. The Japanese like baths and hot springs.
16. In Japanese families, it is quite normal when brother and sister do not talk.
17. For any reason, the Japanese give money.
18. The Japanese believe almost everything, and therefore are considered too naive people.
19. The Japanese are very fond of dancing.
20. It's very easy to confuse a Japanese.
21. It is believed that if you managed to excite the Japanese, then he has blood coming from his nose.
22. The Japanese are very fond of pets.
23. Japanese people rarely say "thank you" in supermarkets.
24. A large number of residents of Japan scold their own country.
25. The Japanese have a very common practice of adopting adult children.
26. Japanese girls don't wear pantyhose.
27. The Japanese serve tea after every meal.
28. The Japanese love to sleep at work, and they are not punished for this.
29. The Japanese love to repeat everything.
30. Japanese girls cut their hair after breaking up with a guy.
Do you have other facts that deserve attention? Share them in the comments!
Japan is a small country located on mountainous islands. Once upon a time, Japan was isolated from the rest of the world for centuries and in every possible way prevented the penetration of Europeans and their culture into these lands, but much has changed since then. Today, Japan is one of the most developed and high-tech countries. Most of the technical innovations are given to the world by the Japanese. And, of course, one cannot ignore the original Japanese culture, which is adored by millions of people around the world.
- Japan includes almost seven thousand islands, but the four largest of them occupy 97% of the total area.
- Officially, Japan is still an empire. This is the only empire that has survived to this day.
- Japan is the only country in the world against which nuclear weapons have been used during hostilities.
- Japan was founded as a state over two and a half thousand years ago. At the same time, the imperial dynasty has not been interrupted to this day.
- We owe the Japanese language such words as "typhoon" and "tsunami" (see).
- According to its own constitution, Japan does not have the first right to declare war on anyone.
- Snowmen in Japan are made from two snowballs, and not from three, as in other countries.
- There is no central heating in Japan. At the same time, sidewalks are heated in northern cities in winter so that they do not have to clean the snow.
- A train delay of more than 60 seconds is considered an unacceptable delay in Japan.
- Fruit in Japan costs crazy money. For example, a melon will cost the equivalent of several hundred dollars.
- Two thirds of Japan is covered in forest. Forests here, by the way, are not cut down at all (see).
- There are so many people in the Tokyo subway that special people pack passengers into the cars. The metro here, by the way, is private, not state-owned, and different companies own its different branches.
- The tradition of committing ritual suicide in Japan it is still practiced by people who have not coped with their tasks and who want to "wash away shame from themselves."
- Most Japanese work at least 12 hours, and 6 days a week, not 5.
- Tipping in Japan, as in Finland, is not accepted (see).
- In Japan, very short skirts are considered the norm, but clothes with a neckline are considered vulgar here.
- You can smoke almost everywhere in Japan. All Japanese smokers carry small pocket ashtrays with them, because it is strictly forbidden to shake off the ashes on the ground or on the floor.
- The Japanese language includes four levels of politeness, from conversational to especially polite.
- The Japanese do not give names to the months, preferring to call them "second month" or, for example, "tenth month".
- In Japan, square watermelons are grown - they are easier to transport than round ones.
- Japan is a mono-ethnic country, more than 98% of its population are ethnic Japanese. For the most part, they treat foreigners coolly, albeit very politely and correctly.
- Tokyo is recognized as the safest major cities in the world.
- All garbage in Japan is recycled and reused.
- Japan is home to the world's oldest operating inn, the Hoshi Ryokan, which dates back to 718.
- Every year Japan experiences about one thousand four hundred earthquakes. Most of them, fortunately, are very weak (see).
- More than fifty thousand people over a hundred years old live in Japan, which makes it real country centenarians.
- The peace treaty after the end of World War II between Japan and Russia has not yet been signed due to the unresolved issue of ownership of the Kuril Islands.
It's no secret that the Japanese are now considered pretty strange people: they have very peculiar culture, music, movies, and everything in general.
After reading the facts from this article, you will understand where the roots of these oddities grow.
It turns out that the Japanese have always been like that.
For more than two and a half centuries, Japan has been a closed country.
In 1600, after a long period of feudal fragmentation and civil wars, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder and first head of the Shogunate in Edo, came to power in Japan. By 1603, he finally completed the process of unifying Japan and began to rule with his "iron fist". Ieyasu, like his predecessor, supported trade with other countries, but was very suspicious of foreigners. This led to the fact that in 1624 trade with Spain was completely prohibited. And in 1635, a decree was issued prohibiting the Japanese from leaving the country and prohibiting those who had already left to return. Since 1636, foreigners (the Portuguese, later the Dutch) could only be on the artificial island of Dejima in the harbor of Nagasaki.
The Japanese were short because they didn't eat meat.
From the 6th to the 19th centuries, the average height of Japanese men was only 155 cm. This is due to the fact that it was in the 6th century that the Chinese “neighborly” shared the philosophy of Buddhism with the Japanese. It is not clear why, but the new worldview was to the liking of the ruling circles of Japanese society. And especially the part of it that vegetarianism is the way to save the soul and better reincarnation. Meat was completely excluded from the diet of the Japanese, and the result was not long in coming: from the 6th to the 19th century, the average height of the Japanese decreased by 10 cm.
Trade in "Night Gold" was common in ancient Japan
Night gold is a phraseological unit that denotes a product of human life, its feces, used as a valuable and balanced fertilizer. In Japan, this practice was used quite widely. Moreover, the waste of rich people was sold at a higher price, because their food was plentiful and varied, so more nutrients remained in the resulting “product”. Various historical documents dating back to the 9th century describe in detail the procedures for toilet waste.
Pornography in Japan has always flourished
Sexual themes in Japanese art originated many centuries ago and date back to ancient Japanese myths, among which the most famous is the myth of the emergence of the Japanese islands as a result of the sexual relationship between the god Izanagi and the goddess Izanami. In ancient monuments there is no hint of a disapproving attitude towards sex. “This frankness in the story of sex and literary materials,” writes the Japanese cultural anthropologist Toshinao Yoneyama, “has survived until our day ... In Japanese culture, there was no consciousness of original sin regarding sex, as was the case in Christian cultures.”
Fishermen in ancient Japan used tamed cormorants
It all happened like this: at night, the fishermen went out to sea in a boat and lit torches to attract fish. Next, about a dozen cormorants were released, which were tied to the boat with a long rope. At the same time, the neck of each bird was slightly intercepted by a flexible collar so that it could not swallow the caught fish. As soon as the cormorants gained full crops, the fishermen pulled the birds onto the boat. For their work, each bird received a reward in the form of a small fish.
In ancient Japan, there was a special form of marriage - tsumadoi.
A full-fledged small family - in the form of living together - in ancient Japan was not a typical form of marriage. The basis of family relations was a special Japanese marriage - tsumadoi, in which the husband freely visited his wife, maintaining, in fact, a separate residence with her. For the bulk of the population, marriage was concluded upon reaching the age of majority: at the age of 15 for a boy and at 13 for a girl. The conclusion of marriage assumed the consent of numerous relatives, up to the grandparents on the part of the wife. Tsumadoi marriage did not imply monogamy, and it was not forbidden for a man to have several wives, as well as concubines. However, a free relationship with their wives, leaving them without a reason to marry a new wife, was not allowed by the laws.
There were and still are quite a lot of Christians in Japan
Christianity appeared in Japan in the middle of the 16th century. The first missionary who preached the gospel to the Japanese was the Basque Jesuit Francis Xavier. But the missionaries did not last long. Soon the shoguns began to see Christianity (as the faith of foreigners) as a threat. In 1587, the unifier Toyotomi Hideyoshi forbade the stay of missionaries in the country and began to persecute believers. As justifications for his actions, he pointed to the fact that some Japanese converts desecrated and destroyed Buddhist and Shinto shrines. Hideyoshi's political successor Tokugawa Ieyasu continued the repressive policy. In 1612, he banned the practice of Christianity in his domains, and in 1614 he extended this ban to all of Japan. During the Tokugawa era, about 3,000 Japanese Christians were martyred, the rest were imprisoned or exiled. Tokugawa policy required all Japanese families to register at a local Buddhist temple and receive a certificate that they were not Christians.
Japanese prostitutes were divided into several ranks
In addition to the well-known geishas, who by and large were just leading ceremonies, there were also courtesans in Japan, who, in turn, were divided into several classes depending on the cost: tayu (the most expensive), koshi, tsubone, sancha and the cheapest - street girls, bath attendants, servants, etc. The following agreement existed behind the scenes: once having chosen a girl, it was necessary to adhere to her, “settle down”. Therefore, men often kept their own courtesans. Tayu rank girls cost 58 momme (about 3,000 rubles) at a time, and this is not counting the mandatory 18 momme for servants - another 1,000 rubles. Prostitutes of the lowest rank cost about 1 momme (about 50 rubles). In addition to the direct payment for services, there were also related expenses - food, drink, tips for many servants, all this could reach up to 150 momme (8000 rubles) per evening. Thus, a man containing a courtesan could well lay out about 29 kenme (about 580,000 rubles) per year.
The Japanese often committed pair suicides from unrequited love.
After the "reorganization" of prostitution in 1617, the entire extra-family sex life of the Japanese was moved to separate quarters like the "red light district", where the girls lived and worked. The girls could not leave the quarter, unless they were bought by wealthy clients as their wives. It was very expensive and more often it happened that lovers simply could not afford to be together. Despair brought such couples to "shinju" - paired suicides. The Japanese did not see anything wrong with this, because they have long honored rebirth and were completely sure that in the next life they would definitely be together.
Torture and executions in Japan have been legal for a long time.
To begin with, it should be said that there was no presumption of innocence in the Tokugawa-era Japanese legal system. Each person who went to court was more likely to be considered guilty in advance. With the coming to power of the Tokugawa, only four types of torture remained legal in Japan: scourging, squeezing with stone slabs, tying with a rope, and hanging on a rope. At the same time, torture was not a punishment in itself, and its purpose was not to cause maximum suffering to the prisoner, but to obtain a frank confession of a committed crime. It should also be noted here that the use of torture was allowed only for those criminals who were threatened with the death penalty for their deeds. Therefore, after a sincere confession, the poor fellows were most often executed. The executions were also very different: from a banal beheading to a terrible boiling in boiling water - this is how ninjas were punished who failed a contract killing and were captured.
