History
In 1185, Japan started to be governed by members of this famous medieval caste
samurai
This well-known fermented Japanese food is notorious for being commonly disliked by non-Japanese.
Natto
English has its alphabet, but the Japanese writing system has this amount of different sets of characters.
Three (hiragana, katakana, kanji)
One of the co-founders of Studio Ghibli, this person directed numerous films such as My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service.
Hayao Miyazaki
This more casual spin on the kimono is commonly worn during summer festivals in Japan.
Yukata
Though it is headquartered in Texas, this convenience store chain has more locations in Japan than any other country.
711
Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan, but this other prevalent faith was introduced to Japan from the Korean kingdom of Baekje in the 6th century.
Buddhism
This fruit-adorned dessert is Japan's most popular type of cake.
Strawberry Shortcake
This Japanese phrase is commonly uttered by shop owners when a customer enters their store.
いらっしゃいませ or irasshaimase
In the series Naruto, the ninja Sasuke is one of the last surviving members of this Konohagakure clan.
Uchiha Clan
This style of footwear is seen in almost every Japanese (and most Asian) households and are provided to guests at most ryokans (traditional inns)
Slippers
In 1958, the first ramen was invented and was turned into this brand of instant ramen.
CUP NOODLE
Japan was closed off for 265 years in an isolationist social policy known as sakoku (lit. "chained country") during this period of Japanese history.
Edo period
Although ramen is considered a quintessentially Japanese food, this country is actually the largest consumer of instant noodles worldwide.
China
This Japanese writing system is most often used for writing animal names and onomatopoeia.
Katakana
You may know him as Ash Ketchum, but the protagonist of the long-running anime adaptation of Pokémon was originally named this in Japanese.
Satoshi (サトシ)
This Japanese Goddess of the Sun also starred as the main character in the popular Capcom game Ōkami.
Amaterasu
This class of female performing artists are known for performing traditional Japanese dance and song while wearing long kimono, traditional hairstyles, and pale oshiroi makeup.
Geisha
During the Warring States period, this powerful daimyō was known as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan before his death in 1582.
Oda Nobunaga
This famous sushi delicacy is infamous for coming from the meat of an animal that contains a deadly poison called tetrodoxin that must be prepared by a master chef.
Fugu (blowfish meat)
The Japanese pronunciation of kanji is called kun'yomi, but kanji pronunciations originating from China are called this.
On'yomi
This sci-fi shōnen anime was released on New Years Day in 1963 and is considered among the first mainstream “animes”
Astro Boy
At the beginning of the new year, large crowds flock to visit shrines in Japan in a tradition known as this.
Hatsumode
This famous Akita dog has been memorialized for his bittersweet story of waiting for his owner at Shibuya Station for nine years after he passed away.
Hachikō
While modern Japanese people can trace around 90% of their ancestry on average to settlers from Korea and China during the Yayoi period, the island was previously inhabited by this group of peoples.
Jōmon people
This famous dish symbolizes longevity and is often eaten on New Year's Eve to represent the "severing" of the link of hardships and back luck experienced in the previous year.
(Toshikoshi) Soba OR udon
In Japanese, kana characters can receive this kind of diacritic to change the leading consonant sound - for example, た to だ.
Dakuten (colloquially, tenten)
For anime & manga, the adolescent male demographic is referred to as shōnen, and the adolescent female demographic is known as shōjo, while the young adult male and young adult female demographics are called these.
Seinen & josei
This popular mechanical game provides a well-known loophole for Japanese people to bypass illegal gambling laws.
Pachinko
The day before the start of spring, the Japanese throw these to scare oni (spirits/demons) away.
Beans