General
People
Culture and Arts
Food
Language
100
This is the capital of Japan.
これは日本の首都です。
What is Tokyo?
東京とは？
100
Who is the current prime minister of Japan?
Who is Sanae Takaichi?
100
This is the type of Japanese theater.
What is kabuki(歌舞伎)?
100
This is a meal of JUST raw fish and soy sauce.
What is sashimi?
100
This is the Japanese term for Chinese characters.
What is Kanji?
200
This is the national currency of Japan.
What is the yen (¥/円)?
200
This author is best known for writing bestselling novels such as I Am A Cat (我輩わ猫である) and Kokoro (こゝろ).
Who is Natsume Soseki?
夏目漱石とは？
200
This traditional Japanese garment is often worn on special occasions such as tea ceremonies and festivals.
What is a kimono(着物)?
200
This type of food is made up of thin slices of meat, bean curd and vegetables cooked in soy sauce and sugar.
What is sukiyaki?
200
Who are the three Japanese language professors here at UCR?
UCRで三つの日本語先生は誰ですか？
Who are Sato-sensei, Miura-sensei, and Sagawa-sensei?
佐藤先生、三浦先生、佐川先生は誰ですか？
300
Japan uses the Gregorian calendar together with era designations stating the year of the reign of the current Emperor. In 1983, the the era year was known as Showa 58 (昭和５８年).
What is the era year for 2026?
What is Reiwa 8?
令和８年とは？
300
The first recorded female ruler of Japan, she reigned during the Asuka period and helped promote Buddhism in the country.
Who is Empress Suiko?
300
These are supernatural creatures that appear in Japanese folklore.
What are youkai(妖怪)?
300
These coated biscuit sticks were invented in Japan in 1966.
What is Pocky (ポッキー)?
300
What language family is Japanese a part of?
What is the Japonic language family?
?
400
There are four major types of prefectures in Japan, also known as todoufuken (都道府県). Name one of each prefecture.
to (都, only one)
dou (道, only one)
fu (府, there are two)
ken (県 there's like a million)
What are Tokyo, Hokkaido, Osaka, and Kyoto?
東京都 Tokyo-to
北海道 hokkai-dou
大阪府 osaka-fu
京都府 kyoto-fu
400
This Japanese monk founded the school of Shingon Buddhism.
Who is Kuukai(空海)?
400
This is the Japanese art of flower arrangement.
What is Ikebana(生け花)?
400
People in Japan were probably the first people to grow this type of fungi for food.
What are mushrooms?
400
Japanese is often described as a “subject–object–verb” language, meaning the verb usually appears in this position in a sentence.
What is at the end (final position)?
500
The kanji for “Japan” (日本) literally means this when translated character by character.
What is “origin of the sun” or “sun’s origin”?
500
This ancient ethnic group lived throughout southern Kyushu in the Nara period. They frequently resisted Japanese rule until being eventually subjugated. Historical Japanese texts suggest that many members of this ethnic group were naturalized and became attendants and personal servants to Japanese nobility. There were no more mentions of them by the early Heian Period.
Who were the Hayato people?
隼人とは？
500
This Indian script spread to Japan through Buddhism and has since been continuously used in sacred matters.
What is Siddhaṃ script?
梵字とは？
500
What is the largest gyudon chain in Japan?
What is Sukiya?
500
How to you pronounce this name?
天津日高日子波限建鵜葺草葺不合命
What is...
Amatsuhiko-Hiko-Nagisatake-Ugayafukiaezu-no-Mikoto?
あまつひこひこなぎさたけうがやふきあえずのみこと
…とは？