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Wednesday, January 24, 2018

In Japanese, the name 'Japan' is Nihon or Nippon, which means 'Land of the Rising Sun.' It was once believed that Japan was the first country to see the sun rise in the East in the morning.

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Today's Random Fact:

The Japanese word banzai literally means '10 thousand years' and was traditionally used to wish the emperor a long life. Today, it is closer to a cheer like 'Hip Hip Hooray!'


The Japanese avoid the number four (shi) because it sounds the same as the word for death. Tall buildings do not have a fourth floor. Tea and sake sets are sold with five cups. Three or five is the desirable number of guests in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. As a rule, odd numbers are preferred over even numbers in Japan.


The imperial family of Japan descends from an unbroken lineage of nearly 2,000 years. No other royal family in history has held its position for so long. The first Japanese emperor, Jimmu Tenno, ruled about the time of Christ.




Bonus Fact:

Home to 33 million people, the Tokyo-Yokohama metropolitan area is the largest populated metropolitan region in the world.


Twenty-one percent of the Japanese population is elderly (over the age of 65), the highest proportion in the world. There are more elderly than there are children in Japan today.


Japan has the second lowest homicide rate in the world, but it also home to the spooky "suicide forest" Aokigahara at the base of Mt. Fuji. It is the second most popular place in the world for suicides after San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.