Kawaii! 41 Awesome and Weird Facts About Japan & Its Culture

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1Cyber Homeless

Cyber Homeless

There is a class of people in Japan referred to as Cyber Homeless who live at cyber cafes because they are a cheaper alternative than an apartment. The cafes offer free showers and sell underwear.


2. To get revenge on fellow Boy Scouts who bullied him, a Tokyo resident mailed more than 500 boxes of soggy, smelly garbage including old underwear and rotten tea leaves to his tormentors, writing a random destination as the address with the bully's return address in order to escape detection.


3. In 2010, the mummified corpse of Sogen Kato, thought to be Tokyo's oldest man, was found in his bedroom by government officials. He had actually died in 1978.


4. There is a factory in Japan which can run unsupervised for 30 days at a time. Robots build other robots at the rate of 50 per 24-hour shift. Such factories are called "lights out" factories because no human presence is needed. FANUC has been operating this autonomous factory since 2001.


5. In Japan, a few foreign cartoons including "Bob The Builder" was suggested to be edited, adding the fifth finger to the characters' hands. The reason was that having only four fingers implies membership of the Japanese Mafia.


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6Aum Shinrikyo

Aum Shinrikyo

In 1993, a Japanese religious cult named Aum Shinrikyo released aerosolized Anthrax in a city near Tokyo over the course of 2 days. It should have killed thousands, however, they used a strain of Anthrax used for cattle vaccinations and inadvertently could have immunized everyone instead.


7. There is a penguin named Lala in Japan that wears a penguin backpack and goes into the market to eat fish.


8. Surgical masks in Japan are not only used to prevent sickness but are used for fashion, warmth, and sometimes avoiding conversation with strangers.


9. Japan is home to a 107-year-old sprinter named Hidekichi Miyazaki and he hopes to race Usain Bolt one day.


10. Gambling for cash is illegal in Japan. Instead, balls won from games are exchanged for prizes or tokens. These items are then exchanged for cash at a place nominally separate from the parlor.


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11Karoshi

Karoshi

In Japan, death by overwork is so common that they have a word for it, "Karoshi". Some examples of karoshi are: working 110 hours a week, working 3000 hours a year with no days off in 15 years, working 4320 hours a year, and working 34-hour shifts five times a month.


12. There is a pepper grown in Japan called the Shishito pepper. Only 1 out of 10 is spicy and there is no way of knowing beforehand.


13. If you are being violent or drunk in Japan, the police will get a large futon and roll you into a little burrito.


14. Japan has a sociological phenomena known as "Hikikomori", in which an estimated 1 million Japanese choose to completely isolate themselves from society by rarely or never leaving their homes.


15. In Japan’s Shima Marineland aquarium, a goldfish was thrown into an exhibition tank to be live-bait for a larger fish. The goldfish escaped through a tiny gap that led to a filtration tank, where it lived alone in the dark for 7 years, feeding off food scraps that made its way into the tank.


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16Mongol army

Mongol army

Japan was invaded by the strong Mongol army twice, and both times was saved by harsh storms that crippled the Mongols. They called these storms "Kamikaze" or "Divine Winds".


17. The oldest running company still in operation today is a hotel in Japan named Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan, which was created in 705 A.D.


18. Older people lined up to clean Fukushima radiation in Japan, to save the young from having to do so.


19. In Japan, sometimes people organize a communal event called 'Rui-katsu' (tear-seeking), where people get together to watch sad clips and then cry to relieve stress.


20. Since the global ban on commercial whaling in 1986, Japan is thought to have killed more than 14,000 whales for alleged scientific-research. Their real motive behind whaling is to obtain whale meat which is a delicacy in Japan.


21Japan suicide

Japan suicide

If you commit suicide in Japan by jumping onto an oncoming train or killing yourself in an apartment building, the train or building company can/will sue your family for clean up fees, loss of income and negative publicity brought on by your suicide.


22. The common raccoon did not inhabit Japan until 1977, the year when a popular anime caused many people to import them as pets, allowing many to escape into the wild.


23. Japan has the largest organized crime group in the world called Yamaguchi Gumi that is worth $80 billion. By contrast, Sinaloa, Mexico’s largest drug cartel, was worth $3 billion.


24. Chunosuke Matsuyama, a Japanese Seamen, sent a message in a bottle in 1784 that his ship had wrecked. It washed up in 1935 in the village where he was born.


25. Japan is moving an entire 400-year-old castle (Hirosaki Castle) 230 feet away to fix its foundations. They will move it back in 2021.

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