Japan is a country that has captivated the world with its unique culture, traditions, and innovations. From the bustling streets of Tokyo to the serene temples of Kyoto, Japan offers a rich and diverse experience for travelers and locals alike.
But how much do you really know about this fascinating country? How much do you know about the food, the landmarks, and the culture?
In this post, we’ll test your Japan knowledge with these fun trivia questions and answers all about Japan! From food and festivals to history and landmarks, this quiz will challenge your knowledge of all things Japan.
Get ready to test your knowledge of one of the world’s most fascinating countries!
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Japan Trivia Questions: Easy Questions
What is the capital city of Japan?
Answer: Tokyo
What is the currency of Japan?
Answer: Japanese yen
Which Japanese city is known to be Japan’s street food capital, most famous for foods like takoyaki and okonomiyaki, as well as landmarks such as Shitennoji Temple and Dotonbori district?
Answer: Osaka.
What is the name of the famous bullet train in Japan?
Answer: Shinkansen
What is the name of the popular Japanese dish made with raw fish and rice?
Answer: Sushi
What is it customary to do when entering someone’s house in Japan?
Answer: Remove your shoes
What is the traditional formal Japanese garment worn by both men and women?
Answer: Kimono
The Japanese art of paper folding is called what?
Answer: Origami
What is the name of the anime series about a 14-year-old schoolgirl named Usagi Tsukino who meets a magical talking cat that ends up giving her the ability to transform into a magical alter ego/superhero?
Answer: Sailor Moon
What is the Japanese electronic company that produces PlayStation?
Answer: Sony
What is the name of the anime series about a young boy who dreams of becoming a ninja and keeps the company of Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno?
Answer: Naruto
What is the name of the anime series about a group of high school students who form a music band?
Answer: K-On!
What is the name of the Japanese video game company that created Super Mario Bros.?
Answer: Nintendo
What is the name of the museum in Tokyo that is dedicated to the art of animation and features a replica of the Catbus from My Neighbor Totoro (1988), a café, a bookstore, and a rooftop garden?
Answer: Ghibli Museum
Which Japanese city is known for its large, colorful festival in July called the Gion Matsuri?
Answer: Kyoto
Which Japanese city is known for its large, bustling fish market and is a popular destination for sushi lovers?
Answer: Tokyo (Tsukiji)
Which district/neighborhood in Tokyo is known for its large, modern shopping district and is a popular destination for fashion lovers?
Answer: Ginza
Which of these is not a Japanese city — Sapporo, Hakone, Osaka, or Taipei?
Answer: Taipei.
In 2022, the population of which metropolitan area is the world’s largest, estimated to be an astounding 37.7 million people?
Answer: Tokyo, Japan
What colored shape is on the flag of Japan?
Answer: A red circle
Japan Trivia Questions: Medium Questions
What is the Japanese word for ‘cute’?
Answer: Kawaii (かわいい)
What is the name of the famous Japanese geisha district in Kyoto?
Answer: Gion District
What is the name of the theme park near Tokyo that is dedicated to the history of Edo period?
Answer: Edo Wonderland Japan
What is the Japanese word for “dog”?
Answer: Inu
Which Japanese shrine is located on the top of Mount Inari and is known for its thousands of orange torii gates?
Answer: Fushimi Inari Taisha (in Kyoto)
What is the name of the theme park in Tokyo that is based on the world of Sanrio characters like Hello Kitty, Gudetama, Cinnamoroll, and My Melody?
Answer: Sanrio Puroland
What is the name of the famous Japanese animator who created the movie Spirited Away?
Answer: Hayao Miyazaki
Which Japanese company launched HD DVD in 2006 but was overpowered by the Blu-Ray format from Sony 2 years later?
Answer: Toshiba
In Japan, women do most of the gifting on Valentine’s Day. On what day do women receive gifts from men?
Answer: White Day, held on March 13
Who is the famous Japanese fashion designer who created the brand Comme des Garçons?
Answer: Rei Kawakubo
What is the largest Japanese island?
Answer: Honshu
What is the name of the picturesque Japanese mountain (often found topped with snow) that is also the highest peak in Japan?
Answer: Mount Fuji
What is the name of the famous Japanese garden in Kyoto that is known for its rock formations?
Answer: Ryoan-ji
What is the name of the Japanese island that is known for its deer population?
Answer: Miyajima. Also known as “deer island”, the island of Miyajima is home to more than a thousand Sika deer that freely roam the streets.
Which Japanese city is known for its large, modern aquarium and is a popular destination for families, foodies, and people who want to snack on foods like takoyaki and okonomiyaki all day?
Answer: Osaka
What is the name of the popular Japanese hot spring resort town located in the mountains near Mount Fuji, about 90 minutes away from Tokyo by train?
Answer: Hakone
What is the name of the popular Japanese anime TV series that was created in the late 1970s and defined the “real robot” mecha anime genre by featuring giant robots called mobile suits?
Answer: Gundam
What is the name of the famous Japanese novelist who wrote the book Norwegian Wood?
Answer: Haruki Murakami
What does ‘ANA’, the Japanese airline carrier, stand for?
Answer: All Nippon Airways
What is Pokemon an abbreviation for in Japan?
Answer: Pocket Monsters
Which Japanese island is known for its active volcano and is a popular destination for hot springs, ryokan stays, and hiking?
Answer: Kyushu
Japan Trivia Questions: Hard Questions
What is the Japanese name for the festival that celebrates the blooming of cherry blossoms?
Answer: Hanami
What is honored or celebrated during the Obon festivals in Japan?
Answer: Deceased loved ones
What is the name of the Japanese art of flower arrangement?
Answer: Ikebana
What is the name of the company that makes Panasonic products?
Answer: Matsushita Electric (also called MEI). They are one of the world’s largest consumer product companies.
What is the name of the Japanese swordsmith who lived in the 13th century, widely acclaimed as Japan’s greatest wordsmith?
Answer: Masamune Goro (1264 – 1343)
What is the name of the Japanese martial art that uses wooden or bamboo swords?
Answer: Kendo
What event happened in 1923 that devastated Tokyo and Yokohama?
Answer: The Great Kanto Earthquake
What would you find at Namja Town Plaza in Ikebukuro if you were heading to an indoor theme park perfect for Naruto, One Piece, and Dragon Ball fans?
Answer: J-World Tokyo
Which Japanese emperor ruled from 1926 to 1989?
Answer: Emperor Hirohito
What is the name of the famous Japanese composer who created the music for the movie Seven Samurai?
Answer: Fumio Hayasaka
What is the name of the wildly popular Japanese video game series that was designed by Hideo Kojima?
Answer: Metal Gear Solid
What is the name of the anime series about a young boy who becomes a pirate king?
Answer: One Piece
What is the name of the anime series about a high school student who gains the power to destroy supernatural beings?
Answer: Blue Exorcist
What is the name of the theme park in Nagasaki that is based on Dutch culture?
Answer: Huis Ten Bosch. The park recreates the Netherlands by displaying life-sized copies of old Dutch buildings. The name Huis Ten Bosch translates to “House at the Woods/Forest” in English.
What is the name of the famous Japanese movie director who created the movie Tokyo Story (1953)?
Answer: Yasujiro Ozu
What is the name of the famous Japanese rock band that was formed in 1982 best known for their unique blend of heavy metal, classical music, and visual kei fashion?
Answer: X Japan
What are coffee shops called in Japan?
Answer: ‘Kissaten’
Japan Trivia Questions: All About Landmarks
In which Japanese city would you be able to find Kotoku-in Temple’s Great Buddha as well as Yuigahama Beach?
Answer: Kamakura.
What is the name of the famous temple in Kyoto that is known for its golden pavilion?
Answer: Kinkaku-ji
What is the Japanese temple located in Kyoto on the site of the Otowa Waterfall and derives its name from the fall’s pure waters?
Answer: Kiyomizu-dera
What is the name of the famous bamboo forest in Kyoto?
Answer: Arashiyama Bamboo Grove
In which Japanese city would you be able to find Ueno Park and the Imperial Palace?
Answer: Tokyo
What animal can you expect to find roaming all around the pedestrian streets of Nara, Japan?
Answer: Deer
In which Tokyo neighborhood could you find endless electronic shops, manga bookstores, arcades, maid cafes, and anime shops?
Answer: Akihabara
What is the name of the bustling street in Tokyo that is known for its neon lights and swarms of people crossing the street at the same time?
Answer: Shibuya Crossing
What is the name of the famous temple in Nara that is known for its large bronze Buddha statue?
Answer: Todai-ji
What is the name of the famous garden in Kanazawa that is known for its beautiful landscape all year round (particularly in winter) and whose name translates to “Garden of Six Attributes”?
Answer: Kenroku-en
Which city in Japan is known as the “City of Water” due to its many canals and waterways?
Answer: Osaka
Which Japanese castle is known for its black exterior and is sometimes referred to as the “Crow Castle”?
Answer: Matsumoto Castle
Which Japanese city is best known for its signature marbled beef, the Ikuta Shrine, and the scenic setting of mountains framing the harbor?
Answer: Kobe
What is the name of the famous park in Hiroshima that is dedicated to peace?
Answer: Peace Memorial Park
Which street in Tokyo is also known as “Piss Alley” and is home to a collection of small bars, yakitori restaurants, and street food stalls?
Answer: Omoide Yokocho
Japan Trivia Questions: All About Food
What is the name of the type of Japanese dish featuring a bed of rice and topped with either meat or fish?
Answer: Donburi
In Chinese/Japanese culture, if you have a bowl of rice, what should you NOT do with your chopsticks?
Answer: Stick it straight up in the bowl of rice — this is taboo.
What is the name of the Japanese noodle dish that is made with buckwheat noodles?
Answer: Soba
What does the Japanese dish of ama ebi consist of?
Answer: Ama ebi means “sweet shrimp”.
Which fast-food company sold a hamburger-scented perfume called “Flame-Grilled Fragrance” in Japan for one day only on April 1, 2015?
Answer: Burger King — it was to celebrate Whopper Day.
What is yellowtail fish called in Japanese?
Answer: Hamachi
What is the name of the Japanese snack food first sold in 1966, initially described as a “chocolate-covered biscuit stick?”
Answer: Pocky
What is the name of the Japanese dish made with deep-fried pork cutlet?
Answer: Tonkatsu
Which Japanese food is made from batter and is often filled with cabbage, seafood, and meat and topped with fish flakes?
Answer: Okonomiyaki
Which Japanese food is made from grilled meat skewers and is often served with a sweet soy sauce glaze?
Answer: Yakitori
Which Japanese dish is made from deep-fried chicken and is often served with a sweet and savory sauce?
Answer: Karaage
What is the name of the Japanese dish made with grilled eel and rice?
Answer: Unagi-don
What is the name of the Japanese tea that is made from powdered green tea leaves?
Answer: Matcha
What is the name of the slimy and slightly smelly Japanese dish made with fermented soybeans (often eaten with rice, egg, and soy sauce)?
Answer: Natto
What is the name of the Japanese dessert made with sweet red bean paste and mochi?
Answer: Daifuku
A delicacy in Japan, which fish has killed diners with its powerful toxin?
Answer: Pufferfish.
Which Japanese food is made from fermented soybeans and is often used as a seasoning or as a base for soups?
Answer: Miso
Momiji tempura is a popular snack in Japan during the autumn season made out of what main ingredient?
Answer: Japanese maple leaves.
Japan Trivia Questions: Festivals In Japan
Which festival in Kyoto is known for its procession of large, elaborate floats that are carried through the streets?
Answer: Gion Matsuri
Which festival in Aomori is known for its large, colorful floats that are shaped like mythical creatures?
Answer: Nebuta Matsuri
Which festival in Osaka is known for its large, colorful lanterns and is celebrated in early August?
Answer: Tenjin Matsuri
Which festival in Nagasaki is known for its large, colorful lanterns that are released into the night sky?
Answer: Nagasaki Lantern Festival
Which anime festival in Tokyo is known for its large, elaborate cosplay contest and is held annually in late March?
Answer: AnimeJapan
Which cosplay festival in Nagoya is known for its large, colorful parade and is held annually in late October?
Answer: World Cosplay Summit
Which festival in Nara is known for its traditional dance performances and is celebrated in late July?
Answer: Nara Tokae
Which popular festival in Tokyo is known for its large, elaborate fireworks display and is celebrated in late July along the river?
Answer: Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival (Sumida River Fireworks Festival)
Which festival in Sapporo is known for its large, elaborate ice sculptures and is celebrated in February?
Answer: Sapporo Snow Festival
And that concludes our Japan trivia questions! So…did you have fun with this one? How many did you get right? Also, let us know in the comments if you want more geography quizzes like this!
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