Japan is giving its elderly population discounts on ramen if they give up their drivers licenses.
Japan
Japanese vending machines are…
Japanese vending machines are operated to dispense drinking water free of charge when the water supply gets cut off during a disaster.
Japan is making all of its….
Japan is making all of its medals for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics out of discarded electronics.
Telephone of the Wind
There is a phone booth known as the “Telephone of the Wind” on a hill overlooking the ocean in Otsuchi Town in northeastern Japan. It is connected to nowhere, but people come to “call” family members lost during the tsunami of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
In Japan, you can hire a handsome…
In Japan, you can hire a handsome man to show up at your place, watch a sad video with you until you cry, then wipe your tears for you.
Fumi-e
In Japan, back when Christianity was illegal, people were told to step on this plaque with a picture of Mary or Jesus on it to prove that they weren’t Christians.
Aka Manto is a malicious…
Aka Manto is a malicious spirit from Japanese urban legends that kills people in public bathrooms. In one version, it first asks its victims to choose between red and blue toilet paper: if they pick red, the victim is sliced to pieces, if they pick blue, they’re choked to death.
During the 1936 Berlin Olympics….
During the 1936 Berlin Olympics, two Japanese pole vaulters who tied for second place refused to participate in a tie-breaker. Upon returning to Japan, they cut their medals in half and fused them to one another so each athlete ended up with a half-silver, half-bronze medal.
Dr. Seuss drew anti-Japanese…
Dr. Seuss drew anti-Japanese cartoons during WWII. When he met the survivors of Hiroshima, he realized “A person is a person no matter how small”. He later created Horton Hears a Who! as an apology, dedicating it to a Japanese friend.
Japanese Emperor Hirohito, in his…
Japanese Emperor Hirohito, in his radio announcement declaring the country’s capitulation to the Allies in WWII, never used the word “surrender” or “defeat” but instead stated that the “war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage.” The Emperor spoke an ancient version of Japanese that the common folk were not familiar with. Immediately following the broadcast local government employees explained what was just said to the attendance.