• one of the humanoid robots created by Japanese roboticist Tomotaka Takahashi was listed in Time’s Coolest Inventions in 2004?
• of the three precious statues of the goddess Kannon enshrined in the Sugimoto-dera temple in Kamakura, Japan, likely none were made by the artists they are traditionally attributed to?
• one of the victims in a recent rare shooting in Habikino, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, was the gunman's mother-in-law?
• the "Devil's Cigar" is a mushroom found only in Texas and Japan?
• the 1863 Battle of Shimonoseki (pictured) was the first naval confrontation between the U.S. Navy and a Japanese fleet?
• nearly 350,000 metric tons of Pacific ocean perch (pictured) were caught in the Gulf of Alaska by Soviet and Japanese trawling fleets in 1965?
• more than six thousand Japanese people settled in North Korea voluntarily in the 1960s, accompanying ethnic Korean spouses returning under a repatriation campaign supported by the Japanese and North Korean governments?
• in the Japanese theatrical art known as Taishū engeki (pictured), it is not uncommon for fans to spend tens or hundreds of thousands of yen on gifts for the performers?
• in the fiscal years 2001 to 2003, the oil tanker MV Montauk made over 125 voyages in and about South Korea and Japan?
• in the Sakuradamon incident in 1860 (pictured), Japan's pro-foreign Chief Minister Ii Naosuke was assassinated by xenophobic samurai?
• major portions of Japanese writer Shōko Ieda's 1991 book Yellow Cab, about the eponymous sexual stereotype of Japanese women, were later denounced as "fraudulent" by her research assistant?
• many Japanese POWs continued to toil in Siberian labor camps ten years after the end of World War II?
• the 1½ km long Odori Park which bisects the Japanese city of Sapporo was originally intended as the city's main street?
• the 43,000 Sakhalin Koreans were abandoned by Japan after World War II and kept stateless by the Soviet Union for 30 years?
• the idiopathic inflammatory lung disease diffuse panbronchiolitis has the highest incidence among Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Thai cases, indicating a genetic predisposition among East Asians?
• the hydroid Hydractinia bayeri was named by Emperor Hirohito of Japan in honor of a fellow marine biologist, Frederick Bayer?
• the inshore marine fish Malabar jack (pictured) derives its name from Malabar in South India, but can be found in coastal areas as far apart as South Africa, Japan and Vanuatu?
• the Japanese animated television series Last Exile uses terms from chess in its episode titles?
• the Japanese destroyer Matsu had a very short career: just more than three months from her completion in 1944, to her sinking as she returned from her first escort mission?
• the Buddhist monk Tetsugen spent twenty years in an attempt to publish the Chinese scriptures of Buddhism in Japan, because he kept giving away the money he collected for the purpose?
• the pored mushroom Gyrodon lividus (pictured) has been found associated with alder trees in such diverse places as California, Latvia, and Japan?
• the 1402 Korean Kangnido map fully depicts the Old World, from Europe and Africa to Japan, long before European explorations?
• the 430-foot-tall (131 m) Kyoto Tower (pictured) is the tallest man-made structure in the city of Kyoto, Japan?
• the 1868 encounter between Kasuga and Kaiyō was the first naval battle between two modern fleets in Japan?
• the antibody class IgE was discovered by the Japanese scientist Kimishige Ishizaka?
• the auto racing division of Sigma Automotive (later known as SARD) became the first Japanese team to compete in the 1973 24 Hours of Le Mans?
• in the 1896 Yamagata-Lobanov Agreement negotiations, Japanese Prime Minister Yamagata Aritomo proposed dividing Korea at the 38th parallel, should Japanese and Russian troops occupy the peninsula?
• in the 1869 Battle of Hakodate in Japan, French soldiers fought side-by-side with rebel samurai against the newly formed Imperial government, in an episode reminiscent of the movie The Last Samurai?
• despite pioneer Japanese journalist Kuga Katsunan's advocacy of Japanese nationalism, government censors shut his newspaper down 30 times between 1889 and 1896?
• before a shogunate tribunal in 1787, the temples Myōhō–ji, Ankokuron-ji and Chōshō-ji in Kamakura all claimed to be the site where Nichiren, founder of Nichiren Buddhism in Japan, had his hermitage in a hut in the 13th century?
• despite wild differences in subject matter, 1970s Japanese science fiction television series Akumaizer 3 features frequent allusions to Alexander Dumas' famous novel The Three Musketeers?
• during World War II, the Arkansas politician Jefferson W. Speck was a POW transported on the Japanese Hell ship, the Oryoku Maru?
• during his Eastern journey Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovitch of Russia visited Egypt, India, China and Japan travelling a distance of more than 51,000 km (31,500 mi)?
• because of the specific social structure of Japanese society there are many more homeless men (pictured) than homeless women in Japan?
• at a cost of US$7.9 billion, Meghna Bridge in Bangladesh is the single largest project with Japanese assistance in the world?
• a suikinkutsu is a type of Japanese garden ornament and a music device?
• The Big Blowdown, a crime novel by American author George Pelecanos, was the recipient of the International Crime Novel of the Year award in France, Germany and Japan?
• after being stripped of his aristocratic title after World War II, Prince Takeda Tsuneyoshi of Japan retired to raise racehorses on his estate?
• almost a quarter of the brown lanternsharks found in Suruga Bay, Japan, have both male and female organs?
• as part of Fukubukuro, a New Year's custom in Japan, merchants offer bags of merchandise for prices much lower than the normal value of the items inside?
• during the history of San Diego State University some students joined the armed forces during World War II and assisted in the Doolittle Raid over Japan?
• during the era of Ryukyu Kingdom the noodle soup Okinawa soba could only be eaten by royalty until Okinawa's annexation by Japan in the late 19th century?
• in 2005, during D1 Grand Prix's end of season US vs Japan event at Irwindale Speedway, U.S. drifting driver, Vaughn Gittin, Jr. became the first to break the all-Japanese stranglehold?
• in 1976, an 8.0 M_w earthquake in Moro Gulf in the Celebes Sea in the Philippines killed at least 5,000 people and triggered tsunamis that reached as far as Japan?
• in Japan during the Muromachi era, the shogun's representative would go to Wakamiya Ōji Avenue in Kamakura once a year to walk around a certain Shinto gate seven times?
• in his 1933 essay In Praise of Shadows, Junichirō Tanizaki includes monastery toilets in his reflections on Japanese aesthetics?
• in late 1921 a series of arrests of its activists led to the break-up of the Japanese Enlightened People's Communist Party?
• in 1854 the southern coast of Honshū, Japan, was hit by tsunamis caused by two great megathrust earthquakes on December 24 and 25?
• in 1686, at the Tōshiya archery contest in Kyoto, Japan, Wasa Daihachiro successfully fired a record 13,053 arrows in 24 hours, averaging nine arrows a minute and hitting the target 8,133 times?
• each title of the thirteen episodes of the 2007 Japanese animated television series Blue Drop: Tenshitachi no Gikyoku is the name of a flower seen in that episode?
• eleven of the Twelve Heavenly Generals at Shin-Yakushi-ji temple (hon-dō pictured) in Nara, Japan, are made of clay and date to the 8th century while the wooden statue of Haira was made in 1931?
• former professional boxer Giichi Nishihara was the writer-director of such Japanese cult pink films of the 1960s and 1970s as Abnormal Reaction: Ecstasy and Grotesque Perverted Slaughter?
• from 1945 until 1978, cars in Okinawa Prefecture drove on the right side of the road until a switch to left-hand drive as part of the 730 Conversion Plan, to match the rest of Japan?
• the Japanese make-up artist Shu Uemura gained critical acclaim for transforming actress Shirley MacLaine into a Japanese woman?
• the Japanese manga character Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo can command his own body hair to perform various martial arts?
• the Japanese documentary filmmaker Fumio Kamei had films banned by both Japan's militarist wartime government and the democratizing Allied Occupation?
• the Nameless Book is the oldest existing Japanese work of literary criticism?
• the U.S. 10th Mountain Division Special Troops Battalion was to take part in the invasion of Japan, but instead returned to the U.S. two days after Japan's surrender?
• the administrative capital of Samarai (pictured) in Papua New Guinea was demolished in World War II to avoid its falling into Japanese hands?
• the city of Sapporo has the only beer museum in Japan?
• the Yūshūkan, a Japanese military and war museum owned and operated by Yasukuni Shrine, has been at the center of an international controversy?
• the Umikaze class destroyers of the Imperial Japanese Navy were the first large destroyers designed for open ocean service to be built in Japan?
• the Susukino district was established as a red-light district in Sapporo, Japan in 1871 to keep labourers in Hokkaidō?
• the Sun Ning Railway Company, South China's first significant railway, was dismantled in December 1938 during the Second Sino-Japanese War to deny its use by the Japanese military?
• the Tatara Bridge in Japan has the longest span of any cable-stayed bridge in the world?
• the Toi gold mine in Japan houses the world's largest pure gold bar, weighing 250 kilograms (550 lb)?
• the Type numbering system in Japan specified that the Mitsubishi A6M of 1940 would be designated "Type 0 Carrier Fighter", giving rise to the popular name "Zero"?
• the final episode of Kamen Rider Stronger, a Japanese tokusatsu television series, features appearances from the main characters of every previous series in the franchise?
• the name Japanese War Tuba was a name applied to the acoustic locators used by Japan during World War II?
• the world's first all-electronic television receiver was demonstrated on Christmas Day, 1926 by the Japanese researcher Kenjiro Takayanagi?
• the titles of the thirteen episodes of the Japanese animated television series Gunslinger Girl were given in Italian as well as Japanese?
• two American bands named themselves after the same 1960 Japanese Sun Tribe film The Warped Ones?
• with a rapidly declining birth rate, Japan's elderly, with the world's highest proportion at 20% of the population, is expected to double to 40% of residents by 2055?
• with over 3,000 participants, the 1884 Chichibu Incident was one of the largest peasant revolts of Japan's Meiji period?
• the story of Sada Abe, a woman who cut off her dead lover's genitals and carried them around with her for days, is one of Japan's most notorious scandals?
• the stationmaster of the Kinokawa train station in Kinokawa, Japan is a cat named Tama (pictured)?
• the person or group responsible for the blackmail letters of the Glico Morinaga case in Japan is known as the Monster with 21 Faces?
• the name of Shichirigahama (pictured), a beach in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, means "Seven Ri (approximately 27 km/17 mi) Beach" in Japanese, but it is only about one-tenth of that in length?
• the protagonist of the Japanese PlayStation 2 RPG Venus & Braves is a 345-year-old with the appearance of a teen
• the repertoire of the Japanese musical style danmono consists of eight pieces, all very similar in style?
• the site of SSAWS, once the world's largest indoor ski slope, now hosts Japan's first IKEA superstore?
• the Shinbashi Enbujō in Ginza, Japan, today a major kabuki theatre, was originally built to serve as a venue for geisha dances?
• the Sapporo Factory in Japan, a building complex with a shopping mall, offices, a multiplex movie theatre and a Meissen porcelain museum, was originally constructed as a brewery?
• the Japanese novel Kanikōsen is one of the best-selling books of 2008, despite being published in 1929?
• the Japanese diplomat Tatsuo Kawai (pictured) was sacked as an official spokesman at the Foreign Ministry after leading a strike there in 1940?
• the Zen rock garden in the grounds of Zuisen-ji temple, near Kamakura, Japan, is a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty?
• the Joseon Korean official Choe Bu wrote a travel diary about his shipwrecked stay in Ming China that eventually became widely printed in Korea and Japan during the 16th century?
• the Korean poetic form of sijo resembles the Japanese poetic form of haiku?
• the Japanese band Daisy × Daisy provided the song "Brave your truth" as the opening theme song of the episodes of the Chrome Shelled Regios anime?
• the Japanese Sōshi-kaimei policy forced Koreans previously banned from using Japanese surnames to do so?
• the Japanese role-playing game Night Wizard! was adapted into an animated television series consisting of thirteen episodes?
• the Japanese manga series Soul Eater by Atsushi Okubo has been developed into an animated television series that plans to adopt the source material over fifty-one episodes?
• the Japanese visual novel True Tears was adapted into an animated television series that is planned to consist of thirteen episodes?
• the Japanese visual novel Yotsunoha allows the player to navigate in a top-down perspective similar to a console role-playing game?
• the Japanese Farmer-Labour Party was banned just a few hours after its foundation in 1925?
• the Nikkatsu Roman Porno film Love Hunter (1972) was confiscated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, and became the last film to be tried for obscenity in Japan to this day?
• the Ottoman frigate Ertuğrul disaster, which occurred in 1890 off Kushimoto, led to strengthening foreign relations between Turkey and Japan?
• the Naniwa class cruisers were the first protected cruisers designed in Japan?
• the six episodes of the Japanese original video animation series FLCL were produced by the FLCL Production Committee, which included Gainax, Production I.G, and Starchild Records?
• the Nissan President, Nissan's top-of-the-range luxury limousine made for over forty years, remains largely unknown outside of Japan?
• the Old Ford Motor Factory, Ford's first assembly plant in Southeast Asia and built in 1941, was the site of the historic surrender of the British to the Japanese in World War II, later described by Winston Churchill as the "largest capitulation in British history"?
• the Peachliner (pictured) people mover in Komaki, Japan was planned originally to carry 43,000 passengers daily, but only carried an average of 2670 per day during 15 years of operation?
• the history of sushi shows that although sushi is famous for its use in the Japanese cuisine, it actually originated in China in the 3rd or 4th century BC, more than 900 years before its first known appearance in Japan?
• the Beppu-Ōita Marathon in Japan produced world record-breaking marathon runs in both 1963 and 1978?
• the Liberator that crashed in 1943 in New Zealand during World War II was transferring Japanese men, women and children from the consular corps to exchange for Allied POWs?
• the 1946 earthquake in Nankaidō, Japan caused a 6-meter (20-ft) tsunami that destroyed 2,100 homes?
• the Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang was built in 1982 to commemorate the "victory" of Korea over Japan in the WWII?
• the Battle of Bun'ei in 1274 was Mongol emperor Kublai Khan's first attempt to invade Japan?
• Tanna japonensis, the Japanese cicada, makes a melancholy sound (example right) after sunset, when the temperature has dropped, or when it becomes cloudy?
• tōgyū (pictured) is a bullfighting sport practiced in Okinawa, Japan, in which two bulls wrestle in a ring in a manner compared to sumo?
• Perth-born Northern Territory Chief Minister Marshall Perron jokingly blamed Japan for denying him his birthright as a Territorian, as his family fled Darwin shortly before it was bombed?
• oil company Idemitsu Kosan is exploring the potential for geothermal power in Japan?
• Prussian military bandmaster Franz von Eckert is credited with composing the harmony to the national anthems of both Japan and the Empire of Korea?
• Scottish language prodigy James Murdoch, after participating in a failed communist commune in Paraguay, was hired by the Australian Ministry of Defence as an expert on Japanese issues?
• American academic Jackson Bailey was decorated with the Order of the Sacred Treasure, the highest possible honor given by Japan to a foreigner?
• Lieutenant Commander Willis Lent and his submarine the USS Triton fired the first United States Navy torpedo to be used against the Japanese during World War II?
• Liberal Democratic Party member Akihiko Kumashiro, a four-termer in Japan's House of Representatives, dropped out of a race for re-election when his party fielded another candidate against him?
• Japanese writer Naoki Sanjugo (literally "Naoki 35") changed his pen-name four times, once per year, to match his age?
• Japanese scientists have found anticancer activity in some Brazilian traditional remedies?
• Japanese author Kodō Nomura, who patterned his fictional detective Zenigata Heiji after Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, wrote 383 detective stories set in Edo period Japan?
• Japanologist Hugh Borton took up his field after being posted to Japan by a Quaker service organization?
• Kentucky State Representative Sam B. Thomas coached fellow army soldiers in Olympic basketball trials in Japan after World War II?
• YouTube artist Beckii Cruel from the Isle of Man has become popular in Japan?
• Abe Tadaaki was one of the highest-ranking Japanese officials to remain in office after his colleagues followed Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu into death in 1651?
• delay certificates issued by railway companies in Japan and Germany to passengers for tardy trains are considered valid reasons by superiors for reporting late to school or work?
• David Snell, who was the first person to allege that Japan had tested its own atomic bomb prior to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, later became a writer for Life Magazine?
• Featherston prisoner of war camp was the site of a riot that lead to the death of 47 Japanese prisoners of war during World War II?
• Fumio Kyuma (pictured) resigned as Japanese Minister for Defense over statements that the atomic bombing of Nagasaki "could not be helped" while also representing Nagasaki in the Diet of Japan?
• Haruji Matsue was the first person to manufacture the sugar cube in Japan?
• Chindonya are elaborately-costumed Japanese street musicians who advertise for shops and other establishments?
• Central Asia plus Japan is an ongoing dialogue between Japan and the Central Asian republics to promote regional cooperation?
• Akira Iwasaki was the only film critic arrested by the ideological police in wartime Japan?
• akabeko (pictured), red cow toys from the Aizu region of Japan, are believed to ward off disease?
• Antonio Fontanesi (work pictured) was one of three foreign artists chosen by the Meiji government to oversee Japan's first public art school?
• Battleship Row bore the brunt of the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor?
• Boneless Fish is a Japanese frozen food made from fish, which is deboned by hand and then glued to its original shape using a food-grade enzyme?
• Japanese producer Genjiro Arato exhibited his 1980 film Zigeunerweisen across Japan in a specially-built inflatable mobile dome after exhibitors refused to screen it, and the film went on to win 4 Japanese Academy Awards?
• Japanese film tycoon Haruki Kadokawa built a full-size replica of Columbus' flagship Santa Maria which sailed from Barcelona to Japan?
• Japan and India signed a peace treaty and established diplomatic relations in April 1952, one of the first such treaties by Japan after World War II?
• General Douglas MacArthur's staff threatened United States Army Lieutenant Colonel Charles S. Lawrence with court martial if he confiscated nearly 2,000 cases of food from Japanese-run firms in the Philippines, and that the stores were destroyed during the Battle of Bataan in early 1942?
• Japan and Poland are the world's largest krill fishing nations since Russia abandoned its operations in 1993?
• Japan's entomological warfare program in China during World War II used plague-infected fleas and cholera-coated flies to kill nearly 500,000 people?
• Japan's incoming First Lady Miyuki Hatoyama claims to have been abducted by aliens in a triangular-shaped UFO and to have known Tom Cruise when he was Japanese in a prior incarnation?
• feminist author Yuriko Miyamoto wrote over 900 letters to her imprisoned husband, defying Japan's draconian Peace Preservation Laws?
• Duke University anthropologist Anne Allison worked as a hostess girl for four months while researching Nightwork, her study of white-collar entertainment clubs in Japan?
• 99 percent of Japanese municipalities collect and recycle steel cans despite not being required by law, giving the country one of the world's highest recycling rates for these cans? (Japanese recycling bins pictured)
• 22-year-old Ling Ling was the oldest panda in Japan at the time of his death in April 2008?
• Academy Award-winning film Thirty Seconds over Tokyo was adapted from a book by the pilot of "The Ruptured Duck," one of 16 USAAF bombers in the Doolittle Raid on Japan during World War II?
• BoA's Best of Soul made her the first non-Japanese Asian singer to have two million-selling albums in Japan?
• Buddhist monk Ekai Kawaguchi was the first Japanese citizen to travel to Nepal?
• Japanese film director and actress Tomoko Matsunashi was described as one of the Japanese directors who "have brought some needed originality and talent to contemporary Japanese cinema"?
• Japanese jūdōka Shokichi Natsui became the first World Judo Champion in 1956?
• Japanese Governor Murayama Tōan led a failed invasion of Taiwan in 1616?
• Japanese Imari porcelain was made specifically for export to Europe?
• Japanese artist Atsuko Tanaka wore a costume made of lit lightbulbs—her 1956 work Electric Dress—to exhibitions?
• Japanese author Jun'ichirō Tanizaki attributed his phobia of earthquakes to the collapse of his family house in the 1894 Meiji Tokyo earthquake?
• Japanese author Mushanokōji Saneatsu emulated Leo Tolstoy in establishing a commune based on humanism and utopian socialism?
• Japanese trade union leader Ritsuta Noda was a pioneer in the underground birth control movement in Osaka?
• Japanese theoretical physicist Kazuhiko Nishijima is well-known for developing the concept of strangeness in particle physics?
• Japanese matinée idol Akira Kobayashi wore a gash across his face and large, Brezhnevian eyebrows for his role in the Seijun Suzuki yakuza film Kanto Wanderer?
• Japanese alpinist Ken Noguchi became the youngest person to scale the Seven Summits when he ascended Mt. Everest in 1999 at the age of 25?
• Japanese singer and actress Junko Sakurada was part of a trio on Star Tanjō! with musicians Momoe Yamaguchi and Masako Mori?
• Japanese tenor Taro Ichihara made his Metropolitan Opera debut in the role of the Italian tenor in Der Rosenkavalier?
• Hawayo Takata, a Nisei fluent in the language and culture of both Japan and the United States, introduced Reiki to the Western World?
• Hitachi Zosen Corporation built the first oil tanker in Japan in 1908 per an order by Standard Oil Company?
• Takashima Shūhan (pictured) was the first major proponent of Western firearms at the end of Japan's Seclusion period in the 19th century?
• Simone Niggli-Luder from Switzerland won all four women's competitions at the orienteering world championships 2005 in Aichi, Japan, repeating her performance of 2003?
• Teruji Kogake set a world record in the triple jump at the Japanese Olympic Trials but only managed eighth in the finals at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics?
• Togo Tanaka publicly called Japan's government "stupid" the day after Pearl Harbor for starting an unwinnable war but was one of 10,000 Japanese Americans forcibly relocated to the Manzanar camp?
• Tori Busshi, a Japanese artist, most likely learned to sculpt while working as a saddle maker?
• Shō Tai (pictured) was the last king of the Ryūkyū Kingdom who abdicated when the Ryukyu Islands were annexed by Japan in 1879?
• 120 earthquakes and tremors in total were felt in Edo, Japan during the Ansei Great Earthquakes of 1854–55?
• Samuel A. Goldblith was able to publish a paper for the journal Science after World War II on malnutrition suffered at POW camps in the Philippines and Japan observed during the war from his own experience as a prisoner in those camps?
• Sakae Menda (pictured) was the first person in the history of Japan to be exonerated while on death row?
• Sano Fusako was kidnapped in Niigata, Japan in 1990 at age 10 and was not freed until nine years and two months later?
• sashimono were small banners worn on the backs of Japanese medieval troops for identification during battles?
• Satoru Kobayashi, one of Japan's most prolific directors, wrote and directed the first pink film in 1962?
• Tung Hua Lin led a team that designed and built China's first twin-engine aircraft in a cave to avoid detection by the Japanese during World War II?
• Typhoon Conson of the 2004 Pacific typhoon season was the first of the record ten typhoons to impact Japan that season?
• Battlefield Baseball, a Japanese film, features elements of the sports, martial arts and horror genres, as well as including three musical numbers?
• Kimono de Ginza are a group of kimono and Japanese clothing enthusiasts in Tokyo that meet monthly in full-dress in front of a department store and then later in an izakaya?
• Monosolenium tenerum is a species of weed that is threatened with habitat loss in Japan?
• One is a Japanese adult renai game (or visual novel), developed by Tactics?
• Summer Wars was the first Japanese animated film to be included for competition at the Locarno International Film Festival?
• Yuzuru Hiraga was a Japanese naval architect, noted for work on innovative warships such as the cruiser Yubari and Yamato for the Imperial Japanese Navy?
• Yoshioka-Kaitei Station, located 149.5 metres below sea level within the Seikan Tunnel, is the deepest underground station in Japan?
• Vincenzo Ragusa was an Italian sculptor hired by the Meiji government of Japan from 1876 to 1882 to introduce Western art techniques in order to revive Japan's own ancient sculptural arts?
• Xianxingzhe, China's first bipedal humanoid robot was satirized in Japan for having a joint that resembles a "crotch cannon"?
• Yamada Nagamasa was a Japanese adventurer who played a key military role in 17th century Thailand?
• Yishan Yining, a Zen master who pioneered Gozan Bungaku literature in 14th-century Japan, was originally a Buddhist monk on a diplomatic mission from China?
• Saga Castle is one of the few medieval castles in Japan to be surrounded by a wall, instead of being built on one?
• SBD Dauntless dive bombers sank four Japanese aircraft carriers and a cruiser during the Battle of Midway?
• Linimo in Aichi, Japan claims to be the world's first commercial automated "Urban Maglev" train, but it has to be shut down when it is too windy?
• Léonce Verny was a French Naval engineer who directed the construction of the Yokosuka arsenal in Japan from 1865 to 1876, thus helping jump-start Japan's modernization?
• Luis Sotelo was a Spanish friar who died as a martyr in Japan in 1624?
• Matsuura Takanobu was an early host and patron to the Jesuits, whom he hoped would influence an increase in trade between European traders and Japan?
• Mifune Chizuko, a Japanese clairvoyant, was reported to have read messages written inside hidden envelopes?
• Kashima Antlers is the name of a professional football club in the Japanese J. League?
• Kōmyō-ji, a Jōdo temple in Japan dedicated to the training of Buddhist priests and scholarly research, has a pet cemetery on its premises?
• James Glynn, captain of the USS Preble, was the first American to negotiate successfully with Sakoku ("closed country") Japan, in 1848?
• Jōmon Sugi, located on the island of Yakushima, is the oldest specimen of Cryptomeria japonica and the largest conifer in Japan?
• Kaiyō Maru, a Japanese steam warship, was the flagship of Admiral Enomoto Takeaki of the rebel Republic of Ezo in the Boshin War?
• Kotetsu, a Japanese ironclad battleship, was originally intended to be Stonewall of the Confederate States Navy but was not delivered until after the end of the American Civil War?
• Johnny Kitagawa has held a virtual monopoly on the creation of boy bands in Japan for more than 40 years?
• Minori Kimura made her professional manga artist debut at the age of 14 in the 1964 Spring Special issue of Ribon, a magazine published in Japan by Shueisha?
• Mitsuyo Seo, the director of Japan's first feature length anime, Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors, a World War II propaganda film, was earlier arrested and tortured as a leftist?
• Pixiv is a Japanese online community for artists, which as of February 2009 consists of over 600,000 members, and 3 million submissions?
• Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) signed an agreement in 1963 with Japanese company NEC which gave the latter partial ownership of PTV's network?
• Prince Arisugawa Taruhito's engagement to Princess Kazu-no-Miya Chikako of Japan was cancelled by the Tokugawa bakufu so that the princess could marry Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi, for political reasons?
• Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa of Japan was head of the Northern Alliance whilst serving as a Buddhist priest?
• rice brokers in Osaka in the Edo period were the forerunner of banking in Japan?
• Otokichi (1818–1867) was a Japanese castaway, who circled the globe as he tried unsuccessfully to return to Japan?
• Major Oscar F. Perdomo downed five Japanese aircraft in a single day and thereby became the United States' last "Ace in a day" of World War II?
• mizuna is a cold-resistant mustard green grown extensively during winter in Japan?
• Mount Omine is a sacred mountain in Nara, Japan, famous for its controversial ban on women and for its three tests of courage?
• New England used to be part of the Roman Empire, and China is still part of Japan?
• Operation Ten-Go was the last major Japanese naval operation in World War II?
• 196 activists of the Japanese Hyōgikai trade union movement were jailed in 1926 for organizing strikes?

Facts on topics related to Japan

Canada

• "Too Hot", Alanis Morissette's breakthrough single in Canada in 1991, was a dance pop song?
• 150 Irish from Indianapolis participated in the Fenian raids, an attempt to invade Canada from Buffalo, New York in 1866?
• 67 Australian, Canadian, and New Zealand Article XV squadrons were formed during World War II from graduates of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan?
• Canada and Panama signed the Canada-Panama Free Trade Agreement on August 11, 2009?
• Canada and the Soviet Union were disqualified from the 1987 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships following the Punch-up in Piestany, costing Canada a potential gold medal?
• Canada issues special licence plates available only to war veterans?
• Canada's first interchange was a cloverleaf opened in 1937 at the intersection of Highway 10 and The Middle Road?
• Canada's first paper mill was built in Saint-André-d'Argenteuil, Quebec, in 1803?
• Canada's largest dry-bulk shipping company, The Fednav Group, has a fleet of over eighty ships?
• Canadian actress Cara Duff-MacCormick won a Theatre World Award for her role in Moonchildren, a play about coming of age during the Vietnam War era?

Cambodia

• 467 mass graves containing 32,690 victims were found in the grounds of a pagoda in Kang Meas District in Cambodia?
• Cambodia's Mongkol Borei District was part of Thailand until the French demanded it back in 1907?
• Cambodia's "Romeo and Juliet" story, Tum Teav, is set in Tbong Khmom District?
• Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen was born in a small village on the banks of the Mekong in Stueng Trang District?
• Cambodia’s current First Lady, Bun Rany, was once in charge of a Khmer Rouge hospital in Krouch Chhmar District?
• Robert L. Howard received his Congressional Medal of Honor while part of a Hatchet Force operating near the Laos–Cambodia border during the Vietnam War in 1968?
• Skuon town in Cambodia's Cheung Prey District is famous for fried spiders (pictured) seasoned with garlic and salt?
• Bateay District in Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia, was the site of an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 virus in 2006?
• blackfin scad (pictured) is a popular food fish in Cambodia and Thailand, where it is served fried, steamed or baked?
• Chamkar Leu District in eastern Cambodia is home to a 6,000-hectare (15,000-acre) rubber plantation?

Australia

• "Gizzie" and "Slit" are two alternative common names for the Little Lorikeet of eastern Australia?
• "Heavy Harry", the only working example of the Victorian Railways H class (pictured), was the largest non-articulated steam locomotive ever built in Australia?
• 20-year-old Ryan Gregson is the current Australian record holder in men's 1500 metre run, having broken Simon Doyle's old mark from 1991?
• 67 Australian, Canadian, and New Zealand Article XV squadrons were formed during World War II from graduates of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan?
• Adelaide was the first city in Australia to introduce horse trams and the last to discard them for more modern public transport?
• Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Burnett was born in the United States to a Scottish father, educated in England and eventually became the Australian Chief of the Air Staff?
• Anglican archdeacon Kay Goldsworthy will be Australia's first woman bishop when she is consecrated on 22 May 2008?
• football midfielder Evan Berger was nominated for an informal Australia Day award by his local council for representing Australia in the national under-20 team?
• Australia has a National Public Toilet Map, allowing users to locate the 14,000 public toilets across the country to four decimal places of latitude and longitude?
• Australia's first uranium mine (pictured) opened in 1906 and initially produced radium for Marie Curie and Ernest Rutherford?

Malaysia

• "ultra" was a phrase frequently used in 1960s Malaysia and Singapore to describe racial chauvinists?
• Malaysia's Sedition Act disregards criminal intent in passing judgement?
• Malaysian royalty's immunity from legal prosecution was removed after a 1992 assault incident, involving Tunku Majid of Johor, sparked a constitutional crisis?
• Wayne Wang handpicked a song for his movie Chinese Box that a group of teenagers from Sarawak, Malaysia, made their professional debut on Boys & Girls 1+1=3 with?
• buildings in Kuala Lumpur have Mughal, Tudor, Neo-Gothic or Spanish architectural styles modified to use local resources and for the climate of Malaysia?
• Article 10 of the Constitution of Malaysia guarantees citizens certain rights on condition that these rights are not restricted by the government?
• Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia provides quotas and other affirmative action policies for the Malays and other indigenous people of Malaysia, but was intended as a temporary provision?
• C. C. Too, a leading exponent of psychological warfare in Malaysia, crafted a campaign to turn public opinion against the communists during the Malayan Emergency?
• Guinness Black Lager is a new black lager which is being test marketed in Malaysia by Diageo for sale in the west under its Guinness brand name?
• Gurdwara Sahib Klang, a Sikh Gurdwara in Malaysia, was constructed with donations collected by Sikh Sangats all over Malaysia, including a large sum from the Prime Minister's Department?

France

• "4 Mots sur un piano", which deals with the theme of a romantic relationship between two men and one woman, was the fifth best-selling single of 2007 in France?
• 11-year old Prince Joseph Wenzel of Liechtenstein is regarded by Jacobites as third in line for the throne of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland?
• 18th century Franco-Portuguese industrialist Jácome Ratton (pictured) left a vivid account of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake in his memoirs and was exiled to the Azores during the Napoleonic Wars?
• 18th century French artilleries were the most efficient at cannon operation (pictured), capable of firing 150 shots per cannon daily during siege?
• 18th century French salons were often led by those who were creating the Encyclopédie?
• footballer Edward King was honored for heroism in the Philippines and tactical skill in France and later became Commandant of the Army Command and General Staff College?
• Cambodia's Mongkol Borei District was part of Thailand until the French demanded it back in 1907?
• Camille Le Mercier d'Erm and his colleagues formed the Breton Nationalist Party in 1911 to advocate the independence of Brittany from France?
• Catherine II's Instruction to the Legislative Assembly was banned in pre-revolutionary 18th-century France as a "libertarian book"?
• cinematographer Lawrence Sher first developed an interest in photography after his father convinced him to take a 35mm camera on a Teaneck High School-sponsored trip to France?

Papua New Guinea

• 18 commercial coffee plantations were established in 1926 in Sangara, Papua New Guinea, paving the way for commercial production from 1928?
• Indonesia and Papua New Guinea share a 760-kilometre (470 mi) border that has raised tensions and ongoing diplomatic issues over many decades?
• Cherubim Dambui was the first premier of Papua New Guinea's East Sepik Province and the first Sepik person to be ordained a Catholic priest?
• Jack Iverson developed his unique "bent finger" bowling action (pictured) while experimenting during recreational cricket while serving in Papua New Guinea during World War II?
• Lake Kutubu, the largest upland lake in Papua New Guinea, has 12 endemic species of fish?
• Mike J. Manning was threatened with deportation from Papua New Guinea for a report criticizing corruption in the government?
• Peter Tsiamalili, the first chief administrator of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, also served as Papua New Guinea's ambassador to Belgium?
• Tonda Wildlife Management Area is the largest protected area in Papua New Guinea?
• timbuwarra are anthropomorphic rattan figures produced by the Wiru people of Papua New Guinea?
• areas of the North Fly District in Papua New Guinea's Western Province experience a peak annual rainfall of ten metres?

Brunei

• New Zealand currently has free trade agreements with Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Chile and China?
• taxis in Brunei have license plates with white letters on a green background to distinguish them from private vehicles?
• Kampong Sungai Teraban in Brunei was settled by a group of Malay fishermen who moved across the Belait River after a falling out with the inhabitants of Kuala Belait?
• Mulaut Abattoir provides Islamic-sanctioned slaughtering facilities to local Bruneian farmers and butchers?
• Rasau Field, one of the two onshore oil fields of Brunei, was discovered in 1979 but oil production only started in 1983?
• Sungai Tujoh is the westernmost point of Brunei and is one of the four land crossing points into the Malaysian state of Sarawak from Brunei?
• a subsidiary of Royal Brunei Airlines operates restaurants in Brunei including two halal Chinese restaurants?
• a historic Water Village built on stilts above a river is home to ten percent of the population of the country of Brunei?
• a new free trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership between Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore will come into effect on 1 January 2006?
• according to Brunei folklore Nakhoda Manis disrespected his mother, which caused a storm to sink his ship in the Brunei River, transforming the ship into the rock known as Jong Batu?