JAPAN 101

1. Many toilets in Japan have a built-in bidet system for spraying your backside.
2. When you use the restroom in some one's home, you should put on special bathroom slippers so as not to contaminate the rest of the home.
3. Noodles, especially soba (buckwheat), are slurped very loudly when eaten. It is often said slurping symbolizes the food is delicious, but the slurping also serves to cool down the hot noodles for eating.
4. Japan is the world’s largest consumer of Amazon rain forest timber.
5. Vending machines in Japan sell beer, hot and cold canned coffee, cigarettes, and other items.
6. When moving into an apartment it is often required to give the landlord a "gift" of money equal to two months' rent.
7. There are around 1,500 earthquakes every year in Japan.
8. It is not uncommon to eat rice at every meal, including breakfast.
9. Average life expectancy in Japan is one of the highest in the world. Japanese people live an average of 4 years longer than Americans.
10 Japan is the largest automobile producer in the world.
11. The Japanese language has thousands of foreign loan words, known as gairaigo. These words are often truncated, e.g. personal computer = paso kon. The number of foreign loan words is steadily increasing.
12. Tsukiji market in Tokyo is the world's largest fish market.