7 Japanese riddles that can only be solved with reasoning

Some things that are obvious to Japanese people can leave tourists baffled. But knowing the peculiarities of different cultures is always very interesting. Foreigners who went to live in Japan and put down roots in the country usually share, on social networks and in the form of challenges, some local characteristics.

In this post, the awesome.club presents 7 of these challenges, and suggests that you try to solve them without looking at the answers. They are at the end of the post.

1. Why doesn’t a Japanese coin break the surface tension of water?

2. Why, in Japan, is there a habit of serving sushi with a bamboo leaf, not a cherry leaf, for example?

3. These images are shown to students by teachers of what subject?

4. What are these signs placed on the island of Hokkaido, in the north of the country, for?

5. Where are these seals usually used?

6. Only experts in Japanese culture solved the riddle. What does this print represent?

7. In October, on Mondays, Disneyland receives as many visitors as on Sundays. It’s not a holiday, and the Japanese don’t take a vacation in October. Question: Why does this happen on Mondays?

Answers

1. Japanese 1 yen coins are made of aluminum, so they are very light.

2. In the old days, people took sushi with them on trips and marinated the food beforehand to make it last longer. This marinated sushi was wrapped in a bamboo leaf: dense enough to be used as packaging when traveling. In addition, it served as a kind of indicator of the good condition of the product: when the green bamboo leaf withered, it was because the marinated sushi was not fit for consumption. Today, this way of serving is not common.

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3. In geography classes. Thus, students remember the outline of the map more easily.

4. In Hokkaido, there is a lot of snow during the winter, and these signs indicate the boundaries of the roads so that vehicles that remove snow do not enter the fields.

5. On envelopes for letters, next to postage stamps. Traditionally, Japanese people send a lot of letters by mail and try to make them more beautiful.

6. This is chonmage, a style of men’s haircut during the Edo Period, with a shaved top and a ponytail that is seen from above. It was a type of hondamage (hairstyle) popular among townspeople.

The line shown in the photo with 3-4 of these ‘heads’ represents a street through which the ‘owners’ of the chonmage travel.

7. In October, schools and kindergartens in Japan celebrate big events, which last all Sunday. Therefore, on Monday the children have time off from classes and have fun at Disneyland.

Did you get any answers right? Which challenge seemed most interesting? Comment!

Exclusive Illustrator Ekaterina Gapanovich for Incrível.club