100+ Japan Trivia Questions & Answers

Question: Which main island of Japan is the largest island?

Answer: Honshu

Question: How many japanese islands make up this fascinating country in the Pacific Ocean?

Answer: 6 islands (the four majors plus Okinawa and Nanpō)

Question: What is the total land area of Japan, an east Asian country?

Answer: 377,975 km²

Question: As of 2025, what is the population of Japanese people living in Japan?

Answer: 123,400,000

Question: Which city serves as Japan's capital and also the largest metropolitan area in the world?

Answer: Tokyo

Question: On which island is Mount Fuji located?

Answer: Honshu

Question: What is the population density of japan’s geography along its coastal plains?

Answer: 330 /km²

Question: What time zone does Japan use?

Answer: UTC+09:00 (JST)

Question: Which famous natural wonder is a UNESCO site and visible from the bullet train on Honshu?

Answer: Mount Fujij

Question: What percentage of Japan is covered by forests?

Answer: 67%

Question: How many active volcanoes does this island nation have?

Answer: 111

Question: What is the length of Japan’s coastline, making it one of the longest in the world?

Answer: 29,751 km

Question: Name the six main islands of Japan for this japan quiz.

Answer: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, Okinawa, Nanpō

Question: What is the calling code for Japan, an east Asian country?

Answer: +81

Question: What currency do Japanese people use?

Answer: Japanese yen (¥)

Question: How many prefectures divide Japan’s geography into administrative regions?

Answer: 47

Question: Which prefecture lies on the Northern Shore of Honshu?

Answer: Aomori

Question: What percentage of Japan’s area is water?

Answer: 1.4%

Question: What demonym do you use when you refer to someone from Japan?

Answer: Japanese

Question: Which rabbit island is famous for its hundreds of friendly wild rabbits?

Answer: Ōkunoshima

Question: Around what year did modern humans first settle in Japan, according to Japanese history?

Answer: 36,000 BC

Question: Which period (c. 14,500 BC) in Japan’s history introduced pit dwelling and pottery?

Answer: Jōmon period

Question: Which people brought wet-rice farming to feudal Japan?

Answer: Yayoi

Question: In feudal Japan, which legendary emperor is said to have founded the imperial line in 660 BC?

Answer: Emperor Jimmu

Question: Under which period did Japanese culture flourish with The Tale of Genji?

Answer: Heian period

Question: What military government in 1185 marked the start of samurai rule in Japan?

Answer: Kamakura shogunate

Question: Which three unifiers helped end the Warring States era in Japan?

Answer: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu

Question: What 1600 battle laid the groundwork for the Tokugawa shogunate on Honshu?

Answer: Battle of Sekigahara

Question: What isolationist policy in Japan began in 1639 and lasted over 200 years?

Answer: Sakoku (“closed country”)

Question: Which U.S. Commodore’s arrival in 1853 forced Japan to open trade?

Answer: Matthew C. Perry

Question: What restoration in 1868 returned power to the Emperor and modernized Japanese government?

Answer: Meiji Restoration

Question: When was the first Japanese constitution promulgated?

Answer: November 29, 1890

Question: In what year did Japan enter World War II?

Answer: 1941 (attack on Pearl Harbor)

Question: What event triggered the U.S. entry into World War II?

Answer: Pearl Harbor attack

Question: Which two cities endured the 1945 atomic bombings in Japan?

Answer: Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Question: When did Japan officially surrender, ending World War II in the Pacific?

Answer: September 2, 1945

Question: What year did Japan adopt its current constitution?

Answer: May 3, 1947

Question: Which treaty ended Allied occupation of Japan?

Answer: Treaty of San Francisco (1952)

Question: Which 1964 quiz of athletic nations highlighted Japan’s recovery?

Answer: Tokyo Summer Olympics

Question: What natural disaster in 2011 led to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis in Japan?

Answer: Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami

Question: What type of state is Japan, with an emperor as head of state?

Answer: Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy

Question: Who is the current Emperor of Japan?

Answer: Naruhito

Question: Who is the Prime Minister heading Japan’s government as of 2025?

Answer: Shigeru Ishiba

Question: What is the name of the Japanese parliament, the bicameral legislature?

Answer: National Diet

Question: How many seats are in the lower house (House of Representatives) of the National Diet?

Answer: 465

Question: How many seats are in the upper house (House of Councillors)?

Answer: 245

Question: At what age do Japanese people gain the right to vote?

Answer: 18

Question: What constitutional article renounces Japan’s right to declare war?

Answer: Article 9

Question: Which political party has dominated Japanese government since the 1950s?

Answer: Liberal Democratic Party

Question: What is the national anthem of Japan?

Answer: “Kimigayo”

Question: How long does “Kimigayo” last when performed?

Answer: 59 seconds

Question: What seal is used to symbolize the State of Japan?

Answer: National Seal of Greater Japan (大日本國璽)

Question: What security alliance exists between Japan and the United States?

Answer: U.S.–Japan Security Alliance

Question: Which multilateral group includes Japan alongside U.S., Australia, and India?

Answer: The Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue)

Question: What is the name of Japan’s self-defense military?

Answer: Japan Self-Defense Forces

Question: How much of its GDP did Japan spend on defense in 2024?

Answer: 1.4%

Question: What body oversees the prefectural police departments in Japan?

Answer: National Police Agency

Question: Which law controls civilian ownership of swords and firearms in Japan?

Answer: Firearm and Sword Possession Control Law

Question: How many prefectures does Japanese government administer?

Answer: 47

Question: Which island chain does Japan contest with South Korea?

Answer: Liancourt Rocks

Question: Japan ranks what number in the world by nominal GDP?

Answer: 5th

Question: Which japanese company is the world’s largest automobile manufacturer?

Answer: Toyota

Question: In which industry is Japan a global leader besides automotive?

Answer: Robotics

Question: What module did Japan contribute to the International Space Station?

Answer: Kibō

Question: How many Nobel laureates has Japan produced in science?

Answer: 22

Question: What percentage of Japan’s GDP comes from the service sector?

Answer: 71.4%

Question: What is Japan’s national sport and cultural tradition?

Answer: Sumo

Question: Which professional football league began in Japan in 1992?

Answer: J.League

Question: What mega‐event in 2002 did Japan co-host with South Korea?

Answer: FIFA World Cup

Question: Which 19th-century art form—Japanese art—influenced Western Impressionism?

Answer: Ukiyo-e

Question: What comic book style is Japan’s globally popular export?

Answer: Manga

Question: What animated genre preceded many Western cartoons?

Answer: Anime

Question: Which national dish, introduced from British India, is now everyday comfort food in Japan?

Answer: Curry rice

Question: What rice-based beverage is often miso soup drunk before a meal?

Answer: Sake

Question: What Japanese word literally means “good luck,” often said to gamblers?

Answer: Kōun (“good luck”)

Question: Which holiday system moved Japan’s public holidays to Mondays?

Answer: Happy Monday System

Question: What is one fun fact about japanese trains?

Answer: The Shinkansen runs at speeds up to 320 km/h

Question: How many UNESCO World Heritage Sites are cultural in Japan?

Answer: 18

Question: Which Shinto shrine’s torii gate floats on water, a famous UNESCO site?

Answer: Itsukushima Shrine

Question: What percent of Japanese schoolchildren commute by rail daily?

Answer: Over 80% in urban areas

Question: What percentage of Japan lives in cities as of 2023?

Answer: 92%

Question: What is Japan’s total fertility rate, one of the lowest globally?

Answer: 1.2

Question: What percentage of Japan’s population is over 65 years old?

Answer: 29.3%

Question: Which city on Honshu is the largest financial center after Tokyo?

Answer: Osaka

Question: What dimension does the bullet train narrow between tunnels to maintain speed?

Answer: 3 meters clearance

Question: Which islands does Japan claim but Russia controls?

Answer: Southern Kuril Islands

Question: What is the lower house’s maximum term length?

Answer: Four years (or until dissolved)

Question: How long is a Councillors’ term in Japan’s upper house?

Answer: Six years

Question: What traditional feature in a Japanese house allows sliding walls made of paper panels?

Answer: Shoji screens

Question: Which famous Japan's temples complex in Kyoto is known for its “Golden Pavilion”?

Answer: Kinkaku-ji

Question: What natural wonders in Hokkaido is a volcanic crater lake renowned for its clear blue water?

Answer: Lake Mashū

Question: What ministry did feudal Japan model after Chinese government in the Taika Reforms?

Answer: Imperial bureaucracy under ritsuryō state

Question: Which world religion was introduced to Japan in 552 AD?

Answer: Buddhism

Question: Name the code of laws established in 701 that formed Japan’s first centralized legal system.

Answer: Taihō Code

Question: What major epidemic killed up to one-third of Japan’s people in 735–737?

Answer: Smallpox epidemic

Question: Which city is the largest on the island of Kyushu?

Answer: Fukuoka

Question: What is the ISO 3166 code for Japan?

Answer: JP

Question: How many islands total are in the Japanese archipelago?

Answer: About 14,125 islands

Question: Which lake, 3 meters deep at its deepest, is Japan’s largest freshwater lake?

Answer: Lake Biwa (max depth 104 m; average depth ~19 m, but often cited shallow areas of 3 m)

Question: Which train network connects major cities across islands like Honshu and Kyushu?

Answer: Shinkansen (“bullet train”)