Whether it's Godzilla's citizenship or the unexpected origins of geishas, these interesting facts about Japan shine a light on the "Land of the Rising Sun."
Japan’s ancient samurai suicide ritual of seppuku involved an elaborate process of disemboweling oneself with a dagger. Seppuku was performed largely in order to voluntarily die with honor instead of involuntarily dying with shame.Getty Images
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Some Shingon monks successfully mummified themselves alive via a practice called sokushinbutsu. The process involves dehydrating the body thanks to a very specific diet over the course of several years.Wikimedia Commons
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Kanamara Matsuri is a yearly fertility festival, centered around mikoshi – a giant pink penis whose lore is a part of the Shinto religion.Guilhem Vellut
/Flickr
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Godzilla is an official citizen of Japan. The government gave him citizenship as a publicity/tourism move in 2015.Wikimedia Commons
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Aokigahara the "suicide forest" is the second most popular suicide location in the world (only the Golden Gate Bridge ranks higher). Some say so many kill themselves there because of the suicides that take place there in the 1960 Japanese novel Kuroi Jukai — but nobody knows for sure.lumen850/Flickr
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In Japan, 98 percent of adoptions are actually adult men — not children. Families adopt businessmen to inherit and run the family companies if there is no heir.PXHere
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One of the first Africans in Japan was a slave brought over by the Portuguese who rose through the ranks and became known as Yasuke the black samurai.Wikimedia Commons
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The Hiroshima atomic bombing was so powerful that shadows of some victims were burned onto surfaces like buildings and roads. These Hiroshima shadows were created because the light and heat from the bomb was so intense that it bleached most surfaces, leaving the areas of those surfaces that had been covered by humans a different color.Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images
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Vending machines on almost every street corner sell everything from eggs to beer to panties and sex toys.antjeverena/Flickr
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There is approximately one vending machine for every 23 people, with annual sales totaling more than $60 billion. Japan has the highest density of vending machines worldwide.Pixabay
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After World War II, some Japanese soldiers were deployed so far from civilization that they didn’t know the war was over or refused to believe it until the 1970s. One soldier named Hiroo Onoda kept fighting until 1974.Wikimedia Commons
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As early as 200 A.D., there were female Japanese samurai every bit as powerful and deadly as their male counterparts.Wikimedia Commons
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On the rail and subway lines, train operators employ "pushers" that help push people into the cars so the doors can shut safely. Overcrowding on Japanese trains ranks among some of the worst in the world.argive/Flickr
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There are over 50 flavors of Fanta available in Japan, including white banana, snow squash, and hip-hop. The hip-hop variety has a fruit punch flavor.brainwashers/Flickr
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There is a beauty treatment known as a “geisha facial” that consists of nightingale feces. The birds are raised on special farms and eat only organic seeds, and their excrement is said to make your skin softer and brighter.Wikimedia Commons
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Capsule hotels (a room roughly the size of a large refrigerator) can be found around Tokyo. These rooms attract lodgers with their relatively affordable prices, novelty, and practicality for spur-of-the-moment overnight stays, although luxury rooms include televisions and Wi-Fi.urbzoo/Flickr
The first geishas were men, as women were not allowed to entertain at social functions.Pixabay
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The island of Ōkunoshima’s nickname is Usagi Jima (Rabbit Island) because hundreds of feral rabbits live there with no natural predators. No one is sure where the first rabbits came from.Brian Shamblen/Flickr
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Japan had waterproof smartphones years before the West because Japanese women were so attached to their phones that they brought them into the shower. U.S. Air Force
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As a seasonal tradition, an estimated 3.6 million Japanese families eat KFC every Christmas season. KFC grows so busy that some people have to reserve their food weeks in advance.Wei-Te Wong/Wikimedia Commons
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The “cyber homeless” people of Japan live at cyber cafes because it is cheaper than an apartment. It costs about $12-$20 a night — with free soft drinks, TV, comics, and internet access included.Kurita KAKU/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
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In Japan, some women pay to have their straight teeth made crooked in a practice called “yaeba.” It gained popularity because crooked teeth are considered youthful and attractive.EyeOn/UIG via Getty Images
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The average Japanese high-speed train completes its full route just 54 seconds behind schedule. This mark of extraordinary efficiency even includes events like natural disasters, but when trains are delayed more than five minutes, you can request a certificate to show your boss or teacher.Biliana Nikolova-Lefterova/Wikimedia Commons
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Atop a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean, a phone booth in Otsuchi, Japan allows people to call their dead loved ones. Called the "phone of the wind," its line is actually disconnected but the process provides some people with a way to grieve for the departed.Wikimedia Commons
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After the World Cup in 2014, Japanese fans meticulously cleaned up any trash from their area of Brazil’s Dunas Arena.TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images
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Costs related to damage caused by Japan's largest earthquake and subsequent tsunami in March 2011 are estimated at $300 billion. It was one of the most devastating earthquakes in recorded history.Wikimedia Commons
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Japan has the largest proportion of elderly people in the world. Almost 28 percent of the population is age 65 or older. Italy comes in second at just 21.5 percent.teosaurio/Flickr
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Japan has strict firearm regulations, and total gun-related deaths rarely go above 10 per year. This extraordinary low rate per capita is about a third of the rate in Germany, for example, and one-hundredth of the rate in the United States.Wikimedia Commons
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Almost four-fifths of Japan is covered with mountains. The tallest peak of the Japanese Alps that cross the middle of the country is the volcano of Mount Fuji.Pixabay
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Late-night dancing in Japan was banned from 1948 until 2015. Even dancing at all other times was restricted only to venues that had a “dancing license" thanks to postwar legislation seeking to crack down on dance halls that served as hotbeds of prostitution.dat-pics/Flickr
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Kawasaki, Japan is home to the world’s shortest escalator at just five steps. What's more, the stairs on this unexplained little escalator go down.Wikimedia Commons
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In Japan, Ronald McDonald is known as Donald McDonald. The powers that be decided that it would be easier for people to pronounce Donald as there is no real "r" sound in Japanese.U.S. Air Force
33 Japan Facts That Reveal The Truth About Samurai, Geisha, And So Much More
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Like many other countries, Japan is a nation of fascinating contradictions. "The Land of the Rising Sun" is at once highly modernized and filled with ancient shrines and temples. It is a place of businessmen and Buddhist monks. It has enthusiastically embraced Westernization yet remained steeped in its unique national traditions.
In fact — as the interesting facts about Japan above show — this country seems to bring a singular perspective to every facet of its culture, religions, architecture, infrastructure, and on and on. From the way they stock their vending machines to the way they design their hotels to the way they behave at sporting events, there is no place quite like Japan.
From the first unification of Japan under one rule sometime around 250 A.D., the people of this archipelago developed their customs in relative isolation compared to much of the rest of the world, allowing their particular traditions to remain one-of-a-kind.
This relative isolation lasted through the country's feudal period of emperors and samurai all the way until 1854, when U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew Perry and his ships opened Japanese ports for trading.
Afterward, Japan quickly modernized enough to become a world power, one now interested in expansion, colonialism, and militarization. Soon, Japanese incursions into nearby lands like Korea and China marked the turbulent decades of the late 1800s and early 1900s.
All of this culminated in Japan's 1931 invasion of Manchuria, eventually leading to the Second Sino-Japanese War, which itself quickly became part of the larger conflict of World War II. Following their costly wartime defeat, Japan once again rapidly modernized and built an economy that ranked among the largest in the world.
Today, Japan continues to number among the most powerful nations on Earth — not to mention the most fascinating. See for yourself in the gallery of interesting facts about Japan above.
After this look at some of the most interesting facts about Japan, discover more about the country's World War II-era history with a look at the Nanking Massacre as well as a photo collection revealing the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing.
An All That's Interesting writer since 2013, Erin Kelly focuses on historic places, natural wonders, environmental issues, and the world of science. Her work has also been featured in Smithsonian and she's designed several book covers as a graphic artist.
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.
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Kelly, Erin. "33 Japan Facts That Reveal The Truth About Samurai, Geisha, And So Much More." AllThatsInteresting.com, May 17, 2018, https://allthatsinteresting.com/interesting-facts-about-japan. Accessed January 30, 2025.
