The World Cup kicks off in Japan this week. Now, I don’t know much about rugby (no beating about the bush here), but I do know some random facts about Japan. So I thought I’d just ‘nippon’ and let you know!

Square watermelons are a thing

Image source: Flickr

Yeah, really. Grocers in Japan MAKE them square so that they are easier to stack and store. Water they thinking? Get it? Water…melon…

Japanese tend to live the longest

If you live in Japan, then good for you, as there’s a high chance you’ll live until you’re really old. Japan holds the status for the longest living humans. The oldest man was born in Japan and lived until he was 116 YEARS OLD. Next time you visit, it might be worthwhile checking out their anti-aging creams as they are probably the best in the world! 

There’s LOTS of islands

Japan is made up of exactly 6852 islands. Yup, over 6000. I’d imagine island hopping around Japan could get very tiring, very fast.

The world loves anime as much as Japan does

Anime – the name given to hand-drawn animation - has a distinctive style that originated in Japan. There are a lot of people who are incredibly passionate about anime. The world loves it – over 60% of the world’s animation-based entertainment comes from Japan.

There are almost as many vending machines as there are islands

In fact, there are more. Much more. Japan has the highest density of vending machines in the world. There’s 1 machine per 23 people. They sell everything from soup, bananas, umbrellas, eggs, hamburgers, noodles and PUPPIES. Actual dogs. I’m a fan of grab and go but I’m going to tentatively suggest that Japan is taking it too far.  

Coffee

The Japanese like coffee a latte (!), so much so that they import approximately 85% of Jamaica’s beans. Maybe they drink a lot of coffee because it helps with the daily GRIND?

Turtle Tunnels 

Without the need for explanation, we do love a turtle here at Trtl. That's why we had to add this cute fact about actual turtle tunnels in Kobe. Often, when turtles were trying to cross railway tracks, they were getting stuck at junctions and even crushed (nooooo) when rails switched between tracks. West Japan Railways built 5 tunnels to keep the turtles safe - definitely something to shell-berate! 

Village of Dolls 

Image Credit: CNN

There's an actual village of dolls in a village called Nagoro in Shikoku, Japan. Tsukimi Ayano grew sad and lonely when many of the villagers died or left to seek job opportunities in the city. She decided to make dolls for everyone that the village lost, and to date has made 350 of them, dotted around the village in fields, schools and on the roadside! 

Do you have your own fun fact to share about Japan?  Share your facts via our social channels below!