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Japan's official language is Japanese. This is also the primary spoken and written language of the country.
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The Japanese written language was created with a combination of three Chinese scripts including hiragana, katakana, and kanji, although the Latin alphabet rÅmaji, is also often used in modern Japanese.
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The name 'Japan' in Japanese is 'Nippon' or Nihon' meaning 'sun origin'.
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Japan is made up of islands but it considered a part of the Asian continent.
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Japan has its share of world famous cuisine including sushi, tempura, sashimi, and tako-yaki. Japanese cuisine is called washoku and is considered to be food that existed before 1868. Other staples in the Japanese diet are miso soup, rice, and vegetables, with a focus on seasonal ingredients.
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Japanese culture puts a major emphasis on education, with a literacy rate of almost 100%.
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The national sport of Japan is sumo. This sport dates back as far as the 8th century as a prayer for an excellent harvest of rice. The tradition of sumo involves ancient clothing and customs.
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In Japan it is a compliment to the chef slurp one's soup. But it is not acceptable to blow one's nose in Japan in public.
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Taking off one's shoes when entering a home is part of Japanese culture that remains in place today. In some rooms, depending on how much a floor is raised, one may be required to put on or take off slippers. Even using the bathroom requires wearing special slippers.
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Japanese people often use non-verbal communication to express their feelings and meanings. They rely on this type of communication because they believe that because words can have more than one meaning. By using non-verbal communication they can better read what a person means.
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In Japanese culture the elders are honoured and drinks and meals are served to the elders first.
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Japanese people use chopsticks in very specific ways. There are rules such as never pointing with the chopsticks, never piercing one's food with chopsticks, and laying the chopsticks down when chewing while making sure that they do not cross.
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The Japanese have traditional clothing in their culture including kimonos, which change in style and color depending on marital status, season, occasion and even age and sex. The ankle socks worn with the kimono is called a tabi. The sandals that are made of a wooden block strapped to the foot with fabric are called geta.
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Japanese art, pottery, architecture, and performance arts are all very distinct and pieces dating back thousands of years have been found and preserved in museums and galleries.
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