General knowledge quiz time! From trivia to questions about Japan and the world

New Year’s courtesy visits

“New Year’s visits” (toshikoshi/nen-shi mawari) is a traditional Japanese custom of going from house to house during the New Year to greet relatives, acquaintances, and colleagues. It is an important practice for expressing gratitude to those who have helped you and conveying your hopes for continued goodwill in the coming year, and it has been observed across Japan since long ago. This custom also plays a role in strengthening personal connections.

150 days

The ordinary Diet session is a meeting of Japan’s national legislature convened every January, and its term is, in principle, 150 days.

Vatican City

The Vatican City is a sovereign state located within Rome, the capital of Italy, and it is the seat of the Holy See, the center of the Catholic Church. Its area is about 0.44 square kilometers, and its population is around 600, making it the country with the smallest population in the world. Tuvalu and Nauru also have small populations, but each exceeds 10,000 people, so they are not as small as Vatican City.

caviar

The world’s three great delicacies are ingredients that are expensive, rare, and prized by gourmets. Truffles are a type of fungus that grows underground; foie gras refers to the enlarged liver of geese or ducks; and the third is caviar. Caviar is a luxury food made from sturgeon roe, and together these three are known as the world’s three great delicacies.

rupee

India’s official currency is the rupee. The baht is Thailand’s currency, and the peso is the name of a currency used in multiple countries, such as Mexico and the Philippines.

Peru

The Nazca Lines are a group of giant geoglyphs located on the desert surface between the Nazca and Ingenio rivers in Peru. They depict birds, animals, and geometric shapes. These geoglyphs are also registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Ireland

The origin of Halloween lies in Ireland, where the ancient Celts lived. They held the festival of Samhain at the end of October, and this is considered the source of today’s Halloween. Later, it was brought to the United States by immigrants from Scotland and Ireland, and became widely known.