[For Seniors] Perfect Brain Training! Fun Trivia

The surprising truth: Tokyo Tower was built using materials from American tanks!

Speaking of Tokyo Tower, it used to be a classic destination for school trips back in the day, but lately it seems that spot has been taken over by Tokyo Skytree.

Still, that vermilion silhouette of Tokyo Tower really feels quintessentially Tokyo, doesn’t it? The name “Tokyo Tower” was chosen through a public naming contest, and apparently one of the candidates was “Showa Tower.” It’s not widely known that steel from American military tanks was used in the construction of Tokyo Tower.

It’s said this happened because America didn’t want to shoulder the high cost of bringing the tanks home after the war, while Japan was struggling with a shortage of steel—interests that aligned.

When you look up at it with that in mind, it feels somehow poignant, doesn’t it?

Spring creatures

[3rd Grade Science] Spring Creatures

Spring, when the weather starts to warm up, is a time when animals become more active and plants grow vigorously, and their lively presence can make us feel a sense of joy.

This is a quiz themed around springtime creatures, where you look at photos and try to guess their names.

Because these are things we often see casually when the season comes, you may never have paid attention to their names.

Why not use this quiz as an opportunity to focus more closely on the nature of spring?

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Quiz in a spring field

Spring Vegetable Quiz (1) [Brain Training] [For Senior Facilities, etc.] Created in 2023 • For Recreation • Spring Vegetables • Fields • May Flowers • June Flowers • Flowers that Evoke Spring

Because plants grow differently depending on the season, there are of course vegetables that thrive in spring.

This is a quiz where we show photos of such springtime vegetables and have participants guess the name of each vegetable.

As more and more types of produce are available in supermarkets year-round, this can also prompt the realization that certain vegetables are actually in season in spring.

If the answer becomes too obvious just by seeing the vegetable itself, another recommended approach is to use photos of the flowers before the vegetables have formed and have participants guess from those.

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Spring Flowers 2

[Brain Training] Spring Flower Quiz ② [For Senior Facilities, etc.] Created in 2023 for Recreation – Mountain Flowers – May Flowers – June Flowers – Flowers that Feel Like Spring

Spring is the season when it gets warmer and animals and plants become more active, and there are flowers you often see around this time.

This is a quiz that tests how many spring-blooming plants you know by having you identify their names from photos.

Even for flowers you always see in that season, there may be some whose names you’ve never really paid attention to.

In such cases, use hints—like fill-in-the-blank names—to think them through carefully and turn it into an opportunity to gain new knowledge.

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Events of the Showa era

[Showa Quiz Questions] For seniors! Multiple-choice questions on nostalgic events from the Showa era! [10 questions in total]

We present a multiple-choice quiz featuring notable events and topics from the late 1950s through the 1970s—the era when today’s seniors were in their prime.

The quiz has 10 questions in total, covering nostalgic themes such as barbershop prices, cola bottles, the “3 Cs” of the mid-1960s, rotary dial telephones, public pay phones, pagers, warm-water bidet toilets, moving walkways, bowling, and the Takenoko-zoku street-dance craze.

It’s a chance to look back on those days and give your brain a healthy dose of stimulation.

A trivia quiz set at Sensō-ji Temple in Asakusa

Senior Quiz! Asakusa Location, Part 2! Taking on a trivia quiz set at Sensō-ji in Asakusa

If you live in Tokyo, you’ve probably visited Asakusa several times.

If you live elsewhere, many of you may have gone there on a school trip.

It’s even said that almost every foreign visitor to Tokyo pays a visit to Sensō-ji.

So, here’s a trivia quiz about Asakusa and Sensō-ji—things you might think you know but don’t! For example: “What is the official name of the Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate)?”, “Why isn’t Sensō-ji read as ‘Asakusa-dera’ using kunyomi?”, and “What is the origin of the name of the Asakusa specialty, kaminari okoshi?” There are lots of questions that will make you want to know the answers.

The next time you visit Asakusa, you’ll be eager to share them with someone.

The true meaning of “hatenkō”

Yoshimura from the comedy duo Heisei Nobushikobushi is often described as “hatenkō” (unconventional).

No matter what show he’s on, he stirs up the studio in a wild, chaotic way and livens things up.

Because of that image, many people take hatenkō to mean something like “rampaging without regard for rules,” or simply “bold” or “daring.” However, the original meaning of hatenkō is “to do what others don’t do, to accomplish what hasn’t been achieved.” That nuance isn’t easy to glean from the kanji 破天荒 (“break/heaven/wild”).

Let this word be your cue to expand on your own hatenkō stories from your younger days.