Aomori Prefecture

You might be tempted to answer “Hokkaido,” but there’s a trick in the question. Japan is divided into prefectures, right? The question says “the northernmost prefecture,” so the answer should be a prefecture name. The correct answer is Aomori Prefecture. Within Aomori, the northernmost area is Ōma Town, which is famous for its tuna.

one kind

Othello pieces come in black and white, right? It might seem like there are two possible answers, but since each piece simply has black and white on opposite sides, there’s really only one. Othello originated in Japan and was devised by Mr. Hasegawa, who was a junior high school student at the time and found the rules of Go difficult. He came up with a version of Go called “hasami-go,” where you capture by sandwiching your opponent’s pieces with your own. When he became a university student, Hasegawa used bottle caps from milk bottles and developed rules to make it into a game. Later, he brought it to a toy manufacturer, and it was commercialized.

12 pieces

The 28th exists in all 12 months. February ends on the 28th, but in a leap year it gains one extra day and becomes the 29th, which can be confusing. As the Earth takes 365 days to orbit the Sun, it accumulates a one-day discrepancy over four years. To correct this, a leap year is added once every four years, and the extra day is added to February.

not

When we think of flowers with thorns, roses come to mind, but the correct answer is “none.” The part that has thorns isn’t the rose flower, but the rose stem. The thorns, a characteristic of roses, are initially moist and soft, but eventually lose moisture and harden. There are various theories about why roses have thorns, but one is that they help the plant hook onto surrounding vegetation for support.

4th place

You might be tempted to think you “moved up to 3rd place” by passing Sato, right? But if you pass the person in 4th place, you become 4th. With trick questions, it’s important to stay calm and work through the problem. For more complex questions, drawing a diagram on a whiteboard or paper can make your reasoning and the answer much clearer.

The hiragana “to”

If you write otōto (younger brother) in hiragana, it’s おうとと, which contains two to’s. Similarly, if you write imōto (younger sister) in hiragana, it’s いもうと, which has one to. Looking at the problem from a different angle makes it easier to arrive at the answer. Since otōto and imōto are familiar words even to older people, they’ll likely think “I see” and find the answer convincing.

1 bundle

First, if you add the two bouquets Hanako has to the four she received from her friends, you get six bouquets, right? However, the problem statement says to “combine all the bouquets.” When you combine all the bouquets, they form a single bouquet. It’s a problem where carefully reading the statement and thinking deeply reveals the answer.