[For Seniors] Lively and Exciting! Sports Quiz for Recreational Activities

Nadeshiko Japan

Nadeshiko Japan, who won the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup. At the time, it was a major event covered by every news outlet. Even many older people had probably heard of it at least once, don’t you think? The nickname was reportedly chosen from about 2,700 submissions in a public call for entries that the Japan Football Association started in 2004.

red

For holders of dan ranks (shodan and above), belt colors are determined by nationally standardized rules. From first dan (shodan) to fifth dan (godan) the belt is black; from sixth dan (rokudan) to eighth dan (hachidan) it is a red-and-white paneled belt; and for ninth dan (kudan) and tenth dan (judan) it is red. Practitioners ranked sixth dan and above are also permitted to continue wearing a black belt. Incidentally, it seems that the belt colors for kyu ranks in judo are not fixed by any official rule.

Basketball

In the early days of basketball, they supposedly used peach baskets as the goals. An American teacher at the time devised a sport that children could enjoy indoors during winter, when it wasn’t soccer or baseball season. They attached readily available peach baskets to the gym balcony and started a game of putting a ball into them. The character 籠 is read as “kago” (basket), and it’s said that this kanji came to be used for that reason.

egg

The origin of calling zero “love” is connected to France, where tennis was born. First, because the shape of the number 0 resembles an “egg,” it is said to come from the French word for egg, “l’œuf.” Later, as tennis spread to America, the theory became popular that “l’œuf” came to be pronounced as “love” in English.

There is no set size.

Even the International Table Tennis Federation’s rulebook states that a table tennis racket may be of any size, shape, or weight. While there are regulations regarding materials, size and shape are essentially unrestricted. Since the shape is free, star-shaped or heart-shaped rackets are actually allowed. However, if the racket is too large it may become too heavy, and various unconventional shapes might be difficult to handle and inconvenient.

16 people

Volleyball was introduced to Japan during the Meiji era. At that time, even in the United States where the sport originated, official rules had not yet been firmly established, and under that influence Japan played volleyball with 16 players. Today, the number has been reduced to six, but it seems there were many participants back then. Before adopting the six-player format, Japan had a long period of nine-player volleyball. As a remnant of that era, nine-player volleyball is still enjoyed in Japan today.