[Great for speeches] Trivia and fun-fact quizzes recommended for morning assemblies

Cutting aluminum foil

When scissors become dull, you can improve their sharpness by stacking several sheets of aluminum foil and cutting through them, which helps smooth out small nicks on the blades. Sandpaper can damage the blades, and soaking them in water can cause rust. Cutting oiled cloth can make the motion smoother, but it doesn’t directly improve the sharpness itself.

Edo period

The word maji, which is commonly used especially among young people today, has actually been in use since the Edo period. Back then, it meant “seriously” or “in earnest.” It is said that even in kabuki plays presented during the Edo period, the word maji was used with this meaning.

concentration

During the rainy season, the humidity can make your body feel sluggish, and you might imagine your concentration breaking more easily. However, due to air pressure and the soothing sound of rain, your mind and body can actually relax, boosting your focus! Knowing this might help you get through the rainy season a little more comfortably.

Japan

Japan ranks first in the world in per-capita tissue consumption. You might imagine the U.S. uses more, but it actually ranks second—and Japan uses three times as much, which shows just how high tissue consumption is in Japan. From an environmental conservation standpoint, it’s important for each of us to try to use tissues more sparingly.

gum

In Singapore, the sale, import, and manufacture of chewing gum are prohibited to keep the city clean. Medicinal gum is available, but bringing in regular gum can result in a hefty fine. Be mindful of this when traveling to Singapore.

To enhance structural strength

The bumps and indentations on the bottom of a plastic bottle are designed to increase its structural strength. This makes it more resistant to deformation from internal pressure and to external impacts, allowing it to safely hold the liquid inside. Carbonated drink bottles don’t have such indentations because the internal gas pressure keeps the bottle from deforming.

Because Monday was a power outage day.

The reason hair salons and barbershops often close on Mondays is that Mondays used to be scheduled power-outage days. In the postwar period, due to electricity shortages, such days were instituted once a week. Because salons consume a lot of electricity for services like perms, they couldn’t operate on those days and therefore took the day off—a practice that has carried over to the present. Incidentally, in the Tokyo area, many shops are closed on Tuesdays instead.