[Simple Riddles] A curated selection of fun questions that will excite everyone from kids to adults!

It’s kaisō (seaweed / deadheading).

Wakame is a type of seaweed (kaisō), and a train without passengers is called a “deadhead” or “out-of-service” train (kaisō densha). Therefore, the answer here is kaisō. There are various reasons why a train might have no passengers, so the key is whether you can arrive at the idea of a deadhead run.

Spices (or a renewal fee) are required.

The common element here is “kōshinryō”: Asian cuisine is inseparable from spices (kōshinryō) that enhance aroma and heat, and when renewing a rental contract, a renewal fee (kōshinryō) is often required. Since Asian cuisine allows for a wide range of interpretations, it’s smoother to arrive at the answer by starting from the more constrained context of renewing a rental contract.

It’s kōka (meaning either “expensive” or “coin”).

Matsutake are known as a luxury mushroom, making them “expensive” (kōka), and the 500-yen piece is not a bill but a “coin” (kōka). The shared reading kōka is the answer. Imagining the image suggested by each word and letting related words come to mind one after another is the key to getting closer to the answer.

It’s indispensable for cake (and the economy).

What foods do we often eat with fresh cream? Cakes we enjoy at Christmas or on birthdays are decorated with plenty of whipped cream, aren’t they? And if we talk about money, that includes the economic situation as well. If fresh cream goes with cake, then money goes with the economy. Both fresh cream and money are indispensable for cake and the economy. They’re completely different things, but it’s an interesting riddle that ties them together with the single word “keiki” (cake/keiki as in economy in Japanese wordplay).

Dashi (festival float/soup stock) is important.

Let’s imagine a “festival” and “miso soup” and think about what’s there and what’s used—looking for common points. At some festivals, a “float” (dashi) appears, while miso soup requires “broth” (dashi). So the answer is that “dashi” is important.