Fun Brain Teasers for Kids and Adults Alike!
The clever wordplay known as “tonchi,” familiar from the anime Ikkyu-san.
Ikkyu solves problems that look like riddles one after another with quick wit, doesn’t he?
Originally, “tonchi” refers to the ability to use your smarts on the spot to suit the situation.
We’re going to present tonchi quizzes that you solve using that same kind of wit, just like Ikkyu!
The answers are all ones that will make you say, “I see!” without thinking.
They’re easy to enjoy like riddles, so please have fun with them together—from kids to adults!
Fun Brain Teasers for Everyone—Kids and Adults Alike! (1–10)
What do you get if you remove the circle (maru) from “papa?”
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Haha
What is the “◯” in papa? Finding it quickly will lead you to the answer. In this quiz, papa’s “◯” is the handakuten (the small circle) attached to the character in the word for papa. If you remove it, the sound is no longer voiced, turning “papa” (パパ) into “hahaha” (ハハ), revealing “mother” (母).
What is something that a younger brother has two of, but a younger sister has only one of?
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and
If you convert the kanji for “弟” (younger brother) and “妹” (younger sister) into hiragana, you get “おとうと” and “いもうと.” Then you’ll notice that “おとうと” has two “と” while “いもうと” has only one. From that, the answer to what the younger brother has two of is “と.”
Inside Ichiro’s bag are a pencil case, a textbook, and a recorder; which of these did he drop?
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recorder
In this quiz, the key point is that the word “落とした” is written in hiragana. From there, you shift the idea by converting “おとした” to “音した” (“made a sound”). This reveals that the answer should be something that makes a sound, so the answer is a recorder.
Where is it that the seasons are arranged in the order: autumn → spring → summer → winter?
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English-Japanese dictionary
An English-Japanese dictionary lists words in ABC order. When the seasons are rendered in English—spring as “Spring,” summer as “Summer,” autumn as “Fall,” and winter as “Winter”—rearranging them to match the sentence in the problem results in the same order as they would appear in the dictionary.
What is something that moves to the side when a number increases by one, and moves up when it increases by 100?
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condominium apartments, hotel rooms, and hospital rooms
In apartment buildings, hotels, and hospital rooms, the room number increases by one as you move to the next room. And each time you go up one floor, the room number increases by 100. The key is to broaden your perspective and think about what kinds of things fit the numerical rule described in the problem.
What genre of book is ‘Shosusetsu’?
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detective novel
Because the character for vinegar, 酢 (read as “su”), is inserted between the characters for 'novel' 小 and 説, the answer is 'detective novel' (推理小説). You can also substitute other kanji that are read as 'su' in the same way, so it might be fun to present it like this when quizzing friends.
What is something that is closed when you pass through it, but open when you don’t?
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railroad crossing
At a railroad crossing, the barrier goes down when a train passes and is up when no train is passing. By identifying what passes through and what opens and closes—combining these two—you can arrive at the answer: “railroad crossing.”