6. Sudoku
Most of us remember being encouraged to play sudoku by our teachers and parents as a kid whether we wanted to or not. Although number puzzles like sudoku don’t originate in Japan, the name of this particular number puzzle game comes from the Japanese kanji for ?(??) “number” and ?(??) “solitary. This is actually an abbreviation of a much longer title – the stimulating puzzle game first appeared in Japanese papers under the title ??(???)???(????)??(??)? (“The Digits Must Be Single”) in 1984. Japanese language learners might notice the elongated vowel in ?? and realize that the Western pronunciation of sudoku is nothing like the original Japanese. Some people will say “soo-DOO-ko” or “soo-DOH-koo” in English, but it is really much more like “SOO-doh-ku” with the emphasis on the first syllable.
7. Emoji
That’s right! Emojis originate from Japan, too! Interface designer Shigetaka Kurita popularized the emoji by designing a set of 176 colorful emojis in 1999 for use on DoCoMo’s i-mode, a mobile internet platform. They have since become extremely popular and occasionally controversial due to the usage and connotations of certain emojis like the infamous ??. There is actually a non-profit organization known as the Unicode Consortium that manages emojis and introduces new additions each year.
8. Ninja
Ninja, or shinobi (?(??)?), were stealthy agents active during feudal Japan, particularly in the Sengoku Period. In this era of samurai and shoguns, ninja would be hired for covert operations such as espionage, sneak attacks, and even terrorism. The word ??(????) is comprised of the characters ? (“endure” or “conceal”) and ? (“person”). While modern pop culture has promoted these unscrupulous tricksters to the position of honorable warriors with supernatural powers, this was certainly not their image during the feudal period.
9. Dojo
What ties the words ???(?????) aikido, ??(?????) judo, and ??(????) kendo together?Continue reading