1.  Which prefecture is home to a town with the same names as U.S. president elect Barack Obama?

2.  Name the largest lake in Japan and the prefecture where it is located.

3.  What is the national bird of Japan? Is it the kiji (pheasant), uguisu (bush warbler), or toki (crested ibis)?

4.  What is the sum of the numbers worn by these Japan-born star players in the Major League Baseball:  Ichiro of the Seattle Mariners, Hideki Matsui of the New York Yankees and Daisuke Matsuzaka of the Boston Red Sox.

5.  What is the name of the lead character in the popular anime ‘One Piece’?

Participants in the first-ever Japan Quiz Contest for foreign language students, held recently in Tokyo, needed to know the answers to these and other questions in order to win a trophy and a ¥500,000 (USD $4,350) prize.

Here are the answers:

1.  Obama is in Fukui Prefecture.  Obama means “little beach” in English.

2.  Lake Biwa is located in Shiga Prefecture.  It is the largest freshwater lake in Japan and is located just northeast of the ancient capital of Kyoto.  It is one of the world;s oldest lakes and is almost 4 million years old.

3. The national bird of Japan is the kiji (pheasant).

4.  Ichiro wears #51, Matsui wears #55 and Matsuzaka wears #18 for a total of 124.

5.  Monkey D. Luffy, a 17-year-old boy who wishes to become King of the Pirates by obtaining the titular treasure One Piece.

Image Credit:  Flickr, Lake Biwa, Green Pheasant – Phasianus versicolor – Male, Monkey D. Luffy, Obama Fishing Port, The Mighty Ichiro
Source: The Japan Times, What do you know about Nippon?