| A | B |
|---|
| Shinto | religion stresses relationship to nature and its many gods. |
| army | Japan's constitution does not allo for this |
| rice | an Asian staple eaten at every meal |
| Hokkaido | large, northernmost island of Japan |
| back to front | direction in which Japanese books are read |
| kanji | one type of Japanese alphabet |
| three thousand | Japan has about this many islands |
| The Tale of Genji | One of the world's first novels, it told about what life was like in a Japanese court. |
| United States | helped Japan to rebuild after WW II |
| Honshu | Most of Japan's people live on this large island |
| earthquake | Japan gets more than one thousand of these a year |
| tsunamis | tidal waves caused by extreme storms |
| cherry blossoms | Japan's national symbol: sakuras |
| Saturday | Children in japan attend school a half day on this day |
| shogun | king-like warrior emperor |
| Nippon | What the Japanese call Japan |
| Commodore Perry | He opened Japan to trade with other countries |
| white | background color of Japan's flag |
| Nagasaki | In addition to Hiroshima, an atomic bomb was dropped here, ending WW II |
| Karaoke | Favorite Japanese musical pasttime |
