Borrowed English Words from Japanese Quiz

Answer: Belly cutting

The ritual of 'hara-kiri' was recognized as an honorable way for a Samurai to take his life, if the circumstances warranted it. It was most often the case that a Samurai warrior was ordered by the imperial court or the local Daimyo to take his life, a self-imposed death penalty.

These days in the United States, no one will take you seriously if you use this word...it's meant to imply desperation or exasperation, but not the literal slicing open of your belly!

Answer: Karate-do

I'm not sure if you noticed, but all of the martial arts listed had names ending in '-do'. The '-do' stands for 'the way', and is represented by the same character as the Chinese Tao (Dao) of Taoism. Hence, karate-do would be called 'the way of the empty hand'. Cool huh?

Answer: Judo

Judo is an offshoot of the art of Jujitsu, a name which means 'the gentle art'. With judo, the primary goal is to get your opponent off-balance so you can give them a toss. I would say that the practice of judo is anything but gentle...

Answer: False

I'm afraid that this is a rotten little trick question. Although it is common knowledge that the Japanese use a currency called the 'Yen', the term yen, meaning 'a craving', comes to us from Chinese. Back during the 19th century, when opium was the hot thing in China, a slang term developed for the addiction, namely 'yen-yen'.

This term was derived from the Cantonese words for opium (yin) and 'to crave' (yan). Eventually 'yen-yen' was abbreviated to 'yen'...and now is commonly used to express a relatively normal craving or desire for something, but nothing too extreme...for example, "I have a yen for creating quizzes at Quizzyland."

Answer: Soy

The word 'soy' comes to us, via the Dutch, from the Japanese term 'shoyu'. The Japanese, in turn, borrowed the term from the Chinese 'shi-yu' meaning 'soy bean oil'. As you may have guessed, soy beans came to Japan from China (through Korea).

Answer: Rudyard Kipling

Kipling's short story 'The Phantom 'Rickshaw', from 1885, helped immerse this word into the Western vocabulary. Its origin can be found in Japanese, with the term 'jinrikshaw' (jin = man, riki = power, sha = carriage). Sadly, the 'man' was cut out of the Western term...no credit at all for his labor.

Answer: Obi

Shame on you if you are a crossword fan but didn't know this one! Double shame if you are a 'Star Wars' fan and couldn't get it!

Answer: Yes

The word 'origami' is derived from the Japanese 'ori' (to fold) and 'kami' (paper). I am good at making paper airplanes, would that count as origami? I think so...

Answer: Sashimi

Oh man, now my mouth is really watering (I sure am glad I'm almost finished here!) Sashimi is the term for the little slices of raw fish...and trust me, it's delicious! Tempura is a term for fried, battered vegetables, teppanyaki is a style of cooking similar to what you see on Benihana commercials (cooked on a teppan grill), and udon is a delicious thick wheat noodle, great in soup.

Answer: Kamikaze

This word was made famous during World War II when Japanese fighter pilots would make suicide missions against U.S. ships. Now it's used to describe a person who runs headlong, madly into something...and can suggest possible disastrous results. Phew...hope you enjoyed this learning experience, I know I did. Thanks for playing!