Japan

The "yang" (羊) in yokan means lamb. Originally a food made with lamb's blood in China, it was reinvented with red bean paste in Japan, where a 1,200-year meat ban made slaughtering sheep impossible. This version persists to this day.

During Japan's 1,200-year meat-eating ban, people devised creative loopholes. They classified rabbits as birds by calling their ears "wings," dubbed wild boar "mountain whale" to pass it off as fish, and claimed ducks were fish because they had webbed feet.

Every winter, 'snow monsters' up to 5-6 meters tall appear on Japan's Tohoku mountains. Siberian winds carry moisture that becomes supercooled droplets, freezing instantly upon hitting trees and building up over weeks into towering ice formations called juhyo.

The Yagi-Uda antenna, invented in Japan in 1926, was vital for radar, but Japan ignored it. Britain used it to gain a decisive edge in World War II. At Singapore, Japanese soldiers found "Yagi" in a British technician's notes—and asked him what it meant.

In 1503, Joseon developed cupellation — a technology to extract silver from lead ore — which was transmitted to Japan. Japan went on to produce 30% of the worlds silver, using this wealth to build national power, which ultimately returned as the Imjin War.

During World War II, the Japanese Empire devised the "Fugu Plan" to resettle Jewish immigrants in Manchuria, hoping their capital would develop the region. In reality, most who arrived were impoverished refugees, and the plan failed.

During the Imjin War, Mozambican soldiers served under the Ming dynasty. Called "Sea Ghosts," they dove underwater to puncture holes in Japanese warships. The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty recorded them as having "faces black as lacquer, lurking beneath the sea."

Oda Nobunaga gave a Mozambican slave brought by an Italian missionary the name "Yasuke" and the title of samurai. Yasuke learned Japanese culture within two years and fought in battles, making him the first known foreign samurai in history.

Pufferfish venom blocks sodium channels in nerves, while monkshood venom activates them. Because the two poisons work in opposite ways, taking them together delays their effects. In 1986, a murderer in Japan exploited this principle to delay the time of death and fabricate an alibi.

The "Bataan Death March" during the Pacific War killed about 20,000 prisoners due to one officer's forgery. Japanese Lt. Colonel Tsuji Masanobu changed the order from "guard prisoners" to "execute prisoners." He was never punished and became a bestselling author and politician.

The 1937 Marco Polo Bridge Incident sparked the Second Sino-Japanese War when a Japanese soldier went missing during roll call. He had just gone to the bathroom with diarrhea, returning 20 minutes later. But the military attacked China anyway, starting a war that killed millions.

Walking with same-side arm and leg moving together (lateral walk) is actually the most common gait among mammals — dogs, cats, elephants, and deer all walk this way. In Edo-period Japan, people also walked this way, using a style called "nanba."

Korea's 17th-century text 'Jibong Yuseol' records that chili peppers were introduced from Japan, while Japan's 'Yamato Honzō' claims seeds were brought back from Korea during Hideyoshi's invasion. Both countries believe chili peppers came from the other.