Osaka-prefecture translation
Osaka-prefecture
Comedy and takoyaki
Usually comprised of two people, the funny man and the straight man, that make the guests laugh by having funny conversation, the manzai. They occasionally use tools and such, performing pretty funny (or somewhat funny, see below) plays, the skits. These “comedys”, also popular on TV thrive (there we go, weekly さかん) especially in Osaka.
Osaka’s performance culture, kabuki* and bunraku**, going on since the olden days, might have had an influence on this.
Also, Osaka is called the town of “kuidaore”. “Kuidaore” means spending so much by eating, that you become poor, but it’s only said about Osaka, because of how many different delicious things there are.
There is a food, that spread across all of Japan, known as the taste of the Osaka commoners’ food. That is the takoyaki. Eating piping hot takoyaki, while repeatedly blowing it is fun, isn’t it?
* Kabuki… A play unique to Japan done in the Edo period
** Bunraku… A play accompanied by Shumisen (Japanese lute), where they used (lit.: puppeted, but sounds bad) puppets.
Questions:
❶ Who are the funny man and the straight man, that have funny conversations, making guests laugh? Circle the correct answer!
ア Manzai
イ Konto
❷ What are kabuki and bunraku? Fill in the blanks!
❸ Fill in the blank, so that it’s a correct sentence about “Kuidaore”.
❹ What is the food, that’s spread all accross Japan as the Osaka commoners’ food?
So because the funniest of them all is of course Japanese, ちょっとした is either slightly or quite:

so what tells me exactly which? Not sure, please do tell me.
Hyougo-prefecture translation
Hyougo-prefecture
The birth of lemonlime
Everyone, do you like lemon-lime?
It is said, that the origin of lemon-lime is in Arima onsen in the Hyougo-prefecture, where sugar was added to the “carbonated spring”.
This lemon-lime was at first sold with the name “Teppoumizu (gun water)”. They say it was because if you put the lemon-lime in a bottle and put the cap on, the strength of the carbonated water would shoot the cap off.
Questions:
❶ Fill in the blank so that it’s a correct sentence about lemon-lime!
❷ What is in lemon-lime, that made the bottles filled with it have their cap shot off? Fill in the four characters!
Nara-prefecture translation
Nara-prefecture
The Great Buddha and deers
Long ago, the period, before the capital was moved to Kyoto is called the Nara period, when the capital was in Nara.
During that period, at the wish of the emperor, the Great Buddha of the Todaiji Temple was created. This Great Buddha has a height of approximately 15 meters. To create this Great Buddha, 2,600,000 people were involved in the construction.
A lot of wild deer live in the Nara park at the Todaji temple. Said to be the familiars of the gods, these carefully protected deer have been living in the area for a long time.
Questions:
❶ What moved from Nara to Kyoto a long time ago? Circle the one correct option!
ア The capital
イ The Great Buddha
ウ The Nara park (lol)
❷ What is there a lot of living in the Nara park? Fill in the five characters!