It actually has to do with the evolution of sounds over the past 1500 years, and the transliteration of the name across at least 3 languages (most likely through Mandarin Chinese, Malay, and Portuguese). Dictionary.com has a fairly succinct explanation--http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/japan (scroll down about halfway).
It's probably based off of the Chinese "riben" 日本,which means "sun origin". It is pronounced somewhat similar to Japan and probably is why in English we call it Japan.
There's a ton of countries whose names are completely different from their English words. China is Zhongguo, Finland is Suomi, Hungary is Magyarorszag, etc.
Mistransliteration you mean. I don't think it's world-ending to accept 'saki' as an additional type-in. This isn't a spelling quiz, it's a knowledge of Japan quiz.
Nihonshu will work now. Funny story. When I was in Japan we ordered sake. At some point, glasses of ice water arrive, and then the rest of the meal. At the end of the meal we realize that we never got any sake. Then I taste the water. It was like watered-down vodka. And that's how I learned that sake is just generic alcohol in Japan.
I'm Japanese and have been speaking English since very young; I translated for a living for a while... and i still don't understand why non-Japanese people thinks "sake" refers to our rice wine. Sake simply means alcoholic beverage in Japanese, hence wine, beer, other brews like vodka is a sake for us.
Nihonshu, shochu, is what we call our rice wines....
Thankyou for that slice of knowledge. The 'sake' = 'rice wine' misinformation has been around for a long time, this is the first time I've been truly informed.
Well, words get different meanings in other languages, so there's nothing wrong with sake meaning rice wine in English. But I agree it's a bit strange on a quiz about Japan.
Strictly speaking, tokyo is not japan's capital. Japan simply does not have any official capital city.
http://houseikyoku.sangiin.go.jp/column/column081.htm "There are no laws to define where Japan's capital is since 1868 because Tokyo was built to stabilize East and North." the Legislative Bureau House of Councillors
After "anime" didn't work, I had nothing. Never heard of "manga" until now. Loved "Speed Racer" growing up. Never knew it was Japanese until decades later.
Plum blossom or Ume is also a celebrated tree blossom, although less popular than this one. Wonder if that would have been accepted (went for the more popular one).
Please check out my Top 10 Japanese cities by population
Also I thought that Football (especially womens) was a pretty popular sport in Japan
Nihonshu, shochu, is what we call our rice wines....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuCn8ux2gbs
http://houseikyoku.sangiin.go.jp/column/column081.htm "There are no laws to define where Japan's capital is since 1868 because Tokyo was built to stabilize East and North." the Legislative Bureau House of Councillors
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_islands_of_Japan#Main_islands
I love Japan - it's my favourite country. I can't wait to go back.
Osaka has 2,7 million.