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Are you a eater? If so, do you ever pick out any treats from lakes, rivers, , or oceans? When it comes to , there's an to choose from.

Would you like a bass? How about a tuna sandwich? Perhaps something more , such as eel, swordfish, or shark? Or maybe you don't want to eat something , like a fish.

If vegetables are more to your liking, then some healthy, seaweed might be more to your liking. "Eww! Seaweed!" We can hear the and already.

Yes, seaweed might not seem very appetizing to some of you, but there are millions of people around the world who consider it a . Would you be willing to give it a try?

There's one particular type of seaweed grown off the coast of a small island near Japan that has become quite famous. It's called mozuku, and some people believe it's the closest we may get to a fountain of youth.

Known scientifically as Cladosiphon okamuranus, mozuku has become a staple in the diets of the people of Okinawa, the small island where 99% of the world's supply is grown. It's also popular throughout Japan and many other areas of the world.

Sold in supermarkets and served in restaurants, mozuku is usually eaten as a side dish with added to give it a sharper taste. In addition to a of vitamins and minerals, mozuku is famous for containing large amounts of fucoidan.

Fucoidan is a sulfated polysaccharide molecule that has been found to suppress tumors in laboratory tests. It also has anti-coagulant properties. Scientists continue to test ways in which mozuku might be used to fight cancer.

Some scientists believe eating mozuku can improve health and help to fight off cancer and other diseases, which could increase how long you live. The data appears to support their views, since people from Okinawa tend to have the longest human life expectancy of any people on Earth.

Unfortunately, mozuku production has decreased in recent years. Scientists believe higher water temperatures around Okinawa are to blame.

Researchers from the Marine Genomics Unit of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University have decoded the DNA of a specific strain of mozuku. In doing so, they hope to be able to genetically engineer a new of mozuku that can withstand higher water temperatures.

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Are you a eater? If so, do you ever pick out any treats from lakes, rivers, , or oceans? When it comes to , there's an to choose from. Would you like a bass? How about a tuna sandwich? Perhaps something more , such as eel, swordfish, or shark?

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Today's Wonder of the Day was inspired by Annie. Annie Wonders, " What do people eat around the world for dessert??? " Thanks for WONDERing with us, Annie!

Do you have a sweet tooth? Most kids love chicken nuggets, cheeseburgers, and pizza. But what about ?

When your meal is , do you yearn for a sweet ? Perhaps some ice cream? Or is a slice of pie or a piece of cake more to your liking?

If you live in Japan, there may be an different sweet you look forward to. Especially popular as a way to the New Year, mochi is a Japanese that has become a new favorite around the world.

The Japanese like watching mochi being made about as much as they like eating it. Mochi is usually made by traditional who steamed rice in a large wooden (called an usu) with a wooden (called a kine). The Japanese call this process mochi-tsuki.

Unlike the regular rice you might be used to eating, mochi is made from a very sweet, type of rice known as mochigome. Mochi dates back to the 8 th century when it was first made as an to the gods at local .

Pieces of mochi, although small, pack a punch. One small cake of mochi about the size of a is the equivalent of eating a whole bowl of rice. For this reason, mochi became popular among the Samurai, who needed portable food that would sustain them for long periods of time.

Today, mochi is still known as a symbol of good fortune and happy marriages. This explains why it's so popular during Japanese New Year celebrations.

A new version of mochi combined with ice cream has become a popular around the world. In fact, many people now associate mochi with ice cream rather than the traditional rice cake.

Before you try mochi, you should be warned that it can be dangerous. The , chewy rice cakes must be chewed thoroughly before swallowing. Unfortunately, young children and elderly adults who have trouble chewing or swallowing have been known to choke and suffocate on mochi.

Each year, mochi is responsible for several deaths. This has prompted Japanese officials to issue warnings annually around the time of New Year celebrations to make people aware of the dangers of mochi, the "silent killer."

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Today's Wonder of the Day was inspired by Annie. Annie Wonders, " What do people eat around the world for dessert??? " Thanks for WONDERing with us, Annie! Do you have a sweet tooth? Most kids love chicken nuggets, cheeseburgers, and pizza. But what about ?

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Reading a book is simple, right? You pick up the book, turn to the first page, start at the upper left-hand side and read from left to right, top to bottom. But have you ever stopped to wonder if everyone in the world reads the same way?

English speakers read and write from left to right. Why? Well, there's not really a good reason except that's what the ancient Greeks decided was best.

Long, long ago, Greek scholars tested many different methods of reading and writing words on tablets. Based on their experiments, they decided that reading and writing left to right and top to bottom was easiest. So that's what they did.

When the ancient Romans conquered the Greeks, they applied the same rules to Latin. Since most Western languages, such as English, are based on Greek or Latin, we have followed their lead in reading and writing left to right and top to bottom.

Believe it or not, though, there are millions of people around the world who read in completely different ways. Let's take a look at some of these unique styles of reading.

Both Arabic and Hebrew are read and written from right to left. Many East Asian languages, such as Chinese and Japanese, can be read and written from right to left, as well as vertically - from top to bottom.

For example, traditional Chinese and Japanese texts were written vertically in columns, going from top to bottom and right to left. Scholars believe this practice developed due to the ease of writing with a brush in the right hand while the left hand continually unrolled a scroll to the left.

Times are changing, though. Today, it's becoming more and more common for these languages to be written horizontally (side to side) from left to right.

Experts believe this change is the result of the increasing of English, as well as the common use of computerized word processing systems that don't support right-to-left formatting .

One place children may encounter a right-to-left form of writing is in comic books. Japanese comics - called "manga" - often use text. These comics also often have frames and pages that flow right to left.

And just when you think you've seen all the ways people read and write, don't forget the ancient Egyptians! Instead of using words, they often used pictures in their unique called " hieroglyphics ."

Instead of one standard format, the ancient Egyptians would write hieroglyphics in any direction - right to left, left to right or up and down - that happened to be convenient and pleasing to the eye.

If you happen to see hieroglyphics written horizontally, you can tell which way to read the passage by looking at the people and animals in the glyphs. The people and animals always face toward the beginning of the line!

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Reading a book is simple, right? You pick up the book, turn to the first page, start at the upper left-hand side and read from left to right, top to bottom. But have you ever stopped to wonder if everyone in the world reads the same way?

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Do you love the beach? Perhaps you've daydreamed from time to time about taking an extended vacation in a . Maybe that daydream featured you swinging in a along the shore of an island. Some people even fantasize about owning a little boat they can use to hop from island to island, eating bananas fresh off the trees and soaking up the sun's rays all day long!

If this sounds like the perfect plan to you, then your dreams might one day be fulfilled by a visit to one of the world's many archipelagos. Archi...what? That's right! We said archipelagos. That's what we're talking about today in Wonderopolis.

Archipelago is a fancy geographical term for a chain or group of islands scattered across a body of water. Although archipelagos can be found in large lakes or rivers, they're most often found in the world's oceans.

Several large modern countries are actually archipelagos. Some examples of these include Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

Many of the world's archipelagos consist of islands that were formed as a result of eruptions of volcanoes on the ocean floor. Scientists call these types of archipelagos island arcs, since several islands are often formed in a particular area known as a "hot spot."

In these areas, the Earth's crust shifted at some time in the past, but the " hot spot" of volcanic activity didn't move. As a result, volcanic eruptions formed an of new islands that reveals the direction the Earth's crust moved.

The Hawaiian Islands are an example of an archipelago that is also an island . They sit over an active "hot spot," and the Pacific plate that lies under the area continues to shift northwest. This means there will continue to be new islands added to the current chain, which now consists of over 130 islands, reefs, and atolls.

Archipelagos can be formed in other ways, too. For example, some archipelagos were formed long ago when the last ice age ended. Valleys amongst small mountain ranges along some coastlines became flooded when the ice melted, leaving a string of islands just off the coast of the mainland.

Still other archipelagos were formed as a result of a process known as post-glacial . In these instances, land that was formerly crushed under the weight of massive glaciers began to expand and retake its former shape when the glaciers melted.

For example, the more than 50,000 islands in the Archipelago Sea in Finland formed this way. The process is still ongoing and new islands continue to pop up even to this day. Many of the islands in the Archipelago Sea are tiny, taking up less than an .

The Malay Archipelago , which sits between the Pacific and Indian Oceans off the coasts of Indonesia and Malaysia, is the world's largest archipelago . Its more than 25,000 islands used to be part of mainland Asia and appeared after glaciers disappeared after the last ice age.

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Do you love the beach? Perhaps you've daydreamed from time to time about taking an extended vacation in a . Maybe that daydream featured you swinging in a along the shore of an island.

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If an alien came to Earth and asked you to describe trees, what would you say? What kinds of things about trees stick out to you...besides their branches, of course? In addition to talking about woody trunks and leafy branches, you'd probably talk about how TALL they can be.

But not all trees are tall. In fact, some trees are specifically grown and cultivated in a way to create beautiful, , versions of what would otherwise be large trees.

We call this practice the Japanese art form of . comes from the Japanese words meaning "plantings in tray." This accurately describes , which are trees and shrubs grown in small containers.

Some people misunderstand . Some believe that are one specific type of tree that only grows in a form. Others believe that is a general term for any type of tree.

According to Japanese tradition, though, is a specific art form with its own goals and methods. is not meant to produce food or medicine or gardens. Instead, it is focused on the careful growth and shaping of individual trees in a container.

has been around hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Picture scrolls from the 1300s have been found that feature .

Just about any woody tree or shrub that has branches can be used for . Even though some of these trees or shrubs might usually grow to be quite large, techniques keep the tree in a form through confinement to a small container.

Trees with small leaves or needles make particularly-good specimens for . Some of the most popular tree species used for include needle junipers, firs, birches, pomegranates and Japanese red pines and maples.

Careful and artful is one of the key elements of . The upper branches must be pruned with care to create a tree with natural beauty. of the roots is also often necessary to encourage plant health while still restricting growth.

Engaging in the art form of is much more complicated than growing your average potted flower. Artfully crafting takes commitment , as well as significant knowledge of the trees involved and an eye for the tree's natural beauty. The end goal is a tree that expresses the beauty, shape and style of the full-size version of the tree.

Although comes from Japan, it has grown as an art form all around the world. You may even be able to find enthusiasts near where you live. Botanical gardens all over the world often feature exhibits. If you ever get the chance, be sure to check them out. You'll be amazed by these , living works of art!

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If an alien came to Earth and asked you to describe trees, what would you say? What kinds of things about trees stick out to you...besides their branches, of course? In addition to talking about woody trunks and leafy branches, you'd probably talk about how TALL they can be.

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Have you ever heard someone say that a picture is worth a thousand words? It may seem like a at first, but if you give it some thought, it makes a lot of .

Have you ever looked back at an old picture of yourself with some friends and family members? The memories and emotions an old picture can up help to explain the old . It might even take you more than a thousand words to the feelings you get from such a picture.

In fact, a picture or any simple can help to feelings and emotions that you might not be able to adequately with words alone. If you've ever communicated with someone via email, text message, or some other form of electronic messaging, then you know that words alone don't always allow you to communicate effectively .

Fortunately , our computers and smartphones today are packed with all sorts of simple images that we can insert into messages to help communicate more effectively . We call them emojis, and kids today might have a hard time imagining a time when people had to communicate without the of emojis.

It's true, though. As recently as the late 1990s, we had to mostly on words to communicate with others. Can you imagine? Fortunately , all that changed in 1998 when a Japanese man named Shigetaka Kurita invented emojis.

Kurita worked for NTT DoCoMo, a big Japanese mobile communications company. He was part of a team tasked with developing the company's first mobile Internet system. Their system limited users to 250 characters in messages, so Kurita thought emojis would allow users to communicate more effectively while using less data.

The first set of emojis contained 176 very simple, 12- by 12- images that expressed a variety of emotions and ideas, including emojis for things like the weather, foods, drinks, feelings, and moods. Kurita took inspiration from Japanese comics (manga) and the logographic Chinese characters used in the modern Japanese writing system (kanji).

The word emoji literally means "picture" (e) "character" (moji). Emojis are different than emoticons. Emoticons have a similar , but they're composed using regular characters. For example, you can create a smiley face using a colon, a dash, and a parenthesis: :-). Emojis, on the other hand, are actual pictures or icons.

Kurita's emojis were a huge hit in Japan, and they soon were adopted by other Japanese technology companies. It took a while for them to spread to other technology platforms in other countries, however.

The popularity of emojis in the United States is attributed largely to their inclusion by Apple in its iOS operating system in the late 2000s. The emoji floodgates truly opened in 2010 when emojis were standardized by Unicode, which is the universal standard for character-based electronic communication. Standardization meant that technology companies, such as Microsoft, Google, Twitter, and Facebook, could develop their own emojis that could be recognized regardless of operating system.

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Have you ever heard someone say that a picture is worth a thousand words? It may seem like a at first, but if you give it some thought, it makes a lot of . Have you ever looked back at an old picture of yourself with some friends and family members?

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If you've ever been to a Japanese or Chinese restaurant, you may have experienced a set of utensils. Instead of a fork, you may have been handed two long sticks. What are we talking about? Chopsticks , of course!

Chopsticks are pairs of sticks that are used as the eating utensils in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Experts believe they originated in China. Today, they're also widely used in other countries with significant Chinese populations, including Tibet, Nepal, Thailand, Laos, and Burma.

Chopsticks are meant to be held by the hand and used to pick up food. It can take a bit of practice to get comfortable using chopsticks to eat. With a little work, though, you'll be eating with chopsticks in no time.

In China, chopsticks are called kuaizi, which is a word up of characters that mean "quick" and "." The English word " chopsticks " may have developed from a common that means quickly: chop chop.

Chopsticks have been around for over 5,000 years. For example, a pair of chopsticks from 1200 B.C. has been found in China. Experts believe the earliest chopsticks were likely used in cooking to stir a fire or serve food rather than as eating utensils.

If you've ever used a pair of to pick up food while cooking, you've got the basic idea behind chopsticks . Chopsticks are like small meant to be held with one hand to pick up food while eating.

Because of the popularity of chopsticks , many Chinese and Japanese dishes feature foods that are prepared in small pieces. This helps those using chopsticks to easily grab pieces of food. Can you imagine trying to pick up a hamburger with chopsticks ? That probably wouldn't be very easy!

So, how do you actually eat with chopsticks ? There are many videos online to show you exactly how, but the gist is this: hold two chopsticks the way you would hold a pencil. Use your index to control the movement of the upper chopstick. Only one chopstick moves while the other bottom one remains firmly in place using your thumb muscle. Clamp down on food by pushing your index downward. When you've got a good grip on your food, move it towards your mouth. Don't squeeze too hard or you could cause the food to drop from the chopsticks !

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Today's Wonder of the Day may tie your fingers in knots!

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Need to get somewhere in a hurry? If you're going to a friend's house, the answer might be to ride your bicycle. But what if you need to get somewhere over a hundred miles away?

If you need to travel a long distance quickly, you might think first of an airplane. Today, though, it may be a good idea to think about trains, too.

Trains? Really? Have you ever been stuck at a crossing, waiting for a slow-moving train to pass by? If so, you may not think of trains as a quick way to get from one place to another. However, today's passenger trains can be a comfortable way to travel long distances quickly. Some trains may get you from one place to another just as quickly as an airplane. Taking the train may also be cheaper, too.

Have you ever used a subway system in a big city? If so, you already know that trains can be a quick and easy way to get around. Today's modern aboveground trains are also catching up. They can be the best way to get to other big cities without driving or flying.

In the United States, Amtrak's Acela Express can reach a top speed of 150 miles per hour. That makes it the fastest train in the United States. However, it makes many stops. It also moves along aging, curved tracks. For that reason, the train's speed on an actual trip is about 80 miles per hour.

In other parts of the world, though, high-speed rail passenger trains can move much faster. In fact, many call them "bullet trains" because of their high speeds. Bullet trains in China, Japan, South Korea, and Russia regularly 200 miles per hour.

Some of the fastest trains in the world - called Maglev trains - use a special technology known as levitation . These trains use fields to levitate them above special tracks that them along quickly. For example, Japan's Series L0 MagLev train is currently the fastest train in the world. It travels at 375 miles per hour!

Compared to riding in a car on the interstate at 70 miles per hour, you can see how a trip by train could be much quicker! What do you think it would be like to travel on one of the world's fastest trains? Where would they take you?

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Need to get somewhere in a hurry? If you're going to a friend's house, the answer might be to ride your bicycle. But what if you need to get somewhere over a hundred miles away? If you need to travel a long distance quickly, you might think first of an airplane.

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When many people think of "," they immediately think "raw fish." If you think you can bait a hook and catch wild , though, you're fishing in the wrong stream.

The term for raw fish is " sashimi," and it's not the same thing as . In fact, doesn't necessarily have to contain any fish at all!

The key ingredient of is sticky rice seasoned with sweet rice wine . To make , chefs wrap sticky rice with seaweed (called " nori") and shape it into packages.

often includes fish (raw or cooked), as well as other types of seafood, vegetables and flavorings. There are hundreds of different kinds of .

Most people who enjoy know that it's considered a Japanese . Experts believe it actually was invented in China, though.

As far back as the 4th century B.C., began as a way to raw fish. The ancient Chinese would flatten raw fish, place it in salt, it with rice and then weigh it down with stones.

The preserved fish could then be kept for several months to several years. When it was eaten, the rice would be thrown away.

Eventually, this preservation technique made its way to Japan. The Japanese began to eat the rice along with the preserved fish, and the modern form of was born!

The Japanese word "" originally meant "sour" or "vinegary" and later came to mean "pickled fish." Today, it means "with rice."

is usually served with salty-tasting soy sauce and , which is a spicy green Japanese horseradish sauce. is very nutritious. An average serving has about 300 to 450 calories.

Rice provides carbohydrates, seaweed contains , fish has proteins and omega-3 fatty acids , and vegetables supply vitamins - all important nutrients for a healthy diet.

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When many people think of "," they immediately think "raw fish." If you think you can bait a hook and catch wild , though, you're fishing in the wrong stream. The term for raw fish is " sashimi," and it's not the same thing as .

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If you've ever taken a bath or swum in a lake or pool, you've probably enjoyed creating your own waves. Unlike solid objects, water is and easy to move around. The harder you push with your hands, the bigger the waves will be.

Now imagine what happens in the ocean when an earthquake occurs underground. If you've ever felt an earthquake or seen one on television, you know that they have the power to shake the ground and move large buildings.

When an earthquake occurs under the ocean floor, the earthquake 's massive energy is transferred to the water above it, creating a series of water waves called a . The word comes from the Japanese words tsu (harbor) and nami (wave).

In addition to earthquakes, tsunamis can be caused by other events that generate enough energy to displace a large volume of water, such as eruptions, landslides, meteors, and even underwater tests of devices. Given the frequent earthquake and activity in the Pacific Rim, tsunamis happen often in Japan.

Tragically, because of the huge amounts of water and energy involved, tsunamis can cause tremendous damage to coastal areas. On December 26, 2004, a massive earthquake in the Indian Ocean caused a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of the areas bordering the Indian Ocean. One of the deadliest natural disasters in history, waves up to 100 feet high crashed into coastal communities, killing over 230,000 people in 14 countries, including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand.

You may recall the earthquake and that occurred in Japan on March 11, 2011. That resulted in mass destruction including a power plant that released into the Pacific Ocean.

Normal ocean waves created by the wind have an average wavelength (measured from crest to crest) of approximately 330 feet and an average height of about 6.6 feet. A , on the other hand, can have a wavelength of 120 miles or more. Traveling at up to 500 miles per hour in the deep ocean, a 's height might only be as little as 3 feet, making it almost impossible to detect, even for a ship in the area.

As a approaches a , though, things begin to change dramatically. As it approaches shallow waters, an effect known as wave shoaling compresses and slows the wave to below 50 miles per hour. Wavelength also decreases dramatically, but - the height of the wave - increases greatly, leading to the unmistakable wall of water that causes such destruction along coastlines.

Approximately 80% of tsunamis happen in the Pacific Ocean, although they're possible in any large body of water, including lakes. Tsunamis cannot be prevented and can rarely be predicted with . In the event of an earthquake , oceanographers, geologists, and seismologists often urge potentially-affected areas to issue warnings.

Regions that experience tsunamis regularly have developed warning systems to give as much advance warning as possible to people who live along the . In Japan, for example, coastal communities are well-educated about earthquakes and tsunamis. Japanese shorelines feature warning signs and warning sirens atop nearby hills.

Although tsunamis cannot be prevented, some - countries use engineering lessons learned from earthquakes to reduce shoreline damage. Many Japanese coastal communities have built walls, floodgates, and channels to block or redirect water from incoming tsunamis.

One of the best ways to make a coast -proof, though, is quite natural: plant trees! Scientists noticed that some locations in the path of the 2004 Indian Ocean suffered little damage because trees, such as coconut palms and mangroves, absorbed the 's energy. In fact, one small Indian village saw little damage because the broke against a forest of over 80,000 trees that had been planted along the shoreline just two years earlier in an attempt to set a Guinness World Record.

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Surfers beware! Today's Wonder of the Day features a wave that you won't want to catch. Find out what happens when the Earth quakes and the oceans roar...

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As you're sleeping one night, your sweet dreams are suddenly interrupted by an unwelcome . A mysterious masked man in black appears behind you. You take off running. You turn here and there but he's always behind you, moving quickly without a sound.

You turn to face the man in black, who now has a sword drawn. He raises his sword and jumps into the air. He's about to deliver a brutal karate kick. Suddenly, you sit up in bed, breathing heavily. Whew! It was just a dream.

Now that you're awake, you know who your attacker was. He was a ninja! All the telltale signs are there: all-black clothing, stealth, sword, and martial arts. Yes, definitely a ninja!

Ninjas are popular characters today. Kids dress up as ninjas for Halloween. Movies, television shows, and books are written about them. The word ninja even comes up in talk of teenage mutant turtles, kitchen blenders, and motorcycles. But are ninjas even real?

If you're a fan of ninjas, you'll be pleased to know that ninjas were indeed real. However, the real ninjas of the past were probably nothing like today's . In fact, they weren't even called ninjas! The ninjas of ancient Japan were called shinobis. The word "ninja" is a Chinese term. It wasn't used until the 20th Century.

Shinobi lived in Japan between the 15th and 17th Centuries. They were in two areas of Japan: Iga and Koga. The surrounding these two villages were ruled by samurai. To stay free of these warlords, people in Iga and Koga trained in the art of ninjutsu. They learned skills like stealth, intelligence gathering, and assassination.

The shinobi acted as spies and professional warriors. They also relied on weapons. They used explosives, poison gases, swords, knives, and bows. Some experts think of them as the of samurai. While samurai fought in the open, shinobi acted in secret.

What about those masks and all-black outfits? They're a creation. The shinobi would've worn clothing that helped them blend in wherever they were. Sometimes, an all-black outfit would've made them stand out from the crowd.

The shinobi faded away after the 17th century. Legends about them grew. People told tales of special abilities. They said the shinobi had invisibility and could walk on water. Our of the ninja is based on these old stories. Now you know that the true shinobi were very different!

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As you're sleeping one night, your sweet dreams are suddenly interrupted by an unwelcome . A mysterious masked man in black appears behind you. You take off running. You turn here and there but he's always behind you, moving quickly without a sound. You turn to face the man in black, who now has a sword drawn.

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When it's time for dinner, what do you hope to see on the dinner table? Fried chicken? Roast and potatoes? Pizza? Spaghetti and meatballs? How about raw fish, vegetables, and rice?

If you're a fan of sushi, then raw fish, vegetables, and rice might be at the top of your list. Kids and adults alike enjoy the many flavors of the Asian known as sushi.

If you've ever had sushi, then there's a good chance you've also tried a spicy green paste that usually accompanies sushi. What are we talking about? Wasabi, of course!

Wasabi tends to go with sushi like ketchup goes with French fries. It isn't red and sweet, though. Instead, it's a green paste that packs a spicy, .

Real wasabi comes from the wasabi plant, known by different names, such as Wasabia japonica and Eutrema wasabi. It grows naturally in cold, wet areas under tree cover, such as natural springs and rivers in deep valleys in Japan. It's rare to find wasabi plants outside Japan, although they have been found in places like China, Taiwan, Korea, and New Zealand.

Unfortunately, it's difficult to the unique combination of conditions that wasabi plants in. It can also take wasabi plants up to three years to reach . As a result, wasabi is considered by many experts to be the most difficult plant to grow commercially .

This fact makes real wasabi . A can cost approximately $100. A serving of real wasabi with your sushi can add $3-$5 to your bill.

To make real wasabi, the root-like stems (called rhizomes) of the plant are grated with a circular motion. Doing so creates a green paste and releases isothiocyanates, which create a hot vapor. Real wasabi must be served immediately upon grating, because it loses its spicy flavor within 15-20 minutes.

If you've ever had real wasabi, you know that it's hot, but it's not hot like hot peppers, for example. Instead of hitting the mouth, wasabi's heat mainly affects the nose and nasal passages. Unlike the heat of hot peppers, wasabi's heat tends to dissipate quickly, leaving a sweet aftertaste.

You may have noticed that we've been talking about "real" wasabi up to this point. Is there such a thing as "" wasabi? Unfortunately, there is. In fact, most of the wasabi consumed in the United States isn't made from real wasabi plants. Some experts believe that only about 5% of the wasabi served in restaurants around the world is real wasabi.

Because wasabi plants are so difficult to grow and real wasabi is so as a result, most of the wasabi consumed in the U.S. and many other areas around the world is . What's it made of? Most wasabi is a mixture of horseradish powder, mustard powder, cornstarch, and green food coloring.

This combination of ingredients seeks to imitate the and spiciness of real wasabi. In reality, it ends up being hotter and spicier, affecting the tongue and mouth rather than the nose. Real wasabi tends to be smoother and milder.

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When it's time for dinner, what do you hope to see on the dinner table? Fried chicken? Roast and potatoes? Pizza? Spaghetti and meatballs? How about raw fish, vegetables, and rice? If you're a fan of sushi, then raw fish, vegetables, and rice might be at the top of your list.

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Do you love to out loud at the top of your lungs to your favorite song? Who doesn't, right? can move the soul, so it's no WONDER that people love to out when their favorite tune comes on.

But do you out loud at the top of your lungs to your favorite in front of your friends? Or do you your performances to the shower or your room when you're alone? Do you think you're brave enough to in front of your friends or an of strangers?

Believe it or not, singing along to your favorite songs in front of friends and strangers has become a very popular pastime. What are we talking about? Karaoke, of course!

Popular legend has it that got its start over two decades ago in Kobe, Japan. No one knows its origins for certain, but many people believe began when a snack bar owner had trouble with a local who regularly failed to show up to play for guests.

The snack bar owner supposedly created tapes of popular without the vocals and would play them any time the failed to show up. Customers began to the vocals to their favorite tracks and a new form of entertainment was born.

is a Japanese word that comes from the combination of the words for "empty" and "orchestra." "Empty orchestra" accurately describes karaoke, which consists of music-only tracks played while people the vocals to the while following the lyrics displayed on a screen.

quickly became popular throughout Japan. It didn't stay a Japanese phenomenon for long, though. Today, is popular all over the world. machines allow people to be pretend pop stars at home, at parties, or even in public restaurants!

While can be very entertaining to participate in and especially to watch, it can also be educational. Japanese enthusiasts not only Japanese songs, but also popular western songs. By doing so, they have fun while also practicing their English skills!

If you've never tried karaoke, you should! It can be so much fun. And it doesn't matter whether you can well or not. The fun comes from enjoying the company of friends while doing something outside your comfort zone. In a normal atmosphere, no one worries about how well you sing. Most people just appreciate that you give it a try!

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Do you love to out loud at the top of your lungs to your favorite song? Who doesn't, right? can move the soul, so it's no WONDER that people love to out when their favorite tune comes on. But do you out loud at the top of your lungs to your favorite in front of your friends?

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Today's Wonder of the Day was inspired by Abby. Abby Wonders, " What is a haiku? " Thanks for WONDERing with us, Abby!
Nice to see you friend. Are you ready to WONDER? It's time for haiku.
Did you like our ? Since it doesn't , it probably doesn't sound like most of the poems you may have heard. It's a special kind of called a haiku.

Much like a , a haiku captures a moment in time. The main is usually a or description . Traditional Japanese haiku typically describe , while English haiku include many different subjects.

A haiku contains 17 syllables in three lines of . A is a of language that consists of an unbroken sound used to make up words. For example, the word "cat" contains one , "" contains two syllables, and "beautiful" contains three syllables.

The 17 syllables in a haiku are divided up in a particular way. The first line of a haiku contains five syllables. The second line features seven syllables. The last line returns to five syllables.

Unlike many other forms of , haiku poems do not need to . For a challenge, though, some haiku poets will try to the first and third lines.

Exploring the of haiku can be a great way to introduce writers to the world of . The poems are short and simple, and they on one , item, or moment in time.

Here are a couple of examples of haiku by Matsuo Bashō, a famous Japanese haiku poet from the 17th century:
An old silent pond... A frog jumps into the pond, splash! Silence again. Autumn moonlight - a worm digs silently into the chestnut.

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Today's Wonder of the Day was inspired by Abby. Abby Wonders, " What is a haiku? " Thanks for WONDERing with us, Abby! Nice to see you friend. Are you ready to WONDER? It's time for haiku. Did you like our ?

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Have you ever made a paper airplane? How about a paper basket or butterfly? It's so much fun to make crafts with paper. In fact, there's an Japanese art form to making things with paper. It's called origami!

Origami comes from the Japanese words for "folding" and "paper." And that perfectly sums up what origami is. In origami, a person turns a flat sheet of paper into a three-dimensional . How? They do this just by folding the paper. Cuts and glue are not allowed!

Origami started in the 17th century in Japan. By the mid-1900s, it had become a popular art form worldwide. Today, artists everywhere enjoy making complex structures out of paper!

Have you ever tried origami? Anyone can learn with a little practice and . The basic number of folds is small, but they can be combined in a number of ways. With origami, you can make anything from simple boxes to complex animals. Some of the basic folds include valleys, mountains, pleats, sinks and reverse folds.

The only supply needed in origami is paper. You can find special origami paper called "kami" in craft stores. However, you don't need special paper. Any type of paper you have lying around will work. Some people even enjoy making origami with paper money!

There are many types of origami. There's action origami, with sculptures that can move. There's also origami. That's where the artist puts many pieces of origami together to make a larger structure. Another origami is called wet folding. In wet folding, paper is so it can be folded and sculpted more easily. This allows the artist to make curves that then stay crisp when the paper dries.

So, what can you make using origami? The first thing many people make is a crane. They start with a square piece of paper and end up with a graceful bird! Other popular designs include the origami tulip flower, candy box, and boat.

Origami is a very popular craft today. It helped inspire the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, which was later turned into a movie. The art form has even inspired the design of things like airbags and heart stents.

Origami sculptures can be fascinating. Some are incredibly small, but they can also be very large! The smallest origami crane was made by Mr. Naito of Japan. He used a piece of paper that measured 0.1 X 0.1 mm square. He folded into a crane using a microscope. On the other end of the spectrum, the largest origami crane weighed 1,750 pounds. It was made by a Seattle organization called Wings for Peace in 1999. The was over 215 feet wide!

Would you like to try origami? What would you make? There are plenty of patterns out there! Maybe you could make an origami of your favorite animal or insect. Or perhaps you can come up with a new design of your own!

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Have you ever made a paper airplane? How about a paper basket or butterfly? It's so much fun to make crafts with paper. In fact, there's an Japanese art form to making things with paper. It's called origami! Origami comes from the Japanese words for "folding" and "paper."

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Today's Wonder of the Day was inspired by Bushra. Bushra Wonders, " How was the anime style created? " Thanks for WONDERing with us, Bushra!

Do you like cartoons? Of course! Who doesn't, right? Most children have one or maybe even several cartoons that they love to watch.

Parents and grandparents might Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Roadrunner, and Wile E. Coyote. Today's youngsters might instead SpongeBob SquarePants.

Still others might have grown up watching Pokémon or Dragon Ball Z. If you enjoyed these shows, then it's likely you're a big fan of anime.

The word "anime" is simply an abbreviation of the word " animation." In Japan, "anime" is used to to all animation. Everywhere else in the world, people use "anime" to specifically to animation from Japan. People who like anime often also enjoy Japanese comic books, known as manga.

The earliest examples of Japanese animation can be traced back to 1917. The characteristics of the anime art we know today first emerged in the 1960s through the works of Osamu Tezuka.

If you watch anime, you'll quickly pick up on the unique look and feel of the anime art . , graphics combine with characters and spectacular storylines to create art that has become an international phenomenon over the past thirty or more years. In the United States, for example, anime began gaining popularity in the 1990s.

Anime characters usually have large, doe-like eyes and brightly-colored hair. Their movements and gestures, as well as their emotional responses, tend to be exaggerated. Historians believe anime artists may have been influenced by early Western characters, such as Betty Boop and Mickey Mouse.

Don't think of anime simply as Japanese versions of American cartoons, though. They're quite different in several important ways. First, anime isn't directed solely at children like American cartoons tend to be. In Japan, you'll find anime for every age group, including adults.

Since anime is directed at all ages, its content goes well beyond the child-focused themes of American cartoons. You'll find anime that features epic storylines for a wide range of interests, from comedy and romance to action and science fiction.

Finally, fans of anime also know that most anime reflects many aspects of Japanese culture. From religion and nature to culture and history, anime can rarely be separated from its connection to Japanese culture.

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Today's Wonder of the Day was inspired by Bushra. Bushra Wonders, " How was the anime style created? " Thanks for WONDERing with us, Bushra! Do you like cartoons? Of course! Who doesn't, right? Most children have one or maybe even several cartoons that they love to watch.

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What's the most beautiful tree you've ever seen? Are you picturing the California redwoods? Many might think of trees with red or orange leaves during the fall season. Other people love seeing trees with bare limbs covered in snow during the winter. Still others would say the most beautiful tree they've ever seen is the cherry blossom tree.

Sakura is the Japanese for cherry blossom trees. Cherry blossom trees are different from other cherry trees. The main difference is that cherry blossom trees don't produce fruit. Instead, they bloom with beautiful pink or white flowers each spring. Unfortunately, the trees only flower for a week or two.

Cherry blossom trees are an of Japan. Some people even call the cherry blossom Japan's informal national flower. The Japanese school year starts in April, during cherry blossom season. The flowers good luck, love, and springtime. Since they bloom for such a short time, cherry blossom trees also represent human mortality. They remind us how short and precious life is.

Every year, Japanese people track the progress of the blossoming cherry trees. They call it the sakura zensen, or cherry blossom . The blooming moves slowly north with warmer weather. It starts in Okinawa in January and moves to Kyoto and Tokyo by the beginning of April. As the cherry trees bloom in each area, the Japanese enjoy hanami. This is the of picnicking under a blooming cherry blossom tree. This goes back many centuries. It's a time of festivals and celebrations in honor of the cherry blossoms.

Japan is not the only place you can find these beautiful cherry trees. In 1912, Japan gave more than 3,000 cherry blossom trees to the United States. It was a gift to the countries' friendship . The U.S. planted many of the trees in Washington, D.C. near the Jefferson Memorial. Others went to create Sakura Park in New York City.

Today, these Japanese cherry blossom trees are a popular attraction. Each spring, thousands of people enjoy the trees during the annual National Cherry Blossom . They admire the beautiful pink and white blooms and even picnic in their shade. Like the Japanese who sakura zensen, many Americans see the as a special time of year.

Have you ever seen a cherry blossom tree? Would you like to visit the ? It's a great way to the coming of spring! What other ways do you warmer weather? Take a walk with a friend or family member and point out the trees special to your area. Do they all have leaves, or do some of them bloom flowers? You'd be surprised at the variety of trees we can find in our own backyards!

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What's the most beautiful tree you've ever seen? Are you picturing the California redwoods? Many might think of trees with red or orange leaves during the fall season. Other people love seeing trees with bare limbs covered in snow during the winter. Still others would say the most beautiful tree they've ever seen is the cherry blossom tree.