Plates, Waves and Blossom Forecasts: teacher key

Japan, grade 7 edition, written for 7th grade. Why the ground shakes, how a wave starts at sea, and how Japan predicts the day cherry trees bloom.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. Why does Japan have so much earthquake activity?
   • Its rivers are short
   • Oceanic plates slide beneath continental plates around it (answer)
   • Its forests are large
2. How does a tsunami start?
   • A typhoon passes
   • A river floods
   • A big undersea earthquake makes the sea floor rise or sink (answer)
3. When is full bloom in the cherry forecast?
   • The first day more than 80 percent of blossoms have opened (answer)
   • The first day one blossom opens
   • The last day of March
4. What makes a dish sushi?
   • The raw fish
   • The seaweed
   • The vinegared rice (answer)
5. What was the average Tokaido Shinkansen delay in fiscal 2023?
   • 24 minutes per train
   • 1.6 minutes per train (answer)
   • An hour
6. What did the Treaty of Kanagawa open?
   • Two Japanese ports (answer)
   • A railway
   • A school

Words

• tsunami: giant sea wave
• monsoon: seasonal wind
• Jomon: cord-marked
• hanami: blossom party