Kokura, Hiroshima, Yokohama, Niigata, and Kyoto were on the list. Kyoto was spared, according to legend, because US Secretary of War Henry Stimson loved the ancient Japanese capital and had spent his honeymoon there decades before. In its place, Nagasaki was established. On July 25, 1945, the United Kingdom approved the bombing of four Japanese cities: Kokura, Niigata, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki.

Now for a 'sumptuous' fact about the UAE: the Burj Al Arab is the world's first seven-star hotel and is widely regarded as one of the world's most luxurious. The hotel's interiors are adorned with 24-carat gold leaves that cover over 1790 square metres. The best thing is that it even has a 'Pillow Menu,' which offers guests nine different varieties of pillows! Right, I'm assuming you choose your pillow.

William "Willy" Patrick Hitler, Adolf Hitler's half-brother, was born in Liverpool to a British mother and a German father. Willy wrote an essay in Look magazine titled "Why I Hate My Uncle" when Anglo-German ties began to deteriorate as a result of his uncle's flamboyance. As the war broke out, he relocated his family to the United States, where he attempted to enroll in the United States Navy but was denied. After the Japanese destroyed Pearl Harbor, Franklin D. Roosevelt reconsidered Willy's application and ultimately authorized him to fight the Nazis.

Everyone knows Lake Superior is vast (it's not called one of the Great Lakes for nothing), but few people realise precisely how big it is. Lake Superior is not only the world's biggest freshwater lake, but it also carries three quadrillion gallons of water. That's enough liquid to submerge North and South America under a foot of water. It's no surprise that Lake Superior has seen so many shipwrecks.

Among those accompanying the Queen on her journeys is usually the Queen's medical practitioner. The doctor is accountable for knowing where all local hospitals are in the cities that they visit. She also has to transport a large medical bag with a mobile defibrillator and emergency medication. Aside from that, the doctor possesses Queen Elizabeth's own blood bag, which will be used for a transfusion if necessary.

The country is home to more than 135 different ethnicities. If you look into the geographical facts of Myanmar, you can see that several groups live in different regions. Each has its own culture and traditions. You can find some with a special one-legged rowing technique at Inle Lake and others wear heavy rings to stretch their necks. The main ethnic group, the Bamar, makes up about 70% of the population.

Myanmar is a cultural melting pot of ethnicities. This can make it perfect for a cultural travel experience and gives you the chance to meet and interact with lots of different people.

Another shocking fact about Russia is that it has 12 active volcanoes! Because of its convenient position, Kamchatka is one of the most visited of these volcanoes. If you enjoy nature and stunning scenery, you should go to Kamchatka. This active volcano is home to approximately 1,000 plant species. Brown bears, lambs, and wolves also live there. You may explore Kamchatka on your own or as part of a guided excursion. If you are not fluent in Russian, an organised trip is the better alternative.

You probably don’t know this, but the calendar that we use today was invented by ancient Egyptians. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the first calendar known to humankind was invented in Egypt. In fact, it is the year 6264 in the Egyptian calendar.

The ancient Egyptians used the 12-month calendar like we do today. However, each month was always 30 days which meant that their years were only 360 days in total causing the years to fall out of sync with the seasons. So to make up for the lost time, they held a 5-day festival at the end of each year.

Though pig includes some sodium naturally (as does all meat), the saltiness we appreciate in ham, bacon, and a variety of other pork products is really the result of curing and brining procedures. After soaking in salt or salt water, fresh meat gets dehydrated, seasoned, and preserved. This is also the method used to make salami, pepperoni, and other cured meats.

The mayor of Paris has approved a resolution prohibiting Tom Cruise from being made an honorary citizen. Tom Cruise is a member of Scientology, a controversial religious group that has been labelled a cult in France. Tom Cruise sought to become an honorary citizen of Paris in 2005, but the city's officials refused because of his involvement with Scientology.

With a surface size of 26,300 square miles, the Aral Sea was formerly the world's fourth biggest lake. However, the lake has been rapidly diminishing since the 1960s. The lake is diminishing due to the divergence of the main rivers away from the lake for irrigation projects. As of 1997, roughly 10% of the lake had vanished, leaving only patches of smaller lakes. The majority of the south-eastern lake had already dried up by 2009, while the majority of the southwestern lake had dwindled to become a narrow strip along the old southern sea. NASA images from 2014 showed the eastern section of the old Aral Sea, which had completely dried out and is now known as the Aralkum Desert.

Yes, despite being a fictional species, the legendary unicorn is the national animal of Scotland, chosen because of its link with supremacy and chivalry and purity and innocence in Celtic mythology. BRB, I'm leaving for Scotland right now.

Have you ever visited a salt mine? When you travel to Poland with Trafalgar, we will take you to the 800-year-old Wieliczka Salt Mine, one of the world's oldest. It's known as the Underneath Salt Cathedral of Poland, and when you go 135 metres (440 feet) underground with your guide, you'll witness chambers, sculptures, salt chandeliers, and an entire church sculpted from rock salt. The UNESCO World Heritage Site has been producing salt continuously since the 13th century until 2007, and the history and unique carvings of this salt mine will leave you speechless.

Japan values good manners highly, but when it comes to chowing down on bowlfuls of noodles, there’s only one way to eat: noisily. Slurping is a sign of enjoyment and also cools down the noodles as you eat. Get your chopsticks in one hand and lean over your bowl. Bibs are sometimes provided for foreigners, but by the time you leave, you should be able to polish off a bowl in a white top and walk out spotless.

You're probably thinking of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and possibly Pinterest as you consider your social media options. But have you thought about YouTube? Even if you don't consider it a social platform, it drives more engaged traffic than any other social site. Visitors from YouTube stay on sites the longest, visit the most pages, and bounce the least of any social platform referral traffic.

The longest novel which exists is ‘In Search of Lost Time’ by Marcel Proust. This masterpiece has made its mark and left its essence in the Gunnies Book of World Records. The whole novel is contained in 13 volumes clocking up nearly 1.3 million words. Isn’t this amazing?

In Japan, people don’t have signatures – they have their own seal. Known as Hanko, the seal is typically your name translated into Kanji characters, and are made from silk or plant-based paste. Adults will often have three Hankos; one for signing off letters and personal matters, a bank seal and an identify seal. They’re not necessary for tourists, but foreigners living in Japan can have one handmade in small, local shops.

Susami is home to the world's deepest underwater mailbox, a fascinating Japan fact. Susami is a popular fishing village in Wakayama Province. In 2002, the town's deepest underwater mailbox was certified by Guinness World Records. Since 1999, the mailbox has gathered over 32,000 pieces of mail at a depth of 30 feet.

Plenty of Japanese celebrate Christmas, but the festive fare isn’t what you might expect. In Japan, it’s traditional to head to your local KFC on Christmas Eve. An estimated 3.6 million Japanese feast on the KFC Christmas Dinner and hours of queuing and ordering weeks in advance is expected. Some say turkey and chicken wasn’t widely available for the Christmas-curious Japanese, so Colonel Sanders stepped in to answer the demand…

There are several theories as to how the phrase "it's raining cats and dogs" came to be. One example is that when houses had thatched roofs, pets and other small animals (squirrels, groundhogs, and so on) would nestle into the straw for warmth. When it rained, however, the straw became slick and the animals slid out, giving the impression that it was literally raining cats and dogs.

Mesopotamia, along with the Nile Valley Civilization in Egypt, the Indus Valley Civilization in the Indian subcontinent, and the Yellow River in China, was one of the four riverine civilizations where writing was invented. Around 3400 BC, the Sumerian civilization of Mesopotamia invented the cuneiform script. Cuneiform is a Latin word that means "wedge-shaped." Sumerian writing evolved from pictograms to become a full-fledged writing system capable of producing works of literature as well as prayers and laws. Despite not being the oldest example of writing, cuneiform script is regarded as a significant milestone in human history.

Not Andamanese or Nicobarese is the most widely spoken language on the islands. Bengali is the most widely spoken language on the islands, followed by Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam. Andaman Creole Hindi is also widely used as a commercial language in the Andaman Islands.

The most common mode of transportation for citizens in Paris is the city's subterranean rail system, which is used by over 5 million people every day. It is Europe's busiest subterranean network after Moscow. Count your stations when using the subway - you never know where you'll wind up if you don't, as the Paris Metro system, unlike other big cities, does not announce its stops.

Sure, many civilizations have their own calendars that they prefer to the Western Gregorian calendar, but the majority still obey the unwritten rule of "12 months to a year." Ethiopia is not one of them. Trying to buck the trend, Ethiopians picked up on Spinal Tap's conviction that one more is always better many thousand years ago, and have been counting 13 months to their year ever since. What exactly does this imply? Well, it's still 2009 there in 2017. And so savvy tourist boards can confidently assert that the nation has "13 months of sunlight."

The renowned "Bloody Mary" drink was conceived at the Ritz Hotel in Paris. According to legend, this renowned drink was created for the famed author Ernest Hemingway! Hemingway asked for a drink that didn't smell like alcohol, so he had vodka blended with tomato juice.