Asia sweep2014 answers

ASIASWEEP 2014
ASIASWEEP 2014
Set by
Dibyendu Das & Arul Mani

ASIASWEEP 2014
Rules
Three sections
Section I: 10 questions
Section II: 25 questions
Section III: 25 two-pointers
85 points, not counting bonuses

ASIASWEEP 2014
SECTION I
10 questions based on Google Doodles
1 point each
Bonus of 2 points if you crack more than 4
Bonus of 3 if you crack more than 7

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1. Identify the director to whom this Doodle
pays tribute

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2. This is a tribute to the Duanwu observance,
commonly called the ______ ______ festival. Fill
blanks.

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Dragon Boat Festival
2.

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3. The origins of the name of this festival are traced back to
India. The doodles shown refer to two observances—water,
symbolising the new, and the freeing of animals, to acquire
merit. Either name the festival, or identify the Sanskrit
word from which it is derived.

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Songkran
Or
Sankranti
3.

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4. This Doodle pays tribute to a real-life story of
fidelity and dedication that inspired mass adulation
in a certain Asian country, and a Richard Gere film
in 2009. A 7-letter name will do.

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5. This Independence Day tribute appeared on 22
November, and contains a representation of the
Pigeon Rocks, a natural formation in the
Mediterranean Sea, outside the capital. Which
city?

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6. This doodle pays tribute to a certain country’s first that
did not run to a fairy-tale ending. Who?

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Ilan Ramon
Israel’s first astronaut, who died in the
Columbia crash in 2003.
6.

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7. The subject of the tribute is Honinbo Shusaku,
immortal among followers of a certain pursuit.
What pursuit?

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8. This 2nd October observance is held to mark
UNESCO giving intangible heritage status to a
certain tradition. Name either the tradition or the
country.

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Batik
or
Indonesia
8.

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9. This Doodle appeared on 9th October, the date
on which a 15th century monarch announced a
script for the language. By what name is this day
known?

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Haengul Day
Hangul Proclamation Day
Korean Alphabet Day
9.

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10. The subject of this Doodle wrote a book on
optics in 1015. His work will receive worldwide
attention as part of the International Year of Light
in 2015. Who?

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Alhazen
aka
Ib’n Al-Haytham
10.

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SECTION II
25 questions
1 point each

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1.
Ukichiro Nakaya was a physicist who devoted his career to
a fascination with objects that he described as ‘letters sent
from heaven’. The museum dedicated to his memory in
Kaga, Japan was built so as to pay tribute to this
fascination. What did Nakaya study?

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Snow Crystals/Accept Snow Flakes
1.

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2.
Abu’l Hasan Ahmad ib’n Ibrahim Al-Uqlidisi wrote a
work on the use of decimal fractions in 952 AD.
The title of this work is often translated as
Chapters in Indian Mathematics.
He took (or was given) his name in tribute to
whom?

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3.
This building on Zi Wa Ka Street attracts devout local
Muslims who believe that the man who died here in 1862
had special powers. The numbers grew after the actual
grave was discovered in 1991. Either name this person
OR the city where the building is located?

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Bahadur Shah Zafar/Bahadur Shah II
Or
Yangon/Rangoon
3.

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4. From this visual, you can see that some effort
has gone into preserving a particular feature of Sir
Charles Pawsey’s residence from the 1940s. Why
OR what are we talking about?

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Site of the Battle of the Tennis Court,
Kohima, between British and Japanese
forces during World War II.
4.

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5.
Ken Jennings, in his book Maphead, refers to an
anomaly caused by socioeconomic factors. A
certain country, viewed from a spaceship, can
seem like an island by night while visibly being part
of a peninsula by day.
Which country are we talking about?
Visuals follow.

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South Korea
North Korea, apparently, just disappears
at night due to low electrification
5.

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6.
Andy Kirkpatrick’s book PsychoVertical, Robert
McFarlane’s The Wild Places and Audrey
Salkeld’s biography of Leni Riefenstahl have all
been awarded the Boardman Tasker Prize in the
recent past. This prize for a specific book category
was set up in memory of Peter Boardman and Joe
Tasker who passed away in 1982 while pursuing
this interest.
For what is the prize awarded?

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Mountain Literature/Mountain Writing
Boardman and Tasker perished in 1982
while climbing Everest
6.

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7. If you look at the areas marked in stand-out
colours, these two maps present slightly different
accounts of what phenomenon?

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Area controlled by ISIS/Accept ISIL/IS
7.

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8.
These are two similar monuments, located in
Baojia Caozi village of Ürümqi city, Xinjiang
province, China and Kyzyl, capital of Tuva.
What middling distinction are these places
battling for? Visuals follow

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Both claim to be at the geographical
Centre of Asia and have put up
monuments to bolster their claim
8.

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9.
The Greek word for work is a forgotten unit
now, but its Arabic homophone still finds use
as the preferred term for areas of mobile
sand that stretch beyond 125 square
kilometres.
What word?

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10.
The simple explanation is that the locals figured
out a way of using the hollowed out trunks of the
betel-nut species to guide Ficus elastica’s
propensity to traverse small distances rather
elaborately. Each transit may have taken about ten
years, and the entire system is thought to be five
hundred years old or more.
What are we talking about?

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The Umsiang Living Bridges
or
Cherrapunji Root Bridges
10.

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11.
The Dalang must sit behind a screen (kelir) made of white
cotton stretched on a wooden frame.
He sits cross-legged for nine successive hours and cannot
get up from his seat until six o'clock the next morning. He
must strike a rattle with his right foot almost incessantly.
Both his hands are constantly busy; he must speak in
different voices, tell jokes, and even sing every now and
then.
What does the Dalang practise thus, nearly all by
himself?

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He runs the puppets in Wayang Kulit, the
Indonesian folk theatre form
11.

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12. The subject of this painting by Velázquez is an
Austrian princess who was married off to her own
uncle, Philip IV of Spain. This marriage was
definitely responsible for her one deep claim to
fame. Just name her.

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Mariana of Austria
After whom the Mariana Islands, and by
extension, the Mariana Trench are named
12.

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13.
This company wears its heart not so much on its
sleeve as on its tail—the last letter of their logotype
is a scrawled heart. Their best-known brand first
appeared on a vinyl coin purse, and usually has its
height and weight described in a certain number of
apples.
Name the company or the brand.

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Sanrio OR Hello Kitty
13.

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14.
For British historian Neil MacGregor, the
precariously poised boats symbolise the anxieties
of a nation under pressure from foreign gunboats.
For local critics, the three boats symbolise serenity
under pressure.
What are they disagreeing about?

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Hokusai’s Wave
Alt. The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai
14.

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15.
When Hu Jintao met George W. Bush in 2006,
many believed that his choice of gift was a
delicately poised barb aimed at a helplessly over-
committed man. The gift was several copies of a
6000-word booklet in expensive Zheijiang silk. This
choice drew much comment and analysis.
What did Hu give Dubya?

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The Art of War by Sun Tzu
15.

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16.
Micheline Aharonian Marcom’s book Three
Apples Fell from Heaven, set in the years 1915-
1917 period, is an account of a massacre
Raphael Lemkin, a Polish lawyer, was explicitly
moved by this annihilation to coin the word
genocide.
Which massacre is the subject of Marcom’s
book?

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Armenian Genocide
16.

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17.
This iconic hotel, believed to be the oldest hotel
east of Suez, is named after a five-hectare stretch
of ocean-side urban park along the coast of the
Indian Ocean. The hotel is in news for the death
of its 94-year old popular doorman, Kottarappu
Chattu Kuttan, who has graced the cover of
numerous travel magazines and has personally
ushered famous dignitaries.
Name the hotel. Visuals follow

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Galle Face Hotel
17.

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18.
His first name means ‘peaceful flight’. Dubbed the
Superman, after winning gold at the London
Olympics he has earned the reputation as one of
the greatest male gymnasts of all time; many even
rate him as the greatest. Identify him.

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18.
Kohei Uchimura

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19
This 2013 biopic, directed by Halil Erfat,
titled Album 61, is named after the 61 photo
albums his father meticulously maintained till
the championship match that he lost.
Name this person who popularized the
sport to a large extent in his adopted
country.

ASIASWEEP 2014
Boris Gelfand
Popularised chess in Israel
19.

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20.
The name of this place literally translates to
‘Father of the Deer’ though some of the
Bedouins also referred to it with a name that
means ‘Mother of the Deer’. A branch of
Beni Yas Bedouins now rules over this
place.
Name it.

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21.
These visuals are projections for the
Doha World Cup 2022 and the Baku
Olympics 2016 stadiums. Which
architect firm, run by the grandson
of the chief architect of the Third
Reich, has done the designs ?
(Visuals follow)

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Albert Speer & Partners.
21.

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22.
Considered one of the most dangerous according
to a program titled ‘Most Extreme Airports’ (by
History Channel), the Lukla airport in Khumbu,
eastern Nepal is used primarily by enthusiasts
engaged in a particular activity. The airport was
renamed in 2008 to honour whom ?

ASIASWEEP 2014
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay
No halves
22.

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23.
This chess-set is part of whose first homeware
collection, launched at Harrods in 2014, with the
chess pieces representing city skylines ?

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24
The Epic of ___’ is regarded as the most treasured
expression of the national heritage of the Kyrgz
people. It is considered to be a great example of
epic poetry, that is composed and sung entirely in
oral form by various singers throughout the
centuries. The epic is a biographical cycle of three
generations of heroes, ____, his son Semetei and
grandson Seitek. Identify this great warrior who
united 40 clans of nomads against the Uyghurs.
(Pic on next slide).

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25
Milky Way-2 (English name) of China leads the
latest list published in November, a list that is
published in June and November every year.
Others in the current Top-10 include Titan, Sequoia
and Mira from US, K from Japan, Piz Daint from
Switzerland and JUQUEEN from Germany.
What is this list about ?

ASIASWEEP 2014
Top 500 Supercomputers of the world. China’s Tianhe-
2/Milkyway-2 tops the list compiled by Jack Dongarra.
(Accept most powerful supercomputers, top
supercomputers etc.),
25

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SECTION III
25 questions
2 points each

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1.
“ _______ dragged us for 40 years through the
desert to bring us to the one place in the Middle
East where there was no ______.”
This is an iconic former Prime Minister talking
about a culture-hero.
Who is she talking about?
Fill the other blank as well.

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A: Moses
B: Oil/accept close enough variants—
petroleum etc
1

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2.
In 1974, he was arrested and sentenced to five years in a
hard-labour camp for ‘homosexual behaviour and trafficking
art objects’ and other trumped-up charges. This resulted in
a decade-long hiatus from film-making. He busied himself
with collages and other artistic experiments before making
The Legend of Suram Fortress in 1985. Most notable
among his artistic experiments is a series titled Episodes in
the Life of ____ _____, shown in the next slide.
Name the director. Also fill the blanks.

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A: Sergei Paradjanov
B: Mona Lisa
2

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3. His office has released released several
pictures in the recent past showing him hard at
work, possibly in response to trending images
such as this one. Who? What is the trend
called?

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A: President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III
B: Noynoying, a term for protesting while
doing nothing
3.

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4. This group of 230-odd structures was declared a World
Heritage site along with a more well-known location in the
Song mountains. What is the common name for this
location? What is the more well-known location?

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A: Pagoda Forest
B: Shaolin Temple
4.

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5.
There are at least a hundred different species of
this plant genus listed on Wikipedia. It derives its
English and Latin names from a Persian word.
Botanists/gardening enthusiasts in China found it
unusually difficult to access information about the
genus for some time after January 2011.
Which species? Why?

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A: Jasmine
B: The Chinese authorities prevented
searches using ‘jasmine’ as keyword
after the Arab Spring/Jasmine revolution
5.

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6.
He moved to New York and in 1980 became a
photographer for The Times, where he was noted
for his imaginative pictures of city scenes and
news events. He coined a metaphor to describe
events in the country he left behind that has
achieved a kind of immortality. When he returned,
he found that “the trees had grown taller, and
greener”.
Who? What phrase?
Visual follows

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A: Dith Pran
B: The Killing Fields
6.

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7.
There are approximately 1.33 million X in Burma’s
Rakhine province, but the country's 1982
Citizenship Law denies them citizenship in spite of
the fact that they have lived in Burma for
generations. The government calls them “Y"
instead-- a way of implying that they are illegal
immigrants.
Identify the ethnicity X.
What term Y does the government prefer?

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A: Rohingya,
B: Bengali, suggesting that they are
immigrants from Bangladesh
7.

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8.
The water shortages in this sporadically monsoon-
fed country are exacerbated by the fact that 40%
of the available water supply is diverted to the
cultivation of the species Catha edulis.
Which country? How is the species better
known?

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A: Yemen,
B: Qat
8.

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9.
This is one of the symbols associated with a sect
of Christianity. It symbolises the Trinity, but some
people also choose to see it as a representation of
the species Cedrus libani, a national/cultural
symbol.
Which sect? Identify the species.
Visual follows

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A: Maronite Christians,
B: Lebanese Cedar
9.

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10. This port city’s name appears at least twice in
Shakespeare’s plays—probably because it was on
the Silk Route. Read this excerpt and identify
the play it is taken from. Also name the port.
“Set you down this;
And say besides, that in _ _ _ _ _ _once,
Where a malignant and a turban’d Turk
Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,
I took by the throat the circumcised dog,
And smote him, thus.”

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A; Othello,
B: Aleppo
10.

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11.
This 2-hour long documentary takes its title from
the Nepal temple which is supposed to grant your
heart’s desire. It is split up into eleven 10-minute
segments because that's how long each trip on the
only mode of transport available takes. It's also the
exact amount of time the directors could film their
subjects with 16mm film.
Name the film/temple. Also name the mode of
transport. Visual follows.

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A: Manakamna,
B: Cable Car
11.

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12. What’s missing? Also explain the left-right
connections.
?

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A: Confucius
B: China has named their
culture/language institutes in other
countries after Confucius, just as
Germany runs Goethe Instituts
12.

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13.
According to The Economist, there are probably
more people of this ethnicity within one of China’s
provinces than in the country that takes its name
from people of that ethnic grouping.
Name the province and the country.

ASIASWEEP 2014
A: Inner Mongolia,
B: Mongolia
13.

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14.
Bloggers in Japan made wry remarks about having
to rename a particular group of people flyjin on
account of their responses to the events of March
2011.
Which group of people?
Why was this name proposed?

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A; Foreigners/Gaijin/Foreign workers in
Japan
B: On account of their tendency to flee
Japan after the tsunami/Fukushima
disaster
14.

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15.
15. Who ? Depicted as part of which group ?

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Bruce Lee
as part of the Umbrella
Revolution/Movement in Hong Kong
15.

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16.
Christopher Doyle is a cinematographer born in
Australia, but has spent most of his adult life in
Asia. Going by the Chinese name Du Kefeng, he
has collaborated with many top-notch Asian
directors. But he has worked fully or partially on
most of this particular director’s movies. Who ?
He was also responsible for the cinematography
of the music video titled ‘Dumbass’. Who is
featured in the video ? (Stills from the video
on next slide

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Christopher Doyle has worked with Wong
Kar Wai extensively.
The video features Ai Weiwei
16.

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17.
17. These two legendary players shared a famous
rivalry from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. Identify
both.

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The squash players Jansher and Jahangir Khan
17

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18.
The English name of the book may appear like that of a
Clint Eastwood-directed, Angelina Jolie starrer. The plot-line
deals with the relationship of an author (who has a disabled
child) with his brother-in-law, a well-known film director,
who allegedly committed suicide, though several sources
claim that it was staged by a faction of Yakuza. Actually, the
story is a fictionalized account of Kenzaburo Oe’s
relationship with his brother-in-law.
Name the a) the book and b) the famous director, well-
known for films like Tampopo.

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A: The Changeling,
B: Juzo Itami
18.

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19.
On a trip to Japan in the early 1980s, (a)____ asked Sony's
chairman Akio Morita why everyone in the company's factories wore
uniforms. After the war, no one had any clothes, and companies like
Sony had to give their workers something to wear each day. Sony
had gotten the famous designer Issey Miyake to create its uniform.
So (a)____ called Issey Miyake and asked him to design a vest for
him, "I came back with some samples and told everyone it would
great if we would all wear these vests. Oh man, did I get booed off
the stage.“ In the process, however, he became friends with Miyake
and "So I asked Issey to make me some of his (b) ___ ____that I
liked, and he made me like a hundred of them.“
• Who and what did Miyake design for him ?

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a) Steve Jobs about his b) ‘black turtlenecks’
19.

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20.
a) Who is featured in the ad ? b) Ad for which
company ?

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20.
a) Tony Fernandes of AirAsia b) Credit Suisse

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21.
Located in the Andaman Sea, this island comprises of a dormant
volcano. Some say that its name is derived from the Sanskrit term for
‘pit of hell’. The bird shown in the picture is endemic to this island and
is endangered. Name the island and the bird.

ASIASWEEP 2014
Narcondam (from Naraka+Kunda) and
Narcondam Hornbill
21

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22.
"Pinoy-grams?“ "Here’s how it works. You are an Overseas Contract Worker.
Before you leave home for Saudi or Singapore, you buy or rent a little gizmo
from us. It’s about the size of a paperback book and encases a video camera,
a tiny screen, and a lot of memory. The components come from all over the
place—they are shipped to the free port at Subic and assembled in a
Nipponese plant there. Whenever you feel like communicating with home,
you turn it on, aim the camera at yourself and record a little video greeting
card. Then you plug the gizmo into a phone line and let it work its magic. …
The difference here is our software. We don’t try to send the video in real
time—that’s too expensive. We store the data at central servers, then take
advantage of lulls, when traffic is low ."
Two parts:
a) Pinoy is a term for the people of which country ?
b) Identify the 1999 techno-thriller by Neal Stephenson.

ASIASWEEP 2014
a) Philippines b) Cryptonomicon
22

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23.
Which famous person with an endangered species that is found
only in an island province of Indonesia? Also name the species.

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a) Jane Goodall b) Bali Mynah/Bali Starling
(also accept Rothschild’s Mynah)
23.

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24. He began dating her in 1989 and they starred
in several films together. In 2008, they got married
in Bhutan, after being advised by the 17th Karmapa.
Identify the power couple.

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Tony Leung and Carina Lau
24.

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25.
These two interpretations (roughly) have been at the heart of a
controversy that has been raked up by a world leader:
• Remarking on the position of the river and port, to which he gave
the name of San Salvador, he describes its mountains as lofty and
beautiful, like the Pena de las Enamoradas, and one of them has
another little hill on its summit, like a graceful mosque.
• October 21, 1492 CE while his ship was sailing near Gibara on the
north-east coast of Cuba, he saw a mosque on top of a beautiful
mountain.
a) What is the controversy about? Also name the world
leader

ASIASWEEP 2014
25.
The controversy created by the claim that the
Muslims reached America before Columbus.
The leader is the Turkish PM Recep Erdogan.

Asia sweep2014 answers

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