BeijingBeijing is the capital of China, in the north of the country, and the most populous national capital in the world. Shanghai has a larger urban area and is the common wrong answer. Older books spell the name Peking.
TokyoTokyo is Japan's capital and most populous city, at the head of Tokyo Bay on Honshu, the largest island. It was called Edo until 1868, when the emperor's capital moved there from Kyoto and the city was renamed.
UlaanbaatarUlaanbaatar is Mongolia's capital and largest city, in a valley on the Tuul River about 4,300 feet up. It began in 1639 as a monastery that moved 29 times and settled here in 1778. The name means Red Hero.
PyongyangPyongyang is North Korea's capital and largest city, on the Taedong River about 68 miles above its Yellow Sea mouth. The constitution of 1972 declared it the official capital.
SeoulSeoul is South Korea's capital and largest city, and about half of the country's people live in its metropolitan area. Many ministries have moved to Sejong City, which opened in 2012, but Seoul is still the capital.
How this list was compiled: Capitals, and the note on Seoul and Sejong City: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_capitals, checked 2026-09-19. Which states belong to the United Nations: https://www.un.org/en/about-us/member-states, checked 2026-09-19. The Eastern Asia list the country list starts from: United Nations Statistics Division, Standard country or area codes for statistical use (M49), https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/, checked 2026-09-19. The hint and detail line of each capital come from the opening section of the city's and the country's own Wikipedia articles, all checked 2026-09-19: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing, /Tokyo, /Ulaanbaatar, /Pyongyang, /Seoul, /China, /Japan, /Mongolia, /North_Korea and /South_Korea. Licence: own work
The drawing: Drawn for this site from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_50m_admin_0_countries_lakes (scale 1:50,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_50m_admin_0_countries_lakes.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection centred on 32°N 87°E. Outlines simplified; small islands are left out. 4 places are too small to draw at this scale and shown as a dot. Licence: public domain (Natural Earth terms of use: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/)
How it works
This East Asia capitals quiz names one of five countries, lights it on a zoomed map and asks for its capital: Beijing, Pyongyang, Seoul, Tokyo or Ulaanbaatar. The five are the member states of the United Nations on its Eastern Asia list.
Read the full guide
Five questions, then turn it around
A country is named and lit, and you pick its capital from 4 choices; a miss shows the right one. Five go by fast, so switch to Find it next, under More options: a capital is named and you tap its country. All five countries are large enough to tap, and the two on the Korean Peninsula are the smallest.
Pyongyang and Seoul share one peninsula. Pyongyang is in the northern half, the half joined to the mainland, and Seoul is in the southern half.
For China the answer is Beijing, in the north of the country. Shanghai has the larger urban area, and it is the common wrong answer.
Tokyo and Kyoto share five letters. Kyoto was the emperor's capital until 1868, when the court moved to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo.
Questions and answers
Why does the quiz ask only five countries?
This page asks member states of the United Nations only, and on the UN list for Eastern Asia that makes five. The other shapes in the frame are quiet background, and a tap on one is not a miss.
Is Seoul still the capital of South Korea?
Yes. Many ministries have moved to Sejong City, a planned city that opened in 2012 and is often called the administrative capital. The list of national capitals this page follows, checked on September 19, 2026, still names Seoul, so Sejong is marked wrong.
Do Peking and Ulan Bator count as answers?
Yes. Both are older English spellings of the same cities, so Peking counts for Beijing and Ulan Bator for Ulaanbaatar. Former names do not count: Edo for Tokyo, or Urga, which Ulaanbaatar was called until 1924.