The 16th century saw the rise of Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, who were instrumental in unifying Japan under a centralized government.

The Allied occupation of Japan following World War II brought about major political and social changes, including the drafting of a new constitution and the abolition of the samurai class.

The Japanese language is written using three scripts: kanji (Chinese characters), hiragana, and katakana (both phonetic scripts).