Golf is a popular leisure activity in Japan, and the country has produced several successful professional golfers such as Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Ishikawa.

The Meiji Restoration in the late 19th century saw the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate and the modernization of Japan.

Japan's victory over Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 was the first time an Asian power had defeated a European power in a modern war.