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

The Japanese river otter, once common throughout Japan, is now extinct due to habitat destruction and hunting.