Sailor Moon, created by Naoko Takeuchi in 1991, is a popular anime series that follows the adventures of a teenage girl who transforms into a magical warrior to fight evil.

Shonen Jump, a weekly manga magazine published by Shueisha, has been a major influence on the development of anime and manga culture in Japan, and has produced many popular anime series such as Dragon Ball, One Piece, and Naruto.

The Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 and subsequent tsunami devastated Japan's northeast coast and caused the Fukushima nuclear disaster.