Judo, a martial art that emphasizes throws and grappling techniques, was developed in Japan in the late 19th century and has become a popular sport around the world.

Akira, directed by Katsuhiro Otomo in 1988, is a classic anime film that helped to popularize the cyberpunk genre of science fiction.

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