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

In Japan, there is a tradition of eating KFC for Christmas dinner, which started as a marketing campaign in the 1970s.

The Japanese Olympic Committee was founded in 1911 and Japan has participated in every Summer Olympic Games since 1912.