Studio Ghibli, founded in 1985 by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, is one of the most famous anime studios in the world and is known for producing critically acclaimed films such as Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro.

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

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