The Japanese men's national basketball team has competed in several Olympic Games and has produced several NBA players, including Rui Hachimura and Yuta Watanabe.

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

The Japanese serow is a goat-antelope native to Japan's mountainous regions, and is considered a national treasure in Japan.