The compact disc (CD) was co-invented by Philips and Sony in the 1980s and has since replaced vinyl records as the primary means of music storage.

Mobile Suit Gundam, created by Yoshiyuki Tomino in 1979, is a popular anime series that helped to popularize the mecha genre of anime, which features giant robots.

Japan's victory over Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 was the first time an Asian power had defeated a European power in a modern war.