The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, created by Nagaru Tanigawa in 2003, is a popular light novel series and anime that explores themes of existentialism, time travel, and alternate realities.

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

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