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

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

Japanese automakers have been leaders in developing autonomous driving technologies, with several companies investing heavily in research and development in this area.