Japanese Swimming Macaques, Snow Monkeys

During the Edo period, literature became not so much the field of the samurai aristocracy as that of the chōnin, the ordinary people. Yomihon, for example, became popular and reveals this profound change in the readership and authorship. The Meiji era saw the decline of traditional literary forms, during which Japanese literature integrated Western influences. Natsume Sōseki and Mori Ōgai were the first "modern" novelists of Japan, followed by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, Yasunari Kawabata, Yukio Mishima and, more recently, Haruki Murakami. Japan has two Nobel Prize-winning authors—Yasunari Kawabata (1968) and Kenzaburo Oe (1994).
Cuisine
The historically primary ingredient of Japanese cuisine has been Japanese rice. In the early modern era ingredients were introduced that had previously never been widely used in Japan, particularly red meats. Japanese cuisine offers a vast array of regional specialties, known as kyōdo ryōri (郷土料理), many of them originating from dishes prepared using traditional recipes with local ingredients. The Michelin Guide has awarded Japanese cities more Michelin stars than the rest of the world combined.