This could be an extremely subjective question, but I find myself curious about those pieces of media which in Japan are known by practically everyone. Again I might be over-speaking for the entirety of the US here but what isJapan’s equivalent to Seinfeld,Bohemian Rhapsody,To Kill a Mockingbird,Star Wars, SpongeBob etc etc. For clarity, let’s say in the last 30 years
Exceptions being any western media.
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Sazae-san, Doraemon, Anpanman, Ultraman for shows/characters
The Evangelion song, Zankoku na Tenshi no These. Maybe Ue wo Muite Arukou.
Pretty much Studio Ghibli’s entire catalog.
Akira. That might be older than 30 years by now, though.
For literature, Musui’s Tale and No Longer Human are big ones.
Going further back:
Godzilla (obviously), the Works of Akira Kurosawa, Akira, Dragonball, Ghibli (as previously stated), Space Battleship Yamato (and really, all works by Leiji Matsumoto), the works of Shigeru Mizuki
Depends on the era but in Heisei…
Dramas: Hanayori Danshi, Hanzawa Naoki
Comedy: Waratte Iitomo (discontinued), Suiyou Doudeshou, Ame Talk, Shabekuri007
Artists: SMAP, Arashi, Yuzu
Misc: Music Station, Kohaku song festival at the end of the year
In addition to those already mentioned, the Tora-san (otoko wa tsuraiyo) movie series, one of the longest running movie series of all time.
Hotaru No Haka (The Grave of the Fireflies) is an older anime movie about 2 kids who are orphaned in the fire bombings near the end of WW2.
It seems to be very culturally important in Japan. When I was there, our entire school district took a field trip to a stadium to all watch the movie together.
Just don’t go into it expecting a typical anime movie. Despite the animation style, it is gritty and grounded in reality and very very sad.
idk if it counts as “media,” but Wagahai wa Neko de aru (short story) is extremely well-known. It’s older than 30 years though.