I didn't know that and didn't take much interest in Japan until I made a Japanese GF. I brought her to Orchard Road for shopping and we passed by Tangs. There was a Chinese history exhibition hall there then. She could name more than half of the portraits from Confucius to Three Kingdom characters. I asked her how did she know. She said of course, all those are taught in school; every Japanese should know. That brought me to reflect the situation in Chinese countries and communities, that Chinese history is so long and rich that we couldn't be bothered to study too much of other people's and countries' history. Other people know so much about us, that's something to be proud of, yes, but we know so little about them. That's interactive handicap and even deficiency.
