Barry Shabaka Henley's character's name is Detective Bryan Fuller. Bryan Fuller has written four episodes of Heroes throughout its entire run, and is the creator of the critically acclaimed Pushing Daisies.
In a deleted scene featured on the Blu-ray Disc, Kaito Nakamura reveals to Ando Masahashi that like Hiro, he too has a special ability. He is able to see the variables of any situation and predict the outcome. This is why he's done so well in the stock market.
This attracted 16.97 million viewers when it first aired.
During Matt Parkman's NYPD training, the door on the fake apartment reads "16", with the "6" being replaced by a flowery design from a different door. Sylar's mother's apartment number was also #16, with the "6" being replaced with an identical flowery design.
This season introduces the character of Adam Monroe / Takezo Kensei, who is British. The fact that an Englishman would become accepted by the Japanese of the era and become a famous samurai is a bit far-fetched but not impossible. There were several Englishmen who were in Japan in those days, but they were sequestered. There was also another, who arrived in the company of Jesuits in the 16th century, and who was very well-known. He was an African and former slave who eventually became a famous samurai. He became known as Yasuke and he arrived in Kyoto in 1579, which was around a century before the time that Hiro transports to medieval Japan.