Why does the Java char primitive take up 2 bytes of memory?

Question

Is there any reason why Java char primitive data type is 2 bytes unlike C which is 1 byte?

Thanks

Answer 1

Java™ Tutorials:

The char data type is a single 16-bit Unicode character. It has a minimum value of '\u0000' (or 0) and a maximum value of '\uffff' (or 65,535 inclusive).