Using the latest ERA-Interim sea surface wind field and wave field data from every 6 h from 1979 to 2014 provided by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts(ECMWF), the wave characteristics in the North Pacific Ocean for the last 36 years were analyzed. The results show that the first mode decomposed from the empirical orthogonal function(EOF)of significant wave height(H_s)exhibits in-phase change rules and is teleconnected with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation(PDO)and El Niñ o-Southern Oscillation(ENSO); the second mode shows that H_s exhibits a significant increasing trend in the western region of the North Pacific Ocean, and a gradually decreasing trend in the eastern region of the North Pacific Ocean; and the third mode mainly exhibits inverse double-eddy-type distributions at high and low latitudes in the westerlies, with 45°N as a boundary. The maximum extremes of H_s and wind speed for different return periods appear in the westerlies; for a relatively long return period, wind speed shows a significant increase in the area to the south of Japanese islands. The area with increased extremes extends to the East China Sea or even the east coast of Philippine islands.