1959 in Japan

← 1958 1957 1956 1959 in Japan → 1960 1961 1962
Decades:	1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
See also:	Other events of 1959 History of Japan Timeline Years

Events in the year 1959 in Japan .

Incumbents

• Emperor: Hirohito ^[1]
• Prime minister: Nobusuke Kishi ^[2]

Governors

• Aichi Prefecture: Mikine Kuwahara
• Akita Prefecture: Yūjirō Obata
• Aomori Prefecture: Iwao Yamazaki
• Chiba Prefecture: Hitoshi Shibata
• Ehime Prefecture: Sadatake Hisamatsu
• Fukui Prefecture: Seiichi Hane (until 22 April); Eizō Kita (starting 23 April)
• Fukuoka Prefecture: Taichi Uzaki
• Fukushima Prefecture: Zenichiro Satō
• Gifu Prefecture: Yukiyasu Matsuno
• Gunma Prefecture: Toshizo Takekoshi
• Hiroshima Prefecture: Hiroo Ōhara
• Hokkaido: Toshifumi Tanaka (until 22 April); Kingo Machimura (starting 23 April)
• Hyogo Prefecture: Masaru Sakamoto
• Ibaraki Prefecture: Yoji Tomosue (until 29 March); Nirō Iwakami (starting 23 April)
• Ishikawa Prefecture: Jūjitsu Taya
• Iwate Prefecture: Senichi Abe
• Kagawa Prefecture: Masanori Kaneko
• Kagoshima Prefecture: Katsushi Terazono
• Kanagawa Prefecture: Iwataro Uchiyama
• Kochi Prefecture: Masumi Mizobuchi
• Kumamoto Prefecture: Saburō Sakurai (until 10 February); Kōsaku Teramoto (starting 11 February)
• Kyoto Prefecture: Torazō Ninagawa
• Mie Prefecture: Satoru Tanaka
• Miyagi Prefecture: Yasushi Onuma (until 12 January); Yoshio Miura (starting 4 March)
• Miyazaki Prefecture: Jingo Futami (until 22 April); Hiroshi Kuroki (starting 23 April)
• Nagano Prefecture: Torao Hayashi (until 22 April); Gon'ichirō Nishizawa (starting 26 April)
• Nagasaki Prefecture: Katsuya Sato
• Nara Prefecture: Ryozo Okuda
• Niigata Prefecture: Kazuo Kitamura
• Oita Prefecture: Kaoru Kinoshita
• Okayama Prefecture: Yukiharu Miki
• Osaka Prefecture: Bunzō Akama (until 22 April); Gisen Satō (starting 23 April)
• Saga Prefecture: Naotsugu Nabeshima (until 16 April); Sunao Ikeda (starting 23 April)
• Saitama Prefecture: Hiroshi Kurihara
• Shiga Prefecture: Kyujiro Taniguchi
• Shiname Prefecture: Yasuo Tsunematsu (until 29 April); Choemon Tanabe (starting 30 April)
• Shizuoka Prefecture: Toshio Saitō
• Tochigi Prefecture: Kiichi Ogawa (until 4 February); Nobuo Yokokawa (starting 5 February)
• Tokushima Prefecture: Kikutaro Hara
• Tokyo: Seiichirō Yasui (until 18 April); Ryōtarō Azuma (starting 22 April)
• Tottori Prefecture: Jirō Ishiba
• Toyama Prefecture: Minoru Yoshida
• Wakayama Prefecture: Shinji Ono
• Yamagata Prefecture: Tōkichi Abiko
• Yamaguchi Prefecture: Taro Ozawa
• Yamanashi Prefecture: Hisashi Amano

Events

• April 1 – Kyoto Ceramic (now Kyocera) has founded.^{[ page needed ]}
• April 10 – Crown Prince Akihito, the future Emperor of Japan, weds Michiko Shōda, the first commoner to marry into the Japanese Imperial Family.
• June 2 – Mori Building was founded.^{[ citation needed ]}
• June 30 – Twenty-one students are killed and more than a hundred injured when an American North American F-100 Super Sabre jet crashes into Miamori Elementary School on the island of Okinawa. The pilot ejected before the plane struck the school. ^[3]
• July 22 – A Kumamoto University medical research group studying Minamata disease concludes that it is caused by mercury.
• September 26 – According to Japanese government official confirmed report, Typhoon Vera with tidal wave hit around Ise Bay, total 5,098 person were lives, 38,921 person were hurt.^{[ page needed ]}

Births

• January 3 – Dankan, actor and director
• January 5 – Kyoichi Katayama, writer
• January 16 – Kimiko Ikegami, American-born Japanese actress
• January 17 – Momoe Yamaguchi, actress
• February 3 – Yasuharu Konishi, musician, composer, and DJ
• February 8 – Amy Yamada, writer
• February 12 – Nana Okada, actress and idol musician
• February 20 – Tomomi Inada, politician
• March 9 – Takaaki Kajita, physicist
• March 23 – Kazue Ikura, actress, voice actress and narrator
• May 9 – Satsuki Katayama, politician
• May 19 – Michiru Shimada, screenwriter (d. 2017)
• May 23 – Ryuta Kawashima, neuroscientist
• June 7 – Takeshi Kobayashi, keyboardist, lyricist, composer, arranger, and record producer
• June 17 – Kazuki Yao, voice actor and actor
• July 12 – Nagisa Katahira, actress and singer
• July 17 – Kiyotaka Sugiyama, singer-songwriter
• August 3 – Koichi Tanaka, engineer
• August 11 – Yoshiaki Murakami, investor
• August 17 – Chika Sakamoto, voice actress
• August 24 – Keita Amemiya, film director and screenwriter
• September 2 – Tetsuya Nakashima, film director and screenwriter
• September 8 – Saeko Shimazu, voice actress
• October 13 – Denny Tamaki, governor of Okinawa Prefecture
• October 21 – Ken Watanabe, actor
• November 21 – Naoko Watanabe, voice actress
• November 24 – Akio Ōtsuka, actor and voice actress
• November 28 – Miki Matsubara, musician and television presenter (d. 2004)
• December 5 – Yoshitomo Nara, artist
• December 6 – Satoru Iwata, video game designer, businessman (d. 2015)

Deaths

• March 7 – Ichirō Hatoyama, politician and 35th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1883)
• April 30 – Kafū Nagai, author, playwright, essayist, and diarist (b. 1879)
• June 20 – Hitoshi Ashida, politician and 35th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1887)
• August 9 – Noboru Ishizaki, admiral (b. 1893)

References

1. "Hirohito | Biography, Accomplishments, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
2. Helms, Ludger (2012). Poor Leadership and Bad Governance: Reassessing Presidents and Prime Ministers in North America, Europe and Japan. Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 178. ISBN   978-0-85793-273-0.
3. "21 Die as Jet Hits School On Okinawa", Oakland Tribune, June 30, 1959, p1