# 1966 in Japan

Events from the year 1966 in Japan. Under the Japanese calendar, this year is known as Shōwa 41.

## Incumbents

* Emperor: Hirohito
* Prime Minister: Eisaku Satō (Liberal Democratic)
* Chief Cabinet Secretary: Tomisaburo Hashimoto until August 1, Kiichi Aichi until December 3, Kenji Fukunaga
* Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Kisaburo Yokota until August 5, Masatoshi Yokota from August 6
* President of the House of Representatives: Kikuchirō Yamaguchi until December 3, Kentarō Ayabe until December 26
* President of the House of Councillors: Yūzō Shigemune

### Governors

* Aichi Prefecture: Mikine Kuwahara
* Akita Prefecture: Yūjirō Obata
* Aomori Prefecture: Shunkichi Takeuchi
* Chiba Prefecture: Taketo Tomonō
* Ehime Prefecture: Sadatake Hisamatsu
* Fukui Prefecture: Eizō Kita
* Fukuoka Prefecture: Taichi Uzaki
* Fukushima Prefecture: Morie Kimura
* Gifu Prefecture: Yukiyasu Matsuno (until 16 October); Saburō Hirano (starting 17 October)
* Gunma Prefecture: Konroku Kanda
* Hiroshima Prefecture: Iduo Nagano
* Hokkaido: Kingo Machimura
* Hyogo Prefecture: Motohiko Kanai
* Ibaraki Prefecture: Nirō Iwakami
* Ishikawa Prefecture: Yōichi Nakanishi
* Iwate Prefecture: Tadashi Chida
* Kagawa Prefecture: Masanori Kaneko
* Kagoshima Prefecture: Katsushi Terazono
* Kanagawa Prefecture: Iwataro Uchiyama
* Kochi Prefecture: Masumi Mizobuchi
* Kumamoto Prefecture: Kōsaku Teramoto
* Kyoto Prefecture: Torazō Ninagawa
* Mie Prefecture: Satoru Tanaka
* Miyagi Prefecture: Shintaro Takahashi
* Miyazaki Prefecture: Hiroshi Kuroki
* Nagano Prefecture: Gon'ichirō Nishizawa
* Nagasaki Prefecture: Katsuya Sato
* Nara Prefecture: Ryozo Okuda
* Niigata Prefecture: Juichiro Tsukada (until 28 March); Shiro Watari (starting 8 May)
* Oita Prefecture: Kaoru Kinoshita
* Okayama Prefecture: Takenori Kato
* Osaka Prefecture: Gisen Satō
* Saga Prefecture: Sunao Ikeda
* Saitama Prefecture: Hiroshi Kurihara
* Shiga Prefecture: Kyujiro Taniguchi (until 6 December); Kinichiro Nozaki (starting 7 December)
* Shimane Prefecture: Choemon Tanabe
* Shizuoka Prefecture: Toshio Saitō
* Tochigi Prefecture: Nobuo Yokokawa
* Tokushima Prefecture: Yasunobu Takeichi
* Tokyo: Ryōtarō Azuma
* Tottori Prefecture: Jirō Ishiba
* Toyama Prefecture: Minoru Yoshida
* Wakayama Prefecture: Shinji Ono
* Yamagata Prefecture: Tōkichi Abiko
* Yamaguchi Prefecture: Masayuki Hashimoto
* Yamanashi Prefecture: Hisashi Amano

## Events

* January 9 - The Kanai Building fire in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture leaves 12 dead, 14 injured.
* February 4 -All Nippon Airways Flight 60 crashes into Tokyo Bay, killing all 133 people on board.
* March 4 - Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 402 crashes while landing at night with poor visibility at Tokyo International Airport, with 64 out of 72 on board killed.
* March 5 - BOAC Flight 911 crashes while encountering severe Clear-air turbulence over Mount Fuji shortly after taking off from Tokyo International Airport, killing all 124 on board.
* March 11 – A spa hotel caught fire in Minakami, Gunma Prefecture, causing 30 deaths, 29 injuries, according to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency official confirmed report.
* March 25 – Hachinohe Rinkai Line was opened.
* April 1 - Japan switches to the Metric system.
* April 26 - Japan's biggest postwar public transportation strike.
* June 28 – Typhoon Kit hit eastern Honshu, kills 83 persons, hnjures 91 persons, according to Fire and Disaster Management Agency official confirmed reported.
* June 30 &ndash； July 2 &ndash； A first The Beatles concert show in Nippon Budokan, Chiyoda, Tokyo,
* August 22 – Frontier Tea Product Manufacturing, as predecessor of Ito En founded in Shizuoka City.
* September 25 – Two typhoons Helen and Ida landed in Japan on same days, according to Japanese government official confirmed report, total 317 persons were human fatalities with 824 persons were hurt.
* November 11 - All Nippon Airways Flight 533 crashes into the Seto Inland Sea, killing all 50 on board.
* Undated
** Yamanashi Women's Junior College is founded.
** Japanese birth rates plummeted due to the superstition that girls born in the year of the Fire Horse will grow up to kill their husbands.

## Births

* January 5 - Yuri Amano, voice actress
* January 17 - Jyoji Morikawa, author and illustrator
* January 17 - Hiroko Mita, actress
* January 28 - Seiji Mizushima, anime director
* January 31 - Nobuyuki Hoshino, former professional baseball pitcher
* February 4 - Kyōko Koizumi, actress and singer
* February 5 - Maiko Kawakami, actress
* March 7 - Atsushi Sakurai, singer (Buck-Tick) (died 2023)
* April 3 - Mina Tominaga, voice actress
* April 19 - El Samurai, professional wrestler
* April 27 - Yoshihiro Togashi, author and illustrator
* June 26 - Yūko Minaguchi, voice actress
* July 11 - Kentaro Miura, manga artist (died 2021)
* July 15 - Masatoshi Nagase, actress
* July 25 - Wataru Takagi, voice actor
* July 28 - Shikao Suga, singer
* August 4 - Kensuke Sasaki, professional wrestler
* August 14 - Honami Suzuki, actress
* August 30 - Mikako Kotani, former synchronised swimming athlete
* September 2 - Yu Hayami, singer and actress
* September 11 - Kiko, Crown Princess of Japan, wife of Fumihito, Crown Prince of Japan
* October 8 - Toshiro Yufune, former professional baseball pitcher
* October 27 - Masanobu Takashima, actor
* October 31 - Koji Kanemoto, professional wrestler
* November 2 - Yoshinari Ogawa, professional wrestler
* November 6 - Kae Araki, voice actress
* November 13 - Mieharu, actor
* November 28 - Narumi Yasuda, actress
* December 12 - Último Dragón, professional wrestler
* December 17 - Yuko Arimori, former marathon runner
* December 22 - Sayuri Kokusho, actress
* December 27 - Masahiro Fukuda, former footballer

## Deaths

* January 10 - Nishizō Tsukahara, admiral (b. 1887)
* March 6 - Michitaro Totsuka, admiral (b. 1890)
* April 23 - George Ohsawa, dietist, founder of Macrobiotics (b. 1893)
* June 7 - Yoshishige Abe, philosopher and politician (b. 1883)
* June 15 – Sankichi Takahashi, admiral (b. 1882)
* July 12 - D.T. Suzuki, philosopher (b. 1870)
* September 12 - Aketo Nakamura, general (b. 1889)
* September 13 - Tomoshige Samejima, admiral (b. 1889)
* November 9 - Jisaburō Ozawa, admiral (b. 1886)
* November 14 - Zengo Yoshida, admiral (b. 1885)