# 1949 in Japan

Events in the year 1949 in Japan.

## Incumbents

* Supreme Commander Allied Powers: Douglas MacArthur
* Emperor: Hirohito
* Prime Minister: Shigeru Yoshida (L–Kōchi, 3rd term from February 16)
* Chief Cabinet Secretary: Eisaku Satō (not Diet member→L–Yamaguchi) until February 16, Kaneshichi Masuda (L–Nagano)
* Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Tadahiko Mibuchi
* President of the House of Representatives: vacant until February 11, Kijūrō Shidehara (L–Ōsaka)
* President of the House of Councillors: Tsuneo Matsudaira (Ryokufūkai–Fukushima) until November 14, Naotake Satō (Ryokufūkai–Aomori) from November 15
* Diet sessions: 5th (special, February 11 to May 31), 6th (extraordinary, October 25 to November (?)), 7th (regular, December 4 to 1950, May 2)

### Governors

* Aichi Prefecture: Hideo Aoyagi
* Akita Prefecture: Kosaku Hasuike
* Aomori Prefecture: Bunji Tsushima
* Chiba Prefecture: Tamenosuke Kawaguchi
* Ehime Prefecture: Juushin Aoki
* Fukui Prefecture: Harukazu Obata
* Fukuoka Prefecture: Katsuji Sugimoto
* Fukushima Prefecture: Kan'ichirō Ishihara (until 30 November); vacant thereafter (starting 30 November)
* Gifu Prefecture: Kamon Muto
* Gunma Prefecture: Yoshio Iyoku
* Hiroshima Prefecture: Tsunei Kusunose
* Hokkaido Prefecture: Toshifumi Tanaka
* Hyogo Prefecture: Yukio Kishida
* Ibaraki Prefecture: Yoji Tomosue
* Ishikawa Prefecture: Wakio Shibano
* Iwate Prefecture: Kenkichi Kokubun
* Kagawa Prefecture: Keikichi Masuhara
* Kagoshima Prefecture: Kaku Shigenari
* Kanagawa Prefecture: Iwataro Uchiyama
* Kochi Prefecture: Wakaji Kawamura
* Kumamoto Prefecture: Saburō Sakurai
* Kyoto Prefecture: Atsushi Kimura
* Mie Prefecture: Masaru Aoki
* Miyagi Prefecture: Saburō Chiba (until 3 January); Kazuji Sasaki (starting 25 February)
* Miyazaki Prefecture: Tadao Annaka
* Nagano Prefecture: Torao Hayashi
* Nagasaki Prefecture: Sōjirō Sugiyama
* Nara Prefecture: Mansaku Nomura
* Niigata Prefecture: Shohei Okada
* Oita Prefecture: Tokuju Hosoda
* Okayama Prefecture: Hirokichi Nishioka
* Osaka Prefecture: Bunzō Akama
* Saga Prefecture: Gen'ichi Okimori
* Saitama Prefecture:
** until 28 March: Mizo Nishimura
** 28 March-17 May: Yoshida Tadakazu
** starting 17 May: Yuuichi Oosawa
* Shiga Prefecture: Iwakichi Hattori
* Shiname Prefecture: Fujiro Hara
* Shizuoka Prefecture: Takeji Kobayashi
* Tochigi Prefecture: Juukichi Kodaira
* Tokushima Prefecture: Goro Abe
* Tokyo Prefecture: Seiichirō Yasui
* Tottori Prefecture: Aiji Nishio
* Toyama Prefecture: Kunitake Takatsuji
* Wakayama Prefecture: Shinji Ono
* Yamagata Prefecture: Michio Murayama
* Yamaguchi Prefecture: Tatsuo Tanaka
* Yamanashi Prefecture: Katsuyasu Yoshie

## Events

* January 23 - 1949 Japanese general election
* January 26 – A fire breaks out at Hōryū-ji temple in Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture, destroying several murals.
* March Unknown date – Mens Shop Ogori, as predecessor of Uniqlo was founded in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
* May 16: Opening of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya Stock Exchanges.
* May 25: Ministry of International Trade and Industry formed.
* June 1: Japanese National Railways become independent of the Ministry of Transportation.
* June 22: A Typhoon Della, torrential massibie rain and landslide hit, many ship and fishing boat plunged around Uwa Sea, Ehime Prefecture, 468 person were human fatalities, including a passenger ferry Aoba Maru, and 367 persons were hurt, according to Japanese government official confirmed report.
* July 5 - Shimoyama incident
* July 15 - Mitaka incident
* August 17 - Matsukawa derailment
* September 15: First limited express trains begin operation on JNR lines.
* October: Hideki Yukawa becomes the first Japanese winner of a Nobel Prize.
* December 1
** Izumi Real Estate, later, Sumitomo Realty & Development was founded.
** Marubeni was established that separate from Itochu.
* December 16 – Auto parts company Denso established.

## Films

Late Spring

## Births

* January 12: Haruki Murakami, author
* January 15: Rumi Tama, film director, actress, and screenwriter
* January 24: Rihoko Yoshida, voice actress
* January 28: Masachika Ichimura, voice actor and musical singer
* February 2: Yasuko Namba, mountaineer, summited the Seven Summits (d. 1996)
* March 3: Hiroshi Kajikawa, archer
* March 23: Aruno Tahara, voice actor
* April 26
** Morio Kazama, actor
** Issei Sagawa, murderer
* May 9: Kenji Shimaoka, volleyball player
* May 11: Terumi Niki, actress
* May 12: Moto Hagio, manga artist
* May 25: Yuki Katsuragi, singer (d. 2022)
* June 5: Guts Ishimatsu, boxer
* June 20: Arase Nagahide, sumo wrestler (d. 2008)
* June 27: Norio Nagayama, spree killer (d. 1997)
* July 14: Toyokazu Nomura, judoka
* August 18: Takeshi Shudo, scriptwriter (d. 2010)
* September 14: Eikichi Yazawa, singer
* September 19: Sayoko Yamaguchi, model and actress (d. 2007)
* September 20: Yutaka Higuchi, figure skater
* September 21: Yūsaku Matsuda, actor (d. 1989)
* October 5: Takajin Yashiki, singer and television celebrity (d. 2014)
* October 7: Yuji Katsuro, Nordic combined skier
* October 21: Masao Ohba, boxer (d. 1973)
* November 17: Yoshito Yasuhara, actor and voice actor
* November 21: Kazumasa Hirai, weightlifter
* November 24: Tamanofuji Shigeru, sumo wrestler (d. 2021)
* November 28: Kyoko Mizuki, author and manga artist
* December 2: Shūichi Ikeda, voice actor
* December 16: Kensaku Morita, actor, singer and governor of Chiba Prefecture
* December 20: Takao Okawara, film director, writer and producer
* December 28: Kaoru Kitamura, writer

## Deaths

* January 8: Yoshijirō Umezu, war leader
* January 20: Iwata Nakayama, photographer
* February 6: Hiroaki Abe, admiral
* May 5: Hideo Nagata, poet and playwright
* May 6: Kunihiko Hashimoto, composer, violinist, conductor, and musical educator
* May 17: Unno Juza, founding father of Japanese science fiction
* June 30: Harukazu Nagaoka, diplomat
* July 1: Isamu Takeshita, admiral
* July 10: Moritake Tanabe
* August 7: Uemura Shōen, artist
* August 15: Kanji Ishiwara, war leader
* October 5: Yoshio Kodaira, rapist and serial killer (executed) (born 1905)
* October 12: Kiyoshi Kawakami, journalist
* November 3: Hidemitsu Tanaka, author
* November 14: Matsudaira Tsuneo, diplomat
* November 20: Wakatsuki Reijirō, former prime minister
* November 25: Kazuo Mizutani, chief of staff
* December 14: Morita Sōhei, author

## Statistics

* Yen value: US$1 = ¥360 (fixed)