# 1920 in Japan

Events in the year 1920 in Japan. It corresponds to Taishō 9 (大正9年) in the Japanese calendar.

## Incumbents

* Emperor: Taishō
* Prime Minister: Takashi Hara

### Governors

* Aichi Prefecture: Shunji Miyao
* Akita Prefecture: Ryoshin Nao
* Aomori Prefecture: Hidehiko Michioka
* Ehime Prefecture: Toshio Mawatari
* Fukui Prefecture: Kohei Yuji
* Fukuoka Prefecture: Yasukouchi Asakichi
* Fukushima Prefecture: Miyata Mitsuo
* Gifu Prefecture: Kanokogi Kogoro
* Gunma Prefecture: Muneyoshi Oshiba
* Hiroshima Prefecture: Raizo Wakabayashi
* Ibaraki Prefecture: Yuichiro Chikaraishi
* Iwate Prefecture: Takeo Kakinuma
* Kagawa Prefecture: Yoshibumi Satake
* Kochi Prefecture: Abe Yoshihiko
* Kumamoto Prefecture: Hikoji Kawaguchi
* Kyoto Prefecture: Eitaro Mabuchi
* Mie Prefecture: Haruki Yamawaki
* Miyagi Prefecture: Mori Masataka
* Miyazaki Prefecture: Naomiki Hirose
* Nagano Prefecture: Tenta Akaboshi
* Niigata Prefecture: Ota Masahiro
* Okayama Prefecture: Masao Kishimoto
* Okinawa Prefecture: Sōsuke Kawagoe
* Saga Prefecture: Sawada Ushimaro
* Saitama Prefecture: Horiuchi Hidetaro
* Shiname Prefecture: Sanehide Takarabe
* Tochigi Prefecture: Hiroyoshi Hiratsuka
* Tokushima Prefecture: Rinpei Otsu
* Tokyo: Hiroshi Abe
* Toyama Prefecture: Higashizono Motomitsu
* Yamagata Prefecture: Ichiro Yoda
* Yamanashi Prefecture: Miki Nagano

## Events

* January 10 – Japan is a founding member of the League of Nations.
* January 30 – Mazda founded, as predecessor name was Toyo Cork Industry.
* February – The Kawanishi Engineering Works, predecessor of ShinMaywa, is founded in Hyogo-ku, Kobe.
* February 1 – Japanese sugar plantation workers in Hawaii officially join a strike led by Filipinos and Hispanic workers.
* February 24 – Nikolayevsk Incident: Realizing that he is outnumbered and far from reinforcement, the commander of the Japanese garrison allows Yakov Triapitsyn's troops to enter the town of Nikolayevsk-on-Amur under a flag of truce.
* May 10 – In the general election, the Rikken Seiyūkai, led by Prime Minister Hara Takashi, increases on its majority of seats in the lower house of the Diet.
* May 31 - The Rome–Tokyo Raid, a cross-Eurasian flight from Rome to Tokyo organized by Harukichi Shimoi and Gabrielle D'Annunzio ends with Arturo Ferrarin arriving in Tokyo.
* June - About 450 Japanese civilians and 350 Japanese soldiers, along with Russian White Army supporters, are massacred by partisan forces associated with the Red Army at Nikolayevsk on the Amur River.
* June Unknown date – Shikishima Bakery was founded in Nagoya, as predecessor of Pasco Shikishima.
* September 1 – Rinnai was founded in Nagoya.
* September 17 – The Victory Medal, a commemorative military medal of Japan awarded to mark service during the First World War, is established by Imperial Edict.
* October 21 – The Battle of Qingshanli begins between the Imperial Japanese Army and Korean armed groups in a densely wooded region of eastern Manchuria called Qīngshānlǐ.
* December 16 – Bank of Yokohama was founded, as predecessor name was Yokohama Kōshō Bank (横浜興商銀行) in Kanagawa Prefecture.
* date unknown
** The literary magazine Teikoku Bungaku is published for the last time.
** The Guards Cavalry Regiment, Guards Field Artillery Regiment, Guards Engineer Battalion, Guards Transport Battalion, plus other Guards service units are added to the Japanese Imperial Guard.

## Births

* January 23 – Nejiko Suwa, violinist (d. 2012)
* January 30 – Machiko Hasegawa, Illustrator (d. 1992)
* February 12 – Yoshiko Yamaguchi, singer, actress, journalist, and politician (d. 2014)
* March 17 – Takeo Doi, academic, psychoanalyst and author (d. 2009)
* March 22 – Katsuko Saruhashi, geochemist (d. 2007)
* April 1 – Toshiro Mifune, actor (d. 1997)
* May 9 – Mitsuko Mori, actress (d. 2012)
* May 30 – Shōtarō Yasuoka, writer (d. 2013)
* June 17 – Setsuko Hara, actress (d. 2015)
* July 15 – Yoshio Inaba, actor (d. 1998)
* October 20 – Masao Sugiuchi, go player (d. 2017)
* December 24 – Hiroyuki Agawa, writer (d. 2015)

## Deaths

* January 10 – Yoshikawa Akimasa, politician and cabinet minister (b. 1842)
* January 11 – Kataoka Shichirō, admiral (b. 1854)
* April 12 – Takaki Kanehiro, naval physician (b. 1849)
* April 27 – Tadashi Satō, soldier and politician (b. 1849)
* September 20 – Shō Ten, last Ryūkyū crown prince, member of the House of Peers (b. 1864)
* October 5 – Suematsu Kenchō, politician and author (b. 1855)
* October 6 – Kuroiwa Shūroku, journalist and writer (b. 1864)