# 1942 in Japan

Events in the year 1942 in Japan.

## Incumbents

* Emperor: Hirohito
* Prime Minister: Hideki Tōjō

### Governors

* Aichi Prefecture: Yukisawa Chiyoji
* Akita Prefecture: Fumi
* Aomori Prefecture: Seiichi Ueda (until 9 June); Shunsuke Yamada (starting 9 June)
* Ehime Prefecture: Masatomi Hatakeda (until 7 July); Ryuichi Fukumoto (starting 7 July)
* Fukui Prefecture:
** until 9 January: Kubota
** 9 January-15 June: Shigeo Miyoshi
** starting 15 June: Nagano Wakamatsu
* Fukushima Prefecture: Sumio Hisakawa (until 7 July); Yoshio Araki (starting 7 July)
* Gifu Prefecture: Tetsushin Sudo (until 23 May); Miyoshi Shigeo (starting 23 May)
* Gunma Prefecture: Goro Murata
* Hiroshima Prefecture: Tokiji Yoshinaga (until 15 June); Saiichiro Miyamura (starting 15 June)
* Ibaraki Prefecture: Kanichi Naito (until 7 October); Tsujiyama (starting 7 October)
* Iwate Prefecture: Yoshifumi Yamauchi (until 15 June); Osamuzo Suzuki (starting 15 June)
* Kagawa Prefecture: Osamu Eianhyaku (until 9 January); Yoshiji Kosuga (starting 9 January)
* Kanagawa Prefecture: Mitsuma Matsumura (until month unknown)
* Kochi Prefecture: Naoaki Hattori (until 7 July); Satoru Okino (starting 7 July)
* Kumamoto Prefecture: Chioji Yukisawa (until 10 June); Hikari Akira (starting 10 June)
* Kyoto Prefecture: Ando Kyoushirou
* Mie Prefecture: Yoshiro Nakano (until 7 October); Koji Soga (starting 7 October)
* Miyagi Prefecture: Nobuo Hayashin (until 7 October); Otomaru Kato (starting 7 October)
* Miyazaki Prefecture: Osafume Katsumi
* Nagano Prefecture: Noburo Suzuki (until 9 January); Nagoya Osamu (starting 9 January)
* Niigata Prefecture: Doi Shohei
* Oita Prefecture: Ito Hisamatsu (starting 6 May)
* Okinawa Prefecture: Hajime Hayakawa
* Saga Prefecture: Yue Yue [ja] (until 23 May); Shogo Tanaka (starting 23 May)
* Saitama Prefecture: Miyano Shozo (until 9 January); Toshio Otsu (starting 9 January)
* Shiname Prefecture: Yasuo Otsubo (until 9 January); Goro Koizumi (starting 9 January)
* Tochigi Prefecture: Saburo Yamagata (until 9 January); Sakurai Yasuemon (starting 9 January)
* Tokyo: Jitsuzo Kawanishi (until 9 January); Matsumura Miro (starting 9 January)
* Toyama Prefecture: Kingo Machimura
* Yamagata Prefecture: Hee Yamauchi (until 7 July); Akira Saito (starting 7 July)

## Events

Below, events of World War II have the "WWII" preface
* 11 January – Japanese paratroopers land on Sulawesi.
* 12 January – Japan declares war on the Dutch.
* 22 January – Hideki Tōjō warns Australia that "if you continue resistance, we Japanese will destroy you."
* 4 February – Japan demands the surrender of Singapore.
* 17 February – Singapore is renamed Shōnan ("Light of the South").
* 20 March – The navy minister, Admiral Shigetarō Shimada says that in view of the Allies' "Retaliation and hatred", Japan would no longer follow recognized rules of sea warfare.
* 18 April – Doolittle Raid, the first bombing raid on the Japanese home islands
* 25 May – Four ships leave Hokkaido to stage a diversionary raid on the Aleutian Islands.
* 4–7 June – Battle of Midway
* 21 August – Battle of the Tenaru
* 11–12 October – Battle of Cape Esperance
* 12–15 November – Naval Battle of Guadalcanal

## Births

* January 8 – Junichiro Koizumi, 56th Prime Minister of Japan
* January 27 – Tasuku Honjo, immunologist
* February 1 – Masa Saito, professional wrestler (d. 2018)
* March 17 – Yoko Yamamoto, actress (d. 2024)
* March 29 – Kenichi Ogata, actor
* April 2 – Hiroyuki Sakai, chef
* April 25 – Katsuji Adachi, professional wrestler (d. 2010)
* May 24 – Ichirō Ozawa, politician
* July 3 – Mitsuhiro Kitta, golfer
* July 5 – Motoaki Inukai, footballer
* July 22 – Toyohiro Akiyama, astronaut
* August 31 – Isao Aoki, golfer
* September 16 – Tadamasa Goto, yakuza boss
* September 19 – Nobuo Sekine, sculptor (d. 2019)

## Deaths

* May 11 – Sakutarō Hagiwara, writer, poet and critic (b. 1886)
* May 29 – Akiko Yosano, author and poet (b. 1878)
* June 4
** Jisaku Okada, Naval officer, killed in action at the Battle of Midway (b. 1897)
** Tamon Yamaguchi, admiral (b. 1892)
* June 5 – Ryusaku Yanagimoto, captain (b. 1894)
* August 21 – Kiyonao Ichiki (b. 1892)
* August 26 – Junichi Sasai, aviator (b. 1918)
* September 5 – Toshinari Maeda, general (b. 1885)
* October 12 – Aritomo Gotō, admiral (b. 1888)
* October 21 – Toshio Ōta, aviator (b. 1919)
* October 26 – Yumio Nasu, major general (b. 1892)
* November 5 – Kiyoura Keigo, politician and Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1850)
* November 23 – Tomitarō Horii, lieutenant general (b. 1890)
* December 4 – Atsushi Nakajima, author (b. 1909)