# 1973 in Japan

Events in the year 1973 in Japan. It corresponds to Shōwa 48 (昭和48年) in the Japanese calendar.

## Incumbents

* Emperor: Hirohito
* Prime minister: Kakuei Tanaka (Liberal Democratic)
* Chief Cabinet Secretary: Susumu Nikaido
* Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Kazuto Ishida until May 19, Tomokazu Murakami from May 21
* President of the House of Representatives: Umekichi Nakamura until May 29, Shigesaburō Maeo
* President of the House of Councillors: Kenzō Kōno
* Diet sessions: 71st (extraordinary session opened on December 22, 1972, to September 27), 72nd (regular, December 1 to June 3, 1974)

### Governors

* Aichi Prefecture: Mikine Kuwahara
* Akita Prefecture: Yūjirō Obata
* Aomori Prefecture: Shunkichi Takeuchi
* Chiba Prefecture: Taketo Tomonō
* Ehime Prefecture: Haruki Shiraishi
* Fukui Prefecture: Heidayū Nakagawa
* Fukuoka Prefecture: Hikaru Kamei
* Fukushima Prefecture: Morie Kimura
* Gifu Prefecture: Saburō Hirano
* Gunma Prefecture: Konroku Kanda
* Hiroshima Prefecture: Iduo Nagano (until 10 November); Hiroshi Miyazawa (starting 16 December)
* Hokkaido: Naohiro Dōgakinai
* Hyogo Prefecture: Tokitada Sakai
* Ibaraki Prefecture: Nirō Iwakami
* Ishikawa Prefecture: Yōichi Nakanishi
* Iwate Prefecture: Tadashi Chida
* Kagawa Prefecture: Masanori Kaneko
* Kagoshima Prefecture: Saburō Kanemaru
* Kanagawa Prefecture: Bunwa Tsuda
* Kochi Prefecture: Masumi Mizobuchi
* Kumamoto Prefecture: Issei Sawada
* Kyoto Prefecture: Torazō Ninagawa
* Mie Prefecture: Ryōzō Tagawa
* Miyagi Prefecture: Sōichirō Yamamoto
* Miyazaki Prefecture: Hiroshi Kuroki
* Nagano Prefecture: Gon'ichirō Nishizawa
* Nagasaki Prefecture: Kan'ichi Kubo
* Nara Prefecture: Ryozo Okuda
* Niigata Prefecture: Shiro Watari
* Oita Prefecture: Masaru Taki
* Okayama Prefecture: Shiro Nagano
* Okinawa Prefecture: Chōbyō Yara
* Osaka Prefecture: Ryōichi Kuroda
* Saga Prefecture: Sunao Ikeda
* Saitama Prefecture: Yawara Hata
* Shiga Prefecture: Kinichiro Nozaki
* Shiname Prefecture: Seiji Tsunematsu
* Shizuoka Prefecture: Yūtarō Takeyama
* Tochigi Prefecture: Nobuo Yokokawa
* Tokushima Prefecture: Yasunobu Takeichi
* Tokyo: Ryōkichi Minobe
* Tottori Prefecture: Jirō Ishiba (until 22 February); Kōzō Hirabayashi (starting 27 March)
* Toyama Prefecture: Kokichi Nakada
* Wakayama Prefecture: Masao Ohashi
* Yamagata Prefecture: Tōkichi Abiko (until 27 September); Seiichirō Itagaki (starting 17 October)
* Yamaguchi Prefecture: Masayuki Hashimoto
* Yamanashi Prefecture: Kunio Tanabe

## Events

* January 1 – Health care for those over 70 years of age is made free of charge
* March 8 – According to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency official confirmed report, Yawata General Hospital fire in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, total 13 patients were fatalities.
* March 19 – Konami is established.
* July 23 – Nidec was founded, as predecessor name was Nippon Densan (Electric Industry) Corporation.
* August 17 – Miyama Real Estate, as predecessor of Leopalace founded in Nakano, Tokyo.
* September 25 – According to Fire and Disaster Management Agency official confirmed report, a caught fire at under construction for department store in Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, kill six construction workers, in an incident caused bx a security guardman has arson acting.
* October 27 – A retailer CGC Group founded.
* November 29 – Fire breaks out in Taiyo department store in Kumamoto City, killing over a hundred.

## Births

* January 2 – Michiyo Nakajima, actress, voice actress and former pop singer.
* January 11 – Eri Fukatsu, actress
* January 16 – Maki Miyamae, pop singer
* January 18 – Shinobu Nakayama, singer and former pop singer
* January 31 – Shingo Katayama, golfer
* February 1 – Makiko Ohmoto, voice actress
* February 7 – Mie Sonozaki, voice actress
* February 9 – Yoshitomo Tani, former professional baseball player
* February 11 – Haruhi Terada, voice actress
* February 28 – Masato Tanaka, professional wrestler
* March 6 – Rumi Ochiai, voice actress
* March 7 – Eiji Takemoto, voice actor
* March 24 – Sakura Tange, voice actress and singer
* March 27 – Sayaka Aoki, comedian
* April 6 – Rie Miyazawa, actress and singer
* April 21 – Katsuyuki Konishi, voice actor
* May 8 – Hiromu Arakawa, manga artist
* May 16 – Kōsuke Toriumi, voice actor
* May 18 – Kaz Hayashi, professional wrestler
* May 29 – Tomoko Kaneda, voice actress and J-pop singer
* June 12 – Mitsuki Saiga, voice actress
* June 18 – Yumi Kakazu, voice actress
* June 19 – Yuko Nakazawa, singer
* June 30 – Hidetada Yamagishi, bodybuilder
* July 2 – Makoto Kosaka, former professional baseball player
* July 4 – Gackt, singer-songwriter and actor
* July 7 – Natsuki Takaya, manga artist
* July 16 – Yoshihiko Hakamada, actor
* July 17
** Takeshi Kaneshiro, Taiwanese/Japanese actor
** Daimaou Kosaka, comedian
* August 13 – Ryōko Shinohara, actress
* August 31 – Kaori Mizumori, enka singer
* September 1 – Rieko Miura, actress and singer
* September 9 – Kazuhisa Ishii, baseball player
* September 18 – Ami Onuki, singer
* October 11 – Daisuke Sakaguchi, voice actor
* October 13 – Nanako Matsushima, actress and model
* October 14 – Masato Sakai, actor
* October 20 – Tomoka Shibasaki, writer
* October 22 – Ichiro Suzuki, baseball player
* October 26 – Taka Michinoku, professional wrestler
* November 6 – Rumi Shishido, voice actress and singer
* December 11 – Yūko Obuchi, politician and cabinet minister
* December 19 – Takashi Sorimachi, actor and singer
* December 25 – Daisuke Miura, professional baseball coach and former pitcher

## Deaths

* April 25 – Tanzan Ishibashi, journalist and politician (b. 1884)
* May 2 – Akiko Seki, soprano (b. 1899)
* September 15 – Saburō Matsukata, journalist, businessman and mountaineer (b. 1899)
* September 18 – Ken Harada, first Japanese diplomat to the Holy See (b. 1893)
* October 7 – Masayuki Mori, actor (b. 1911)
* November 7 – Kiyohide Shima, admiral (b. 1890)
* November 23 – Sesue Hayakawa, actor (b. 1886)