# 1931 in Japan

Events in the year 1931 in Japan.

## Incumbents

* Emperor: Hirohito
* Prime Minister:
** Osachi Hamaguchi: until April 14
** Wakatsuki Reijirō: April 14 – December 13
** Inukai Tsuyoshi: from December 13

### Governors

* Aichi Prefecture:
** starting 20 January: Masao Oka
** 20 January-21 December: Kosaka Masayasu
** until 21 December: Yujiro Osaki
* Akita Prefecture: Koki Hiegata (until 18 December); Takeshi Uchida (starting 18 December)
* Aomori Prefecture: Migaku Moriya (until 18 December); Teizaburo Miyamoto (starting 18 December)
* Ehime Prefecture: Koichiro Sasai (until 18 December); Kume Shigeo (starting 18 December)
* Fukui Prefecture: Tachibana Saitanao (until 18 December); Keizo Ichimura (starting 18 December)
* Fukushima Prefecture:
** until 15 April: Koyanagi Makimamoru
** 15 April-18 December: Goro Kawasaki
** starting 18 December: Murai Hachiro
* Gifu Prefecture:
** until 8 May: Ken Usawa
** 8 May-18 December: Yoshida Katsutaro
** starting 18 December: Takehiko Ito
* Gunma Prefecture:
** until 27 June: Hotta Kanae
** 27 June-18 December: Kiichi Harata
** starting 18 December: Masao Kanazawa
* Hiroshima Prefecture:
** until 8 May: Hiroshi Kawabuchi
** 8 May-18 December: Takekai Shirane
** starting 18 December: Ryo Chiba
* Ibaraki Prefecture:
** until 27 June: Shozo Ushijima
** 27 June-18 December: Tanaka
** starting 18 December: Seikichi Kimishima
* Ishikawa Prefecture: Nakano Kunikazu (until month unknown)
* Iwate Prefecture: Toyoshiro Kubo (until 18 December); Hidehiko Ishiguro (starting 18 December)
* Kagawa Prefecture:
** until 27 June: Susumu Tsuboi
** 27 June-18 December: Yusai Takahashi
** starting 18 December: Akira Ito
* Kanagawa Prefecture: Jiro Yamagata (until month unknown)
* Kochi Prefecture:
** until 27 June: Tanaka
** 27 June-18 December: Tsuboi
** starting 18 December: Kodora Akamatsu
* Kumamoto Prefecture: Bunpei Motoyama (until 18 December); Kenichi Yamashita (starting 18 December)
* Kyoto Prefecture:
** until October: Sasaki Shinichi
** October-December: Shinya Kurosaki
** starting December: Sukenari Yokoyama
* Mie Prefecture: Keizo Ichimura (until 18 December); Hirose Hisatada (starting 18 December)
* Miyagi Prefecture: Michio Yuzawa
* Miyazaki Prefecture:
** until 18 December: Ariyoshi
** 18 December-21 December: Kiyoshi Nakarai
** starting 21 December: Gisuke Kinoshita
* Nagano Prefecture: Shintaro Suzuki (until 18 December); Ishigaki Kuraji (starting 18 December)
* Niigata Prefecture:
* until 2 October: Toyoji Obata
* 2 October-18 December: Nakano Kunikazu
* starting 18 December: Obata Toyoji
* Okinawa Prefecture: Jiro Ino
* Osaka Prefecture: Saito Munenori (starting month unknown)
* Saga Prefecture:
** until 18 December: Inoue
** 20 January-18 December: Nakarai Kiyoshi
** starting 18 December: Saburo Hayakawa
* Saitama Prefecture:
** until 15 April: Niwa Shichiro
** 15 April-18 December: Kozo Yamanaka
** starting 18 December: Umekichi Miyawaki
* Shiname Prefecture:
** until 21 August: Keiichi Omori
** 21 August-18 December: Kanichi Misawa
** starting 18 December: Rinsaku Yagi
* Tochigi Prefecture:
** until 27 January: Harada
** 20 January-27 December: Asari Saburo
** starting 27 December: Chokichi Toshima
* Tokyo: Torataro Shizuka (until 18 October); Hasegawa Hisakazu (starting 18 October)
* Toyama Prefecture: Kozo Yamanaka (until 15 April); Keiichi Suzuki (starting 15 April)
* Yamagata Prefecture:
** until 24 October: Kubota Osamu Kosuke
** 24 October-18 December: Ken Yamaguchi
** starting 18 December: Sada Kawamura

## Events

* March - March Incident
* March 27 – A real estate brand, Shōei Corporation was founded, as predecessor for Hullic.
* June 5 – 1931 Empress of Canada stabbings: A man killed 2 and wounded 29 others with a knife aboard the Canadian Pacific Steamships liner RMS Empress of Canada as the ship sailed off Japan.
* June 27 - Nakamura Incident
* July 1 - Wanpaoshan Incident
* September 21 – A Richer Scale magnitude 6.5 earthquake hit in Yorii, Saitama Prefecture. According to Japanese government official confirmed report, killing 16 persons, 146 persons were wounded.
* October 21 - October Incident
* November 4 - Resistance at Nenjiang Bridge
* November 4–18 - Jiangqiao Campaign
* Unknown date
** Teikyo Commerce School, later Teikyo University was founded in Tokyo.
** A time recorder and robot brand, Amano was founded in Yokohama, as predecessor name of Amano Manufacturing.
** A mail order cram school, Jitsuryoku-Zōshinsha (Ability Promotion), as predecessor of Zōshinsha Holdings (Z-kai) was founded.

## Films

* Tokyo Chorus

## Births
### January–March

* January 2 – Toshiki Kaifu, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2022)
* January 6 – Kaoru Yachigusa, actress (d. 2019)
* January 20 – Ariyoshi Sawako, writer (d. 1984)
* January 21 – Yoshiko Kuga, actress (d. 2024)
* January 28 – Sakyo Komatsu, science fiction writer (d. 2011)
* February 16 – Ken Takakura, actor (d. 2014)
* March 7 – Atsuko, Princess Yori, fourth daughter of Emperor Shōwa
* March 9 – Masahiro Shinoda, film director

### April–June

* April 11 – Koichi Sugiyama, composer and conductor (d. 2021)
* May 10 – Ichirō Nagai, voice actor (d. 2014)
* June 22 – Teruyuki Okazaki, black belt in Shotokan Karate (d. 2020)

### July–September

* July 5 – Ryuzo Sato, economist
* July 11 – Yasuo Ōtsuka, animator (d. 2021)
* August 29 – Ichikawa Raizō VIII, actor (d. 1969)
* August 30 – Jōji Yanami, voice actor
* September 17 – Ayako Sono, writer (d. 2021)
* September 21 – Syukuro Manabe, Japanese-American meteorologist and climatologist

### October–December

* October 24 – Ken Utsui, actor (d. 2014)
* November 29 – Shintaro Katsu, actor (d. 1997)
* December 5 – Kyōko Kagawa, actress
* December 11 – Fujiko Yamamoto, actress
* December 15 – Shuntarō Tanikawa, poet and translator
* December 19 – Reiko Sato, actress and dancer (d. 1981)
* December 31 – Sakata Tōjūrō IV, kabuki actor (d. 2020)

### Full date unknown

* Miyozo Yamazaki, amateur archaeologist

## Deaths

* January 27 – Nishinoumi Kajirō II, Sumo wrestler, 25th yokozuna (b. 1880)
* June 13 – Kitasato Shibasaburō, physician and bacteriologist (b. 1853)
* June 26 – Yamakawa Kenjirō, physicist, university president (b. 1854)
* August 2 – Kinue Hitomi, sprinter and long jumper (b. 1907)
* August 26 – Osachi Hamaguchi, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1870)
* September 2 – Ichinohe Hyoe, general (b. 1855)
* November 11 – Shibusawa Eiichi, industrialist (b. 1840)