# 1940 in Japan

Events in the year 1940 in Japan. It corresponds to Shōwa 15 (昭和15年) in the Japanese calendar.

## Incumbents

* Emperor: Hirohito
* Prime Minister:
** Nobuyuki Abe, until January 16,
** Mitsumasa Yonai, until July 22,
** Fumimaro Konoe, from July 22

### Governors

* Aichi Prefecture: Kotaro Tanaka (until 9 April); Kodama Kyuichi (starting 9 April)
* Akita Prefecture: Yukio Tomeoka (until 24 July); Fumi (starting 24 July)
* Aomori Prefecture: Noburo Suzuki (until 24 July); Seiichi Ueda (starting 24 July)
* Ehime Prefecture: Yoshio Mochinaga (until 24 July); Susumu Nakamura Noriyuki (starting 24 July)
* Fukui Prefecture: Kiyoshi Kimura (until 14 April); Kubota (starting 14 April)
* Fukuoka Prefecture: Kyuichi Kodama
* Fukushima Prefecture: Seikichi Hashimoto (until 24 December); Sumio Hisakawa (starting 24 December)
* Gifu Prefecture: Miyano Shozo
* Gunma Prefecture: Kumano Ei (until 20 October); Susukida Yoshitomo (starting 20 October)
* Hiroshima Prefecture: Katsuroku Aikawa
* Ibaraki Prefecture: Tokitsugi Yoshinaga
* Ishikawa Prefecture: Narita Ichiro (until month unknown)
* Iwate Prefecture: Chiyoji Yukizawa (until 10 April); Yoshifumi Yamauchi (starting 10 April)
* Kagawa Prefecture: Nagatoshi Fujioka (until 9 April); Osamu Eianhyaku (starting 9 April)
* Kanagawa Prefecture: Ichisho Inuma then Mitsuma Matsumura
* Kumamoto Prefecture: Tomoichi Koyama
* Kochi Prefecture: Kondo Shunsuke (until 9 April); Chioji Yukisawa (starting 9 April)
* Kyoto Prefecture: Tota Akamatsuko (until April); Jitsuzo Kawanishi (starting April)
* Mie Prefecture: Masatoshi Sato (until 4 April); Yoshiro Nakano (starting 4 April)
* Miyagi Prefecture: Ryosaku Shimizu (until 4 April); Nobuo Hayashin (starting 4 April)
* Miyazaki Prefecture: Jitsuzo Kawanishi (until month unknown)
* Nagano Prefecture: Tomita Kenji (until 22 July); Nagoya Osamu (starting 22 July)
* Nagasaki Prefecture: Jitsuzo Kawanishi
* Niigata Prefecture: Seikichi Kimishima (until 9 April); Yasui Seiichiro (starting 9 April)
* Okinawa Prefecture: Fusataro Fuchigami
* Saga Prefecture: Kato (until 9 April); Masaki (starting 9 April)
* Saitama Prefecture: Toki Ginjiro
* Shiname Prefecture: Kiyoo Ebe (until 23 December); Yasuo Otsubo (starting 23 December)
* Tochigi Prefecture: Adachi Shuuritsu (until 8 April); Saburo Yamagata (starting 8 April)
* Tokyo: Okada Shuzo
* Toyama Prefecture: Kenzo Yano
* Yamagata Prefecture: Ishiguro Takeshige (until 24 August); Hee Yamauchi (starting 24 August)

## Films

* Kaze no Matasaburo
* Totsugu hi made

## Events

* Throughout the entire year - Celebration of year 2600 in Japanese imperial year
* January 15 – A large fire destroys much of Shizuoka city center.
* January 29 – According to Japanese government official confirmed report, a three-passenger locomotive commuter train derail and caught fire nearby Ajikawaguchi Station, Osaka, resulting to 189 person (181 were instantly, 8 were hospital) were death and 69 persons injures.
* March 16–April 3 – Battle of Wuyuan
* May 1–June 18 – Battle of Zaoyang-Yichang
* September 22–26 – Japanese invasion of French Indochina
* November 25–30 – Central Hubei Operation

## Births

* January 1 – Ippei Kuri, manga artist and entrepreneur (d. 2023)
* January 2 – Masahiko Tsugawa, actor (d. 2018)
* February 11 – Kinryuu Arimoto, voice actor (d. 2019)
* May 13 – Kōkichi Tsuburaya, marathoner (d. 1968)
* May 25 – Nobuyoshi Araki, photographer and artist
* June 3 – Koichi Kishi, politician (d. 2017)
* July 2 – Ruriko Asaoka, actress
* July 19 – Hanako, Princess Hitachi, wife of Masahito, Prince Hitachi
* August 20 – Gisaburō Sugii, anime director and Nihonga artist
* September 20 – Tarō Asō, 59th Prime Minister of Japan
* October 30 – Hidetoshi Nagasawa, sculptor and architect (d. 2018)
* December 4 – Fumio Kyūma, politician

## Deaths

* January 1 – Fusajiro Yamauchi, entrepreneur (b. 1859)
* March 8 – Princess Masako Takeda, sixth daughter of Emperor Meiji (b. 1888)
* May 11 – Chujiro Hayashi, Reiki practitioner (b. 1880)
* June 5 – Tokugawa Iesato, politician (b. 1863)
* September 4 – Prince Nagahisa Kitashirakawa, career army officer (b. 1910)
* October 6 – Michitarō Komatsubara, general (b. 1885)
* November 20 – Hideo Oguma, poet (b. 1901)
* November 24 – Saionji Kinmochi, politician, statesman and Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1849)