# 2008 in Japan

Events in the year 2008 in Japan.

## Incumbents

* Emperor: Akihito
* Prime Minister: Yasuo Fukuda (Liberal Democratic Party–Gunma) to September 24 Taro Aso (L–Fukuoka)
* Chief Cabinet Secretary: Nobutaka Machimura (L–Hokkaidō) to September 24 Takeo Kawamura (L–Yamaguchi)
* Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Nirō Shimada to November 21 Hironobu Takesaki from November 25
* President of the House of Representatives: Yōhei Kōno (L–Kanagawa)
* President of the House of Councillors: Satsuki Eda (D–Okayama)
* Diet sessions: 168th (extraordinary session continued from 2007, to January 15), 169th (regular, January 18 to June 21), 170th (extraordinary, September 24 to December 25)

### Governors

* Aichi Prefecture: Masaaki Kanda
* Akita Prefecture: Sukeshiro Terata
* Aomori Prefecture: Shingo Mimura
* Chiba Prefecture: Akiko Dōmoto
* Ehime Prefecture: Moriyuki Kato
* Fukui Prefecture: Issei Nishikawa
* Fukuoka Prefecture: Wataru Asō
* Fukushima Prefecture: Yūhei Satō
* Gifu Prefecture: Hajime Furuta
* Gunma Prefecture: Masaaki Osawa
* Hiroshima Prefecture: Yūzan Fujita
* Hokkaido: Harumi Takahashi
* Hyogo Prefecture: Toshizō Ido
* Ibaraki Prefecture: Masaru Hashimoto
* Ishikawa Prefecture: Masanori Tanimoto
* Iwate Prefecture: Takuya Tasso
* Kagawa Prefecture: Takeki Manabe
* Kagoshima Prefecture: Satoshi Mitazono
* Kanagawa Prefecture: Shigefumi Matsuzawa
* Kochi Prefecture: Masanao Ozaki
* Kumamoto Prefecture: Yoshiko Shiotani (until 16 April); Ikuo Kabashima (starting 16 April)
* Kyoto Prefecture: Keiji Yamada
* Mie Prefecture: Akihiko Noro
* Miyagi Prefecture: Yoshihiro Murai
* Miyazaki Prefecture: Hideo Higashikokubaru
* Nagano Prefecture: Jin Murai
* Nagasaki Prefecture: Genjirō Kaneko
* Nara Prefecture: Shōgo Arai
* Niigata Prefecture: Hirohiko Izumida
* Oita Prefecture: Katsusada Hirose
* Okayama Prefecture: Masahiro Ishii
* Okinawa Prefecture: Hirokazu Nakaima
* Osaka Prefecture: Fusae Ōta (until 5 February); Tōru Hashimoto (starting 6 February)
* Saga Prefecture: Yasushi Furukawa
* Saitama Prefecture: Kiyoshi Ueda
* Shiga Prefecture: Yukiko Kada
* Shiname Prefecture: Zenbe Mizoguchi
* Shizuoka Prefecture: Yoshinobu Ishikawa
* Tochigi Prefecture: Tomikazu Fukuda
* Tokushima Prefecture: Kamon Iizumi
* Tokyo: Shintarō Ishihara
* Tottori Prefecture: Shinji Hirai
* Toyama Prefecture: Takakazu Ishii
* Wakayama Prefecture: Yoshinobu Nisaka
* Yamagata Prefecture: Hiroshi Saitō
* Yamaguchi Prefecture: Sekinari Nii
* Yamanashi Prefecture: Shōmei Yokouchi

## Events

* January 31 – Nine people are hospitalized after eating gyōza made at the Tianyang Food Plant in China.
* February 11 – Okinawa police arrest United States Marine Tyrone Hadnott and charge him with raping a middle-school girl.
* February 19
** Kei Nishikori wins an ATP title. At age 18, he is the youngest player to win the title after Lleyton Hewitt won it at age 16 in 1998.
** A Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer Atago collides with fishing boat Seitoku Maru at 4:07 am, off the coast of Chiba Prefecture.
* February 22
** The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force resumes fueling warships from the United States and its allies.
** Kazuyoshi Miura is arrested in Saipan on suspicion of involvement with the murder of his wife in 1981.
* February 25 – The Supreme Court upheld life sentence of Daisuke Mori.
* June 8 – The Akihabara massacre takes place in Tokyo. A man kills seven in an attack on a crowd using a truck and a dagger.
* June 14 – the 2008 Iwate earthquake strikes northern Honshū, leaving two dead and hundreds injured.
* June 17 – Serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki is executed by hanging.
* July 7 – July 9 – G8 summit hosted by Japan.
* September 6 – Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda announces his resignation.
* September 24 – The Diet elects Taro Aso Prime Minister.
* October – Toyota launches yet another Avensis at the 2008 Paris Motor Show to be built in Britain.
* October 1 – Arson claims 15 lives in a pre-dawn fire at an adult-video shop in Osaka.
* October 10 (U.S. Pacific Daylight Time) – Kazuyoshi Miura commits suicide in Los Angeles while under arrest on suspicion of involvement in the murder of his wife.
* October 17 – Japan won their tenth nonpermanent seat for 2009 and 2010 sessions on the United Nations Security Council, defeating Iran by 158 votes to 32 in elections in the General Assembly

## The Nobel Prize

* Yoichiro Nambu, Makoto Kobayashi (physicist), Toshihide Maskawa: 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics winners.

## Deaths

* January 16: Tamako Kataoka, painter
* January 17: Jinzō Toriumi, screenwriter
* February 13: Kon Ichikawa, film director
* February 29: Kenji Yanagiya, fighter ace of the Imperial Japanese Army
* March 3: Taichirō Hirokawa, voice actor and narrator
* March 11: Akemi Negishi, actress
* April 2: Momoko Ishii, author
* June 6: Saeko Himuro, novelist, essayist, and playwright
* June 9: Kan Mukai, film director, cinematographer, producer and screenwriter
* June 17: Tsutomu Miyazaki, serial killer
* June 18: Miyuki Kanbe, model and actress
* June 27: Daihachi Oguchi, drummer
* August 2: Fujio Akatsuka, manga artist
* August 4: Eri Kawai, singer
* August 11: Arase Nagahide, sumo wrestler
* August 14: Seiji Aochi, ski jumper
* August 16: Masanobu Fukuoka, microbiologist
* October 10: Kazuyoshi Miura, businessman
* October 27: Frank Nagai, singer
* November 7: Hidetaka Nishiyama, master of Shotokan karate
* November 10: Kiyoshi Itō, mathematician
* December 5: Shūichi Katō, critic
* December 16: Ai Iijima, media personality and AV idol
* Undated: Yoshinao Kodaira, officer and fighter ace