# 1978 in Japan

Events in the year 1978 in Japan. It corresponds to Shōwa 53 (昭和53年) in the Japanese calendar.

## Incumbents

* Emperor: Hirohito
* Prime minister: Takeo Fukuda (Liberal Democratic) until December 7, Masayoshi Ōhira (Liberal Democratic)
* Chief Cabinet Secretary: Shintaro Abe until December 7, Rokusuke Tanaka
* Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Masao Okahara
* President of the House of Representatives: Shigeru Hori
* President of the House of Councillors: Ken Yasui
* Diet sessions: 84th (regular session opened in December 19, 1977, to June 16), 85th (extraordinary, September 18 to October 21), 86th (extraordinary, December 6 to December 12), 87th (regular, December 22 to June 14, 1979)

### Governors

* Aichi Prefecture: Yoshiaki Nakaya
* Akita Prefecture: Yūjirō Obata
* Aomori Prefecture: Shunkichi Takeuchi
* Chiba Prefecture: Kiichi Kawakami
* Ehime Prefecture: Haruki Shiraishi
* Fukui Prefecture: Heidayū Nakagawa
* Fukuoka Prefecture: Hikaru Kamei
* Fukushima Prefecture: Isao Matsudaira
* Gifu Prefecture: Yosuke Uematsu
* Gunma Prefecture: Ichiro Shimizu
* Hiroshima Prefecture: Hiroshi Miyazawa
* Hokkaido: Naohiro Dōgakinai
* Hyogo Prefecture: Tokitada Sakai
* Ibaraki Prefecture: Fujio Takeuchi
* Ishikawa Prefecture: Yōichi Nakanishi
* Iwate Prefecture: Tadashi Chida
* Kagawa Prefecture: Tadao Maekawa
* Kagoshima Prefecture: Kaname Kamada
* Kanagawa Prefecture: Kazuji Nagasu
* Kochi Prefecture: Chikara Nakauchi
* Kumamoto Prefecture: Issei Sawada
* Kyoto Prefecture: Torazō Ninagawa (until 15 April); Yukio Hayashida (starting 15 April)
* 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: Takeo Kimi
* Oita Prefecture: Masaru Taki
* Okayama Prefecture: Shiro Nagano
* Okinawa Prefecture:
** until 23 November: Koichi Taira
** 23 November-13 December: Takemori Nijima
** starting 13 December: Junji Nishime
* Osaka Prefecture: Ryōichi Kuroda
* Saga Prefecture: Sunao Ikeda
* Saitama Prefecture: Yawara Hata
* Shiga Prefecture: Masayoshi Takemura
* Shiname Prefecture: Seiji Tsunematsu
* Shizuoka Prefecture: Keizaburō Yamamoto
* Tochigi Prefecture: Yuzuru Funada
* Tokushima Prefecture: Yasunobu Takeichi
* Tokyo: Ryōkichi Minobe
* Tottori Prefecture: Kōzō Hirabayashi
* Toyama Prefecture: Kokichi Nakada
* Wakayama Prefecture: Shirō Kariya
* Yamagata Prefecture: Seiichirō Itagaki
* Yamaguchi Prefecture: Toru Hirai
* Yamanashi Prefecture: Kunio Tanabe

## Events

* January 14 - According to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency confirmed report, total of 25 people were dead, 211 people were wounded, a Richer Scale 6.7 earthquake and aftershocks damaged in Izu Peninsula, Shizuoka Prefecture.
* March 26 - Protesters destroy much of equipment in the control tower of Narita Airport with Molotov cocktails, set to open in just four days.
* April 6 – Sunshine 60 has officially open in Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo, the tallest sky craper in Asia (Japan), until 63 Building in Seoul, South Korea on July 27, 1985.
* May 20, 1978 - Narita International Airport opened
* June 2 - Japan Air Lines Flight 115 suffered a tailstrike while landing at Osaka International Airport.
* June 12 - A large 7.7 magnitude earthquake hits offshore Miyagi Prefecture and causes 28 deaths and 1,325 injuries.
* July 30, 1978 - Okinawa Prefecture changed driving on the Right-hand traffic to Left-hand traffic(730)
* August 12 - The Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China is concluded.
* December 16 - The Mystery of Mamo is released in cinemas.

## Births
### January–June

* January 2 – Toyoguchi Megumi, voice actress
* January 6 –
** Reina Miyauchi, J-pop singer
** Ayano Tsuji, J-pop singer
* January 7 – Asami Imajuku, model, actress, and singer
* January 9 – Hassei Takano, actor
* January 10 – Kanako Mitsuhashi, voice actress
* January 11 – Kyoko Hamaguchi, freestyle wrestler
* January 15 – Vanilla Yamazaki, katsudō-benshi, voice actor, an actress
* January 16 – Hisanori Ōiwa, actor, stunt performer and suit actor
* January 17
** Takatoshi Kaneko, actor
** Hiro Suzuhira, manga artist
* January 24 – Tomokazu Myojin, football midfielder
* January 26 – Atsuko Kurusu, actress
* January 27 – Akiko Hinagata, actress and former gravure idol.
* February 4 – Shingo Kawaguchi, actor
* February 20 – Ken Takeuchi, voice actor
* February 21 – Miki Sakai, actress and J-pop idol singer
* February 23 – Yuka Motohashi, actress
* February 25
** Yuji Nakazawa, football player
** Shintarō Tokita, musician
* February 28 – Rei Kikukawa, actress, model, and television presenter
* March 1
** Noriyasu Agematsu, composer
** Sakura Nogawa, voice actress
* March 8 – Genki Sudo, mixed martial artist and a kickboxer
* March 9 – Ryosuke Sawai, baseball player
* March 12 – Arina Tanemura, manga artist
* March 15 – Takeru Kobayashi, competitive eater
* March 18
** Shimotori Norio, sumo wrestler
** Yoshie Takeshita, volleyball player
* March 20 – Hanako Oku, singer
* March 24
** Takeharu Kato, baseball player
** Kaori Mochida, singer
* March 29 – Hirotoki Onozawa, rugby union player
* April 5 – Yumie Funayama, curler
* April 8 – Daigo, e singer-songwriter, actor, talent, and voice actor
* April 9
** Kousei Amano, actor
** Takashi Ōhara, voice actor
* April 14 – Kaori Muraji, classical guitarist
* April 18 – Ryōta Tsuzuki, football player
* April 24 – Kazunari Okayama, football player
* April 26
** Hiroshi Asai, musician and composer
** Shinnosuke Tachibana, voice actor
* April 27 – Takahiro Suzuki, baseball player
* May 1 – Sachie Hara, actress and model
* May 3 – Dai Tamesue, hurdler athlete
* May 4 – Daisuke Ono, voice actor
* May 8 – Atsushi Sato, long-distance runner
* May 10 – Daisuke Yamai, basketball pitcher
* May 11 – Ushiomaru Motoyasu, sumo wrestler (d. 2019)
* October 2 – Ayumi Hamasaki, singer, songwriter, actress and model
* May 12 – Masahiro Abe, baseball player
* May 13 – Junji Majima, voice actor
* May 15
** Kōsei Inoue, Judoka
** Hideki Sahara, football player
* May 17 – Norihiro Yamagishi, football player
* May 18 – Toru Yano, wrestler
* May 23 – Hideaki Kitajima, football player
* June 1 – Ayako Ikeda, singer-songwriter
* June 2 – Junko Yaginuma, announcer and model
* June 5
** Yuka Inokuchi, voice actress
** Takayuki Kondō, voice actor
** Taro Suruga, musician
* June 12 – Yumiko Shaku, actress and model
* June 13 – Mikako Ichikawa, actress and model
* June 17 – Kumiko Asō, actress
* June 24 – Shunsuke Nakamura, football player
* June 25 – Miki Nakao, backstroke swimmer

### July –December

* July 3 – Mizuki Noguchi, long-distance runner
* July 4 – Yusuke Murata manga artist
* July 7
** Kayo Kitada, judoka
** Misia, singer, songwriter, and record producer
* July 9 – Osamu Hamanaka, baseball player
* July 10 – Kotaro Koizumi, actor
* July 12 – Yoshihito Ishii, baseball player
* July 19 – Atsushi Harada, actor
* July 21 – Kyoko Iwasaki, swimmer
* July 22 – Kyōko Hasegawa, actress and model
* July 23 – Takashi Yamamoto, swimmer
* July 24 – Sayo Aizawa, model
* July 28 – Hitomi Yaida, pop/folk rock singer-songwriter and guitarist
* August 4 – Satoshi Hino, voice actor
* August 8
** Natsuko Kuwatani, voice actress
** Miho Shiraishi, actress
* August 12
** Toru Kurihara, rugby union player
** Kakizoe Tōru, sumo wrestler
* August 24 – Kentaro Sekimoto, baseball player
* September 6
** Homare Sawa, football player
** Keigo Yamashita, Go player
* September 18 – Kaoru Mori, manga artist
* October 2 – Ayumi Hamasaki, recording artist, actress, model, and entrepreneur
* October 18
** Kotomi Kyono, actress
** Minoru Shiraishi, voice actor
* October 20 – Nora Hirano, comedian
* October 21 – Mariko Ooe, newsroom announcer
* October 25 – Maria Takagi, actress
* October 25 – An Yong-hak, North Korean, football manager
* October 27 – Manami Konishi, rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actress
* October 31 – Mika Sugisaki, announcer, radio personality, entertainer, and actress
* November 3 – Koshiro Take, jockey
* November 4 – Akiko Abe, announcer and actress
* November 7 – Tomoya Nagase, singer and actor
* November 8 – Kensaku Kishida, actor
* November 10 – Akemi Kanda, voice actress
* November 25
** Ayumi Ogasawara, curler
** Ringo Sheena, singer, songwriter and musician
* November 26 – Fukuyama Jun voice actor
* November 28 – Tomohiro Nagatsuka cyclist
* December 5 – Michinao Yamamura, baseball player
* December 7 – Yasue Sato, actress and model
* December 9 – Chihiro Kusaka, voice actress
* December 12 – Hiroki Konno, comedian
* December 23 – Akiko Yada, actress
* December 25 – Miyuki Takahashi, volleyball player
* December 26 – Kaoru Sugayama, volleyball player
* December 29 – Noriko Aoyama, actress and former model

## Deaths

* January 3 – Prince Kaya Tsunenori (b. 1900)
* January 5 – Shōji Hamada, potter (b. 1894)
* February 7 – Keizō Komura, admiral (b. 1896)
* March 1 – Kiyoshi Oka, mathematician (b. 1901)
* March 5 – Toshiko Higashikuni, daughter of Emperor Meiji (b. 1896)
* April 29 – Yukihiko Yasuda, painter (b. 1884)
* May 15 – Kiku Amino, author and translator (b. 1900)
* May 30 – Tetsu Katayama, politician and 33rd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1887)
* June 6 – Katué Kitasono, poet and photographer (b. 1902)
* July 10 – Takashi Suzuki, politician (b. 1882)
* July 25 – Masao Koga, composer (b. 1904)
* August 1 – Kōgorō Uemura, businessman (b. 1892)
* September 9 – Kaoru Abe, saxophonist (b. 1949)