# 1962 in Japan

Events in the year 1962 in Japan.

## Incumbents

* Emperor: Hirohito
* Prime minister: Hayato Ikeda (Liberal Democratic)
* Chief Cabinet Secretary: Masayoshi Ōhira until July 18, Yasumi Kurogane
* Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Kisaburo Yokota
* President of the House of Representatives: Ichirō Kiyose
* President of the House of Councillors: Tsuruhei Matsuno until August 6, Yūzō Shigemune

### Governors

* Aichi Prefecture: Mikine Kuwahara
* Akita Prefecture: Yūjirō Obata
* Aomori Prefecture: Iwao Yamazaki
* Chiba Prefecture: Hitoshi Shibata (until 2 November); Hisaaki Kano (starting 2 November)
* Ehime Prefecture: Sadatake Hisamatsu
* Fukui Prefecture: Eizō Kita
* Fukuoka Prefecture: Taichi Uzaki
* Fukushima Prefecture: Zenichiro Satō
* Gifu Prefecture: Yukiyasu Matsuno
* Gunma Prefecture: Konroku Kanda
* Hiroshima Prefecture: Hiroo Ōhara (until 13 April); Iduo Nagano (starting 29 May)
* Hokkaido: Kingo Machimura
* Hyogo Prefecture: Masaru Sakamoto (until 6 October); Motohiko Kanai (starting 24 November)
* Ibaraki Prefecture: Nirō Iwakami
* Ishikawa Prefecture: Jūjitsu Taya
* Iwate Prefecture: Senichi Abe
* Kagawa Prefecture: Masanori Kaneko
* Kagoshima Prefecture: Katsushi Terazono
* Kanagawa Prefecture: Iwataro Uchiyama
* Kochi Prefecture: Masumi Mizobuchi
* Kumamoto Prefecture: Kōsaku Teramoto
* Kyoto Prefecture: Torazō Ninagawa
* Mie Prefecture: Satoru Tanaka
* Miyagi Prefecture: Yoshio Miura
* Miyazaki Prefecture: Hiroshi Kuroki
* Nagano Prefecture: Gon'ichirō Nishizawa
* Nagasaki Prefecture: Katsuya Sato
* Nara Prefecture: Ryozo Okuda
* Niigata Prefecture: Juichiro Tsukada
* Oita Prefecture: Kaoru Kinoshita
* Okayama Prefecture: Yukiharu Miki
* Osaka Prefecture: Gisen Satō
* Saga Prefecture: Sunao Ikeda
* Saitama Prefecture: Hiroshi Kurihara
* Shiga Prefecture: Kyujiro Taniguchi
* Shiname Prefecture: Choemon Tanabe
* Shizuoka Prefecture: Toshio Saitō
* Tochigi Prefecture: Nobuo Yokokawa
* Tokushima Prefecture: Kikutaro Hara
* Tokyo: Ryōtarō Azuma
* Tottori Prefecture: Jirō Ishiba
* Toyama Prefecture: Minoru Yoshida
* Wakayama Prefecture: Shinji Ono
* Yamagata Prefecture: Tōkichi Abiko
* Yamaguchi Prefecture: Masayuki Hashimoto
* Yamanashi Prefecture: Hisashi Amano

## Events

* May 3 - Mikawashima train crash - A freight train and two passenger trains collide near Mikawashima Station in Arakawa, Tokyo, resulting in 160 deaths.
* May 17 - Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma halts the sale of the drug Thalidomide.
* May 29 – Tobu Department Store in Tokyo-Ikebukuro was open.
* November 9 - An All Nippon Airways Vickers Viscount plane crashes in Aichi Prefecture while en route to Nagoya Airport, killing all 4 occupants of the aircraft.
* November 18 - Two tankers, the smaller Munakata Maru 1 owned by Idemitsu Kosan and the larger Thrard Brovig, collide in the Keihin canal in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, causing the deaths of 40 crew members from both ships.
* Unknown Date – Kotobuki Foods, as predecessor of Skylark (すかいらーく) Restaurant founded in Nishitokyo, Tokyo.

## Births

* January 20
** IKKO, make-up artist
** Sakiko Tamagawa, voice actress
* February 1 – Takashi Murakami, pop artist
* February 25 – Junko Ogata, serial killer
* March 10 – Seiko Matsuda, pop singer/songwriter
* March 13 – Shoko Sawada, singer-songwriter
* March 18 – Kazuhiro Mizoguchi, javelin thrower
* March 30 – Yōko Ogawa, writer
* April 12 – Nobuhiko Takada, mixed martial arts fighter and professional wrestler
* April 30 – Seiji Maehara, politician
* May 5 – Kaoru Wada, composer
* May 31 – Noriko Hidaka, voice actress
* June 10 – Akie Abe, radio DJ
* June 11 – Toshihiko Seki, voice actor
* June 18 – Mitsuharu Misawa, professional wrestler (d. 2009)
* July 19 – Aya Kitō, writer (d. 1988)
* August 8 – Yūji Machi, voice actor
* August 21 – Tsutomu Miyazaki, serial killer (d. 2008)
* September 4 – Shinya Yamanaka, physician and researcher
* September 13 – Hisao Egawa, voice actor
* October 12 – Ko Matsushita, conductor
* October 15 – Yasutoshi Nishimura, politician
* October 21 – Miki Itō, voice actress
* October 27 – Jun'ichi Kanemaru, voice actor
* November 14 – Atsuko Tanaka, voice actress (d. 2024)
* November 27 – Marumi Shiraishi, actress
* December 1 – Shozo Hayashiya IX, rakugoka, tarento and voice actor
* December 23 – Keiji Mutoh, professional wrestler

## Deaths

* January 20 – Shizue Tatsuta, film actor (b. 1903).
* September 7 – Eiji Yoshikawa, writer and novelist (b. 1892)
* October 21 – Kinnosuke Ogura, mathematician, historian of mathematics (b. 1885)