# 1959 in Japan

Events in the year 1959 in Japan.

## Incumbents

* Emperor: Hirohito
* Prime minister: Nobusuke Kishi

### Governors

* Aichi Prefecture: Mikine Kuwahara
* Akita Prefecture: Yūjirō Obata
* Aomori Prefecture: Iwao Yamazaki
* Chiba Prefecture: Hitoshi Shibata
* Ehime Prefecture: Sadatake Hisamatsu
* Fukui Prefecture: Seiichi Hane (until 22 April); Eizō Kita (starting 23 April)
* Fukuoka Prefecture: Taichi Uzaki
* Fukushima Prefecture: Zenichiro Satō
* Gifu Prefecture: Yukiyasu Matsuno
* Gunma Prefecture: Toshizo Takekoshi
* Hiroshima Prefecture: Hiroo Ōhara
* Hokkaido: Toshifumi Tanaka (until 22 April); Kingo Machimura (starting 23 April)
* Hyogo Prefecture: Masaru Sakamoto
* Ibaraki Prefecture: Yoji Tomosue (until 29 March); Nirō Iwakami (starting 23 April)
* 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: Saburō Sakurai (until 10 February); Kōsaku Teramoto (starting 11 February)
* Kyoto Prefecture: Torazō Ninagawa
* Mie Prefecture: Satoru Tanaka
* Miyagi Prefecture: Yasushi Onuma (until 12 January); Yoshio Miura (starting 4 March)
* Miyazaki Prefecture: Jingo Futami (until 22 April); Hiroshi Kuroki (starting 23 April)
* Nagano Prefecture: Torao Hayashi (until 22 April); Gon'ichirō Nishizawa (starting 26 April)
* Nagasaki Prefecture: Katsuya Sato
* Nara Prefecture: Ryozo Okuda
* Niigata Prefecture: Kazuo Kitamura
* Oita Prefecture: Kaoru Kinoshita
* Okayama Prefecture: Yukiharu Miki
* Osaka Prefecture: Bunzō Akama (until 22 April); Gisen Satō (starting 23 April)
* Saga Prefecture: Naotsugu Nabeshima (until 16 April); Sunao Ikeda (starting 23 April)
* Saitama Prefecture: Hiroshi Kurihara
* Shiga Prefecture: Kyujiro Taniguchi
* Shiname Prefecture: Yasuo Tsunematsu (until 29 April); Choemon Tanabe (starting 30 April)
* Shizuoka Prefecture: Toshio Saitō
* Tochigi Prefecture: Kiichi Ogawa (until 4 February); Nobuo Yokokawa (starting 5 February)
* Tokushima Prefecture: Kikutaro Hara
* Tokyo: Seiichirō Yasui (until 18 April); Ryōtarō Azuma (starting 22 April)
* Tottori Prefecture: Jirō Ishiba
* Toyama Prefecture: Minoru Yoshida
* Wakayama Prefecture: Shinji Ono
* Yamagata Prefecture: Tōkichi Abiko
* Yamaguchi Prefecture: Taro Ozawa
* Yamanashi Prefecture: Hisashi Amano

## Events

* April 1 – Kyoto Ceramic (now Kyocera) has founded.
* April 10 – The Crown Prince Akihito, the future Emperor of Japan, weds Michiko Shōda, the first commoner to marry into the Japanese Imperial Family.
* June 2 – Mori Building was founded.
* June 30 – Twenty-one students are killed and more than a hundred injured when an American North American F-100 Super Sabre jet crashes into Miamori Elementary School on the island of Okinawa. The pilot ejected before the plane struck the school.
* July 22 – A Kumamoto University medical research group studying Minamata disease concludes that it is caused by mercury.
* September 26 – According to Japanese government official confirmed report, Typhoon Vera with tidal wave hit around Ise Bay, total 5,098 person were lives, 38,921 person were hurt.

## Births

* January 3 – Dankan, actor and director
* January 16 – Kimiko Ikegami, actress
* January 17 – Momoe Yamaguchi, actress
* February 8 – Amy Yamada, writer
* February 20 – Tomomi Inada, politician
* March 23 – Kazue Ikura, actress, voice actress and narrator
* May 19 – Michiru Shimada, screenwriter (d. 2017)
* May 23 – Ryuta Kawashima, neuroscientist
* June 17 – Kazuki Yao, voice actor and actor
* July 17 – Kiyotaka Sugiyama, singer-songwriter
* August 11 – Yoshiaki Murakami, investor
* August 17 – Chika Sakamoto, voice actress
* September 8 – Saeko Shimazu, voice actress
* October 13 – Denny Tamaki, governor of Okinawa Prefecture
* October 21 – Ken Watanabe, actor
* November 21 – Naoko Watanabe, voice actress
* November 24 – Akio Ōtsuka, actor and voice actress
* December 5 – Yoshitomo Nara, artist
* December 6 – Satoru Iwata, video game designer, businessman (d. 2015)

## Deaths

* March 7 – Ichirō Hatoyama, politician and 35th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1883)
* April 30 – Kafū Nagai, author, playwright, essayist, and diarist (b. 1879)
* June 20 – Hitoshi Ashida, politician and 35th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1887)
* August 9 – Noboru Ishizaki, admiral (b. 1893)