# 2016 in Japan

The following lists events that happened during 2016 in Japan.

## Incumbents

* Emperor: Akihito
* Prime Minister: Shinzō Abe (L–Yamaguchi)
* Chief Cabinet Secretary: Yoshihide Suga (L–Kanagawa)
* Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Itsurō Terada
* President of the House of Representatives: Tadamori Oshima (L–Aomori)
* President of the House of Councillors: Masaaki Yamazaki (L–Fukui) until July 25, Chūichi Date (L-Hokkaidō) from August 1
* National Diets: 190th (regular session, January 4–June 1), 191st (extraordinary session, August 1–3), 192nd (extraordinary session, September 26–November 30 [unless extended or cut short by lower house dissolution])

### Governors

* Aichi Prefecture: Hideaki Omura
* Akita Prefecture: Norihisa Satake
* Aomori Prefecture: Shingo Mimura
* Chiba Prefecture: Kensaku Morita
* Ehime Prefecture: Tokihiro Nakamura
* Fukui Prefecture: Issei Nishikawa
* Fukuoka Prefecture: Hiroshi Ogawa
* Fukushima Prefecture: Masao Uchibori
* Gifu Prefecture: Hajime Furuta
* Gunma Prefecture: Masaaki Osawa
* Hiroshima Prefecture: Hidehiko Yuzaki
* Hokkaido: Harumi Takahashi
* Hyogo Prefecture: Toshizō Ido
* Ibaraki Prefecture: Masaru Hashimoto
* Ishikawa Prefecture: Masanori Tanimoto
* Iwate Prefecture: Takuya Tasso
* Kagawa Prefecture: Keizō Hamada
* Kagoshima Prefecture: Satoshi Mitazono
* Kanagawa Prefecture: Yuji Kuroiwa
* Kochi Prefecture: Masanao Ozaki
* Kumamoto Prefecture: Ikuo Kabashima
* Kyoto Prefecture: Keiji Yamada
* Mie Prefecture: Eikei Suzuki
* Miyagi Prefecture: Yoshihiro Murai
* Miyazaki Prefecture: Shunji Kōno
* Nagano Prefecture: Shuichi Abe
* Nagasaki Prefecture: Hōdō Nakamura
* Nara Prefecture: Shōgo Arai
* Niigata Prefecture: Hirohiko Izumida (until 27 October); Ryūichi Yoneyama (starting 27 October)
* Oita Prefecture: Katsusada Hirose
* Okayama Prefecture: Ryuta Ibaragi
* Okinawa Prefecture: Takeshi Onaga
* Osaka Prefecture: Ichirō Matsui
* Saga Prefecture: Yoshinori Yamaguchi
* Saitama Prefecture: Kiyoshi Ueda
* Shiga Prefecture: Taizō Mikazuki
* Shiname Prefecture: Zenbe Mizoguchi
* Shizuoka Prefecture: Heita Kawakatsu
* Tochigi Prefecture: Tomikazu Fukuda
* Tokushima Prefecture: Kamon Iizumi
* Tokyo:
** until 21 June: Yōichi Masuzoe
** 21 June-2 August: Tatsumi Ando
** starting 2 August: Yuriko Koike
* Tottori Prefecture: Shinji Hirai
* Toyama Prefecture: Takakazu Ishii
* Wakayama Prefecture: Yoshinobu Nisaka
* Yamagata Prefecture: Mieko Yoshimura
* Yamaguchi Prefecture: Tsugumasa Muraoka
* Yamanashi Prefecture: Hitoshi Gotō

## Events
### January

* Record snowfall and the first Sumo tournament win in a decade for a Japanese rikishi, amid turmoil on the Nikkei 225 and a political scandal involving Abe's cabinet. (See Akira Amari)
* Filmmaker and dolphin activist Ric O'Barry was refused entry to the country and was held prior to deportation.

### February

* February 17 - launch of Hitomi (satellite), ChubuSat-2, ChubuSat-3 and Horyu-4 using a H-IIA 202 space launch vehicle

### March

* March 11 - Japan commemorates the fifth anniversary of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent of Fukushima nuclear disaster.
* March 25 - Kyoto Tamba Kogen Quasi-National Park is established
* March 25 - Asagishi, Hanasaki (Hokkaido), Higashi-Oiwake, Kami-Shirataki, Kanehana, Kyū-Shirataki, Ōshida, Shimo-Shirataki, Tomisato and Washinosu stations are closed
* March 26 - Higashi-Himeji, Nishi-kumamoto, Ishinomakiayumino, Odasakae and Maya stations opens
* March 26 - Hokkaido Shinkansen starts its service from Shin-Aomori Station to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station
* March 26 - Museum of Natural and Environmental History, Shizuoka opens
* March 27 – Kumamoto gubernatorial election: Incumbent Ikuo Kabashima reelected for a third term
* March 27 - Democratic Party (Japan) is established

### April

* April 2 - Tsuyama Railroad Educational Museum opens
* April 16 – A 7.0 magnitude earthquake strikes Kumamoto prefecture, and kills at least 50 people and 3,129 injured.
* April 24 – National Diet, House of Representatives: By-elections in Hokkaido 5th district and in Kyoto 3rd district

### May

* May 1–2 - G7 Kitakyushu Energy Ministerial Meeting
* May 23 - Akatsuki (spacecraft) begins a scientific mission at Venus after a troubled 5-years travel
* May 26–27 – The 42nd G7 summit was held on Kashiko Island

### June

* IUPAC declared the element 113 Ununtrium as Nihonium, first element in the periodic table whose name is derived from Japan.
* June 5 – Okinawa assembly election: Governor Onaga's anti-base, left-wing supporters expand their majority

### July

* July 10 – National Diet, House of Councillors: 24th regular election
* July 10 – Kagoshima gubernatorial election
* July 23 – Tatsuo Hirano, independent member of the House of Councillors from Iwate, joins the Liberal Democratic Party, giving the party the first majority of its own since the 1989 election defeat
* July 26 - A knife attack in Sagamihara kills 19 people and injures up to 50.
* July 31 – Tokyo gubernatorial, assembly by-elections

### August

* Japan at the 2016 Summer Olympics
* August 21: Russell M. Nelson dedicates the Sapporo Japan Temple, the 151st LDS temple and third LDS temple in Japan.

### September

* July to September - According to Japan National Police Agency official confirmed report, 48 hospitalized patients were die, administer disinfectant liquid diamitol giving for hospitalized patients in hospital, Yokohama. On 7 July 2018, a nurse of the main criminal detained and confessed, according to JNPA.

### October

* October 16 – Niigata gubernatorial election
* October 21 - A Richer Scale 6.2 earthquake, with aftershocks in Kurayoshi, Tottori Prefecture, according to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency official confirmed report, 30 persons were wounded.
* October 23 – Okayama gubernatorial election
* October 23 – Toyama gubernatorial election
* October 23 – National Diet, House of Representatives: By-elections in Fukuoka, 6th district and in Tokyo, 10th district
* October 25 - Two explosions in a park in the Japanese city of Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, kill at least one person and injure three others. Local media report that a 72-year-old ex-military officer is responsible for the blasts. A fire the same day destroyed the suspect's house. (The Guardian), (BBC)

### November

* November 20 – Tochigi gubernatorial election

### December

5th: Abe declares his historic plan to visit Pearl Harbor
* December 18 - A bottoming net fishing boat Daifuku Maru capsized off coast Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, according to Japan Coast Guard official confirmed report, nine people lost to lives.
* December 22 - A massive fire in Itoigawa, Niigata Prefecture, according to Japanese Fire and Disaster Management Agency confirmed report, 17 person wounded.

## The Nobel Prize

* Yoshinori Ohsumi: 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner.

## Culture
### Arts and entertainment

* List of 2016 box office number-one films in Japan
* March 4 - 39th Japan Academy Prize
* March 12 - 10th Seiyu Awards

## Arts and entertainment

* 2016 in anime
* 2016 in Japanese music
* 2016 in Japanese television
* List of 2016 box office number-one films in Japan
* List of Japanese films of 2016

## Sports

* October 9 – 2016 Formula One World Championship is held at 2016 Japanese Grand Prix
* October 16 – 2016 MotoGP World Championship is held at 2016 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix
* 2016 F4 Japanese Championship
* 2016 Japanese Formula 3 Championship
* 2016 Super Formula Championship
* 2016 Super GT Series
* 2016 FIFA Club World Cup (Japan)
* 2016 in Japanese football
* 2016 J1 League
* 2016 J2 League
* 2016 J3 League
* 2016 Japan Football League
* 2016 Japanese Regional Leagues
* 2016 Japanese Super Cup
* 2016 Emperor's Cup
* 2016 J.League Cup

## Deaths
### April

* April 3 – Kōji Wada, rock singer (b. 1974)

### May

* May 5 – Isao Tomita, composer (b. 1932)
* May 17 – Yūko Mizutani, voice actress (b. 1964)

### June

* June 21 – Kunio Hatoyama, politician (b. 1948)

### July

* July 31 – Chiyonofuji Mitsugu, sumo wrestler (b. 1955)

### October

* October 20 – Junko Tabei, mountaineer (b. 1939)
* October 23 – Mikijirō Hira, actor (b. 1933)
* October 27 – Takahito, Prince Mikasa, brother of Emperor Shōwa (b. 1915)

### November

* November 3 – Jiang Ge, murder victim (b. 1992)
* November 29 – Hiroshi Ogawa [ja], announcer (b. 1926)

### December

* December 29 – Jinpachi Nezu, actor (b. 1947)