# 1987 in Japan

Events in the year 1987 in Japan.
1987 was the second year of the Japanese asset price bubble: land values in Tokyo rose more than 85 percent between July 1986 and July 1987.

## Incumbents

* Emperor: Hirohito
* Prime Minister: Yasuhiro Nakasone (L–Gunma) until November 6, Noboru Takeshita (L–Shimane)
* Chief Cabinet Secretary: Masaharu Gotōda (L–Tokushima) until November 6, Keizō Obuchi (L–Gunma)
* Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Kōichi Yaguchi
* President of the House of Representatives: Kenzaburō Hara (L–Hyōgo)
* President of the House of Councillors: Masaaki Fujita (L–Hiroshima)
* Diet sessions: 108th (regular session opened in December 1986, to May 27), 109th (extraordinary, July 6 to September 19), 110th (extraordinary, November 6 to November 11), 111th (extraordinary, November 27 to December 12), 112th (regular, December 28 to 1988, May 25)

### Governors

* Aichi Prefecture: Reiji Suzuki
* Akita Prefecture: Kikuji Sasaki
* Aomori Prefecture: Masaya Kitamura
* Chiba Prefecture: Takeshi Numata
* Ehime Prefecture: Haruki Shiraishi (until 27 January); Sadayuki Iga (starting 28 January)
* Fukui Prefecture: Heidayū Nakagawa (until 23 April); Yukio Kurita (starting 23 April)
* Fukuoka Prefecture: Hachiji Okuda
* Fukushima Prefecture: Isao Matsudaira
* Gifu Prefecture: Yosuke Uematsu
* Gunma Prefecture: Ichiro Shimizu
* Hiroshima Prefecture: Toranosuke Takeshita
* Hokkaido: Takahiro Yokomichi
* Hyogo Prefecture: Toshitami Kaihara
* Ibaraki Prefecture: Fujio Takeuchi
* Ishikawa Prefecture: Yōichi Nakanishi
* Iwate Prefecture: Tadashi Nakamura [ja]
* Kagawa Prefecture: Jōichi Hirai
* Kagoshima Prefecture: Kaname Kamada
* Kanagawa Prefecture: Kazuji Nagasu
* Kochi Prefecture: Chikara Nakauchi
* Kumamoto Prefecture: Morihiro Hosokawa
* Kyoto Prefecture: Teiichi Aramaki
* Mie Prefecture: Ryōzō Tagawa
* Miyagi Prefecture: Sōichirō Yamamoto
* Miyazaki Prefecture: Suketaka Matsukata
* Nagano Prefecture: Gorō Yoshimura
* Nagasaki Prefecture: Isamu Takada
* Nara Prefecture: Shigekiyo Ueda
* Niigata Prefecture: Takeo Kimi
* Oita Prefecture: Morihiko Hiramatsu
* Okayama Prefecture: Shiro Nagano
* Okinawa Prefecture: Junji Nishime
* Osaka Prefecture: Sakae Kishi
* Saga Prefecture: Kumao Katsuki
* Saitama Prefecture: Yawara Hata
* Shiga Prefecture: Minoru Inaba
* Shiname Prefecture: Seiji Tsunematsu (until 29 April); Nobuyoshi Sumita (starting 30 April)
* Shizuoka Prefecture: Shigeyoshi Saitō
* Tochigi Prefecture: Fumio Watanabe
* Tokushima Prefecture: Shinzo Miki
* Tokyo: Shun'ichi Suzuki
* Tottori Prefecture: Yuji Nishio
* Toyama Prefecture: Yutaka Nakaoki
* Wakayama Prefecture: Shirō Kariya
* Yamagata Prefecture: Seiichirō Itagaki
* Yamaguchi Prefecture: Toru Hirai
* Yamanashi Prefecture: Kōmei Mochizuki

## Events

* January 27: Construction began on Kansai International Airport.
* February 9: First public float of NTT.
* March 17: Asahi beer starts selling Asahi Super Dry.
* April 1: Japanese National Railways is privatized and becomes the seven Japan Railways Group companies.
* April 4: The Ariake Coliseum in Koto Ward, Tokyo, is completed.
* June 1: Asahi TV starts broadcasting the popular short factual television programme See the World by Train (世界の車窓から)
* June 6: A Shojuen elderly nursing home fire in Higashimurayama, Tokyo. according to Japanese Fire and Disaster Management agency confirmed report, 17 person lost to lives.
* July 12: Metal Gear is released by Konami.
* July 23: 1987 Tokyo Metropolitan area power outage, where 2.8 million household affected, which restore spent more three and half hours, according to Japanese government confirmed report.
* October 1: Nippon Gakki Company Ltd. (Japan Musical Instrument Manufacturing Corporation) is renamed to Yamaha Corporation and Konishiroku Honten is renamed to Konica (Konica Minolta).
* October 12: Susumu Tonegawa wins the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.
* November 6: Noboru Takeshita becomes prime minister.
* December 15: Production I.G is founded by Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and Takayuki Goto.
* December 17: Mega Man is released.
During 1987:
* NTT began the first mobile phone service in Japan.
* Shoko Asahara founded Aum Shinrikyo.
* Teikyo University of Technology and Science founded in Chiba City, as predecessor of Teikyo Heisei University.

## Births

* January 3: Nana Yanagisawa, actress and fashion model
* January 8: Saori Gotō, voice actress
* January 23: Yuto Nakamura, football player
* February 12: Asami Tano, Japanese voice actress
* February 15: Azumi Yamamoto, voice actress
* March 12: Hiroomi Tosaka, Singer
* March 15: Momoko Shibuya, actress
* March 24: Yuma Asami, adult video actress
* March 25: Nobunari Oda, figure skater
* March 26: YUI, singer-songwriter
* April 17: Nami Sano, manga artist (died 2023)
* April 27: Anne Suzuki, actress
* May 2
** Miyu Uehara, gravure idol and television personality (died 2011)
** Nana Kitade, singer
* May 7: Asami Konno, J-pop singer
* May 20: Taku Takeuchi, ski jumper
* May 22
** Takuya Eguchi, voice actor
** Tao Okamoto, model
* June 3: Masami Nagasawa, actress
* June 17: Nozomi Tsuji, performer
* June 19: Miho Fukuhara, singer
* June 25: Takahiro Itō, actor and voice actor (died 2009)
* July 3: Mikie Hara, gravure idol and actress
* July 11
** Shigeaki Kato, singer
** Shun Yamaguchi, professional baseball player
* July 17: Mio Nishimaki, wrestler
* July 27: Kozue Akimoto, model
* July 28: Sumire, model (died 2009)
* August 16: Eri Kitamura, voice actress and singer
* August 24: Daichi Miura, singer and dancer
* September 11: Kaori Matsumoto, judoka
* September 21: Elly, Dancer and Rapper
* September 28: Sho Uchida, freestyle swimmer
* October 1: Hiroki Aiba, actor, dancer, and singer
* October 3: Asami Kitagawa, swimmer
* October 4: Atomu Tanaka, football player
* October 8: Aya Hirano, voice actress and singer
* October 15: Mizuho Sakaguchi, footballer
* October 23: Miyuu Sawai, model, actress, and idol
* October 23: Naomi Watanabe, actress and comedian
* October 27: Thelma Aoyama, J-Pop and R&B singer
* October 29: Makoto Ogawa, pop singer
* November 11: Yuya Tegoshi, singer
* November 12: Kengo Kora, actor
* November 27: Yuria Haga, model and actress
* December 18
** Miki Ando, figure skater
** Ayaka, singer
** Yuki Furukawa, actor
* December 19: Shuko Aoyama, Japanese tennis player
* December 20
** Yutaka Otsuka, baseball player
** Michihiro Yasuda, football player

## Deaths

* January 21: Ikki Kajiwara, author, manga writer, and film producer (b. 1936)
* February 3: Prince Takamatsu (b. 1905)
* March 8: Iwao Yamawaki, photographer (b. 1898)
* April 5: Tsuneko Nakazato, novelist (b. 1909)
* April 15: Masatoshi Nakayama, master of Shotokan karate (b. 1913)
* April 21: Haruyasu Nakajima, baseball player (b. 1909)
* May 10: Sadamichi Hirasawa, tempera painter (b. 1892)
* June 6: Mori Mari, author (b. 1903)
* June 16: Kōji Tsuruta, actor (b. 1924)
* July 17: Yujiro Ishihara, actor (b. 1934)
* July 20: Ichirō Arishima, comedian and actor (b. 1916)
* August 5: Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, novelist, art critic, and translator of French literature (b. 1928)
* August 7: Nobusuke Kishi, former prime minister (b. 1896)
* August 10: Prince Yamashina Takehiko (b. 1898)
* August 16: Sumiko Kurishima, actress and master of traditional Japanese dance (b. 1902)
* November 11: Hiroshi Kawaguchi, actor (b. 1936)
* December 29: Jun Ishikawa, author (b. 1899)

## Statistics

* Yen value: US$1 = ¥122 (low) to ¥152 (high)