# 1991 in Japan

Events in the year 1991 in Japan. It corresponds to Heisei 3 (平成3年) in the Japanese calendar.

## Incumbents

* Emperor: Akihito
* Prime Minister: Toshiki Kaifu (L–Aichi) until November 5, Kiichi Miyazawa
* Chief Cabinet Secretary: Misoji Sakamoto (L–Ishikawa) until November 5, Kōichi Katō (L–Yamagata)
* Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Ryōhachi Kusaba
* President of the House of Representatives: Yoshio Sakurauchi (L–Shimane)
* President of the House of Councillors: Yoshihiko Tsuchiya (L–Saitama) until October 4, Yūji Osada (L–proportional)
* Diet sessions: 120th (regular session opened in December 1990, to May 8), 121st (extraordinary, August 5 to October 4), 122nd (extraordinary, November 5 to December 21)

### Governors

* Aichi Prefecture: Reiji Suzuki
* Akita Prefecture: Kikuji Sasaki
* Aomori Prefecture: Masaya Kitamura
* Chiba Prefecture: Takeshi Numata
* Ehime Prefecture: Sadayuki Iga
* Fukui Prefecture: Yukio Kurita
* Fukuoka Prefecture: Hachiji Okuda
* Fukushima Prefecture: Eisaku Satō
* Gifu Prefecture: Taku Kajiwara
* Gunma Prefecture: Ichiro Shimizu (until 12 June); Hiroyuki Kodera (starting 28 July)
* Hiroshima Prefecture: Toranosuke Takeshita
* Hokkaido: Takahiro Yokomichi
* Hyogo Prefecture: Toshitami Kaihara
* Ibaraki Prefecture: Fujio Takeuchi
* Ishikawa Prefecture: Yōichi Nakanishi
* Iwate Prefecture: Tadashi Nakamura [ja] (until 29 April); Iwao Kudō (starting 29 April)
* Kagawa Prefecture: Jōichi Hirai
* Kagoshima Prefecture: Yoshiteru Tsuchiya
* Kanagawa Prefecture: Kazuji Nagasu
* Kochi Prefecture: Chikara Nakauchi (until 6 December); Daijiro Hashimoto (starting 7 December)
* Kumamoto Prefecture: Morihiro Hosokawa (until 10 February); Joji Fukushima (starting 11 February)
* Kyoto Prefecture: Teiichi Aramaki
* Mie Prefecture: Ryōzō Tagawa
* Miyagi Prefecture: Shuntarō Honma
* Miyazaki Prefecture: Suketaka Matsukata
* Nagano Prefecture: Gorō Yoshimura
* Nagasaki Prefecture: Isamu Takada
* Nara Prefecture: Shigekiyo Ueda (until 27 November); Yoshiya Kakimoto (starting 28 November)
* Niigata Prefecture: Kiyoshi Kaneko
* Oita Prefecture: Morihiko Hiramatsu
* Okayama Prefecture: Shiro Nagano
* Okinawa Prefecture: Masahide Ōta
* Osaka Prefecture: Sakae Kishi (until 22 April); Kazuo Nakagawa (starting 23 April)
* Saga Prefecture: Kumao Katsuki (until 22 April); Isamu Imoto (starting 23 April)
* Saitama Prefecture: Yawara Hata
* Shiga Prefecture: Minoru Inaba
* Shiname Prefecture: Nobuyoshi Sumita
* 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 (until 16 February); Ken Amano (starting 17 February)

## Events

* January 1: Telephone numbers in Tokyo are expanded from 7 digits to 8 digits
* March 14: A under constructing to Hiroshima Astram Line bridge girder falling accident, kills 14, injures 9.
* April 1: Tokyo Metropolitan Government moved its offices from Marunouchi to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku.
* April 26: Self-Defense Forces dispatched to assist in the Gulf War.
* May 14: Shigaraki train disaster – 42 fatalities, 614 injures in Shiga Prefecture.
* June 3: Mount Unzen in Nagasaki Prefecture saw a pyroclastic flow, resulting in 43 deaths.
* June 15: The International Olympic Committee awards the 1998 Winter Olympics to Nagano, Japan.
* June 20: Tohoku Shinkansen line is extended from Ueno Station to Tokyo Station.
* July 13: 1991 Itoman special breach of trust case, six arrested by Japanese authorities.
* July 31: Lotte Orions baseball team announces it will move to Chiba and become the Chiba Lotte Marines.
* August 5: Aerospatiale SA365N helicopter crash in Muraoka, Mikata District, Hyōgo Prefecture, 8 fatalities.
* August 14 – NTT Docomo was founded.
* September 11: USS Independence (CV-62) arrives at Yokosuka, replacing the USS Midway (CV-41) as the U.S. Navy's only forward-deployed aircraft carrier.
* September 27: Typhoon Mireille kills 45 people in Japan.
* October 3: Kaifu resigns as prime minister.
* October 20: At the Japanese Grand Prix held at the Suzuka Circuit, Ayrton Senna wins his third and last F1 Drivers' Championship.
* November 5: Miyazawa announces his first cabinet.

## Births
### January

* January 8: Asuka Hinoi, singer
* January 14: Kana Ichikawa, sprinter
* January 19: Yu Takahashi, model and actress

### February

* February 4: Aya Ōmasa, fashion model and actress

### March

* March 4: Aoi Nakamura, actor
* March 10: Kenshi Yonezu, singer-songwriter
* March 14: Michiko Kashiwabara, cross country skier
* March 14: Miu Nakamura, tarento and gravure idol
* March 15: Kii Kitano, gravure idol and actress
* March 28: Rin Asuka, actress

### April

* April 8: Minami Takahashi, singer
* April 11: Erina Mano, J-pop singer
* April 11: Kenta Matsudaira, table tennis player
* April 12: Daisuke Kikuchi, footballer
* April 15: Daiki Arioka, singer
* April 16: Misato Ugaki, announcer
* April 17: Shinsaku Uesugi, FIDE master
* April 20: Yuko Shintake, artistic gymnast
* April 29: Misaki Doi, tennis player
* May 3: Narita Brian, racehorse (died 1998)

### May

* May 24: Erika Umeda, singer
* May 26: Takumi Abe, football player
* May 29: Saori Hayami, voice actress and singer

### June

* June 15: Rina Takeda, actress and martial artist
* June 17: Yusei Kikuchi, baseball pitcher
* June 25: Kyousuke Hamao, actor and model
* June 27: Haruka Yamazaki, voice actress and singer
* June 30: Kaho, actress

### July

* July 3: Tomomi Itano, singer, actress and idol
* July 10: Atsuko Maeda, singer
* July 11: Kentaro Sakaguchi, model and actor
* July 12: Tomoki Kameda, boxer
* July 15: Yuki Kashiwagi, singer, actress and idol
* July 18: Mizuki Yamamoto, model and actress
* July 25: Miyu Nagaoka, volleyball player
* July 27: Rena Matsui, singer and idol
* July 28: Rina Aizawa, actress

### August

* August 3: Kaori Kawanaka, archer
* August 16: Yūki Tokiwa, voice actor

### September

* September 17: Ryo Ishikawa, golfer

### October

* October 15: Sayaka Nakaya, idol
* October 16: Miori Takimoto, actress
* October 23: Princess Mako
* October 26: Riho Iida, actress and child model
* October 27: Sōta Murakami, actor and voice actor

### November

* November 12: Takatoshi Abe, track and field athlete
* November 16: Tomomi Kasai, singer
* November 19: Genki Yamamoto, cyclist
* November 22: Saki Shimizu, singer
* November 26: Yoshi Tsutsugo, professional baseball player
* November 28: Mayuko Kawakita, actress and model

### December

* December 3: Masahiro Usui, actor
* December 7: Dori Sakurada, actor and singer
* December 14: Mitsuki Takahata, actress and singer
* December 19: Sumire Uesaka, voice actress and singer
* December 24: Shion Kokubun, figure skater
* December 30: Kurumi Nara, tennis player

## Deaths

* January 2: Hiroshi Noma, author (b. 1915)
* January 29: Yasushi Inoue, author (b. 1907)
* February 24: Shingo Kanemoto, voice actor (b. 1932)
* May 15: Shintaro Abe, politician (b. 1924)
* May 26: Kisaburo Osawa, aikido teacher (b. 1910)
* June 3: Takeshi Nagata, earth scientist (b. 1913)
* July 5: Nobuo Nakamura, actor (b. 1908)
* July 11: Hitoshi Igarashi, scholar (b. 1947)
* August 5: Soichiro Honda, founder of Honda Motor Company (b. 1906)
* August 8: Mitsuko Yoshikawa, actress (b. 1901)
* September 3: Susumu Ishii, second kaicho (Godfather) of Inagawa-kai (b. 1924)
* October 22: Hachiro Kasuga, enka singer (b. 1924)
* November 12: Keizō Hayashi, civil servant and military general (b. 1907)
* November 14: Yoshikata Yoda, screenwriter (b. 1909)
* November 23: Ken Uehara, film actor (b. 1909)
* November 27: Yō Yoshimura, voice actor (b. 1909)

## Statistics

* Yen value: US$1 = ¥124.85 (December 31)