1966 in Japan

1966 in Japan
Events from the year 1966 in Japan. Under the Japanese calendar, this year is known as Shōwa 41.
Incumbents
Emperor: Hirohito
Prime Minister: Eisaku Satō (Liberal Democratic)
Chief Cabinet Secretary: Tomisaburo Hashimoto until August 1, Kiichi Aichi until December 3, Kenji Fukunaga
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Kisaburo Yokota until August 5, Masatoshi Yokota from August 6
President of the House of Representatives: Kikuchirō Yamaguchi until December 3, Kentarō Ayabe until December 26
President of the House of Councillors: Yūzō Shigemune
Governors
Aichi Prefecture: Mikine Kuwahara
Akita Prefecture: Yūjirō Obata
Aomori Prefecture: Shunkichi Takeuchi
Chiba Prefecture: Taketo Tomonō
Ehime Prefecture: Sadatake Hisamatsu
Fukui Prefecture: Eizō Kita
Fukuoka Prefecture: Taichi Uzaki
Fukushima Prefecture: Morie Kimura
Gifu Prefecture: Yukiyasu Matsuno (until 16 October); Saburō Hirano (starting 17 October)
Gunma Prefecture: Konroku Kanda
Hiroshima Prefecture: Iduo Nagano
Hokkaido: Kingo Machimura
Hyogo Prefecture: Motohiko Kanai
Ibaraki Prefecture: Nirō Iwakami
Ishikawa Prefecture: Yōichi Nakanishi
Iwate Prefecture: Tadashi Chida
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: Shintaro Takahashi
Miyazaki Prefecture: Hiroshi Kuroki
Nagano Prefecture: Gon'ichirō Nishizawa
Nagasaki Prefecture: Katsuya Sato
Nara Prefecture: Ryozo Okuda
Niigata Prefecture: Juichiro Tsukada (until 28 March); Shiro Watari (starting 8 May)
Oita Prefecture: Kaoru Kinoshita
Okayama Prefecture: Takenori Kato
Osaka Prefecture: Gisen Satō
Saga Prefecture: Sunao Ikeda
Saitama Prefecture: Hiroshi Kurihara
Shiga Prefecture: Kyujiro Taniguchi (until 6 December); Kinichiro Nozaki (starting 7 December)
Shiname Prefecture: Choemon Tanabe
Shizuoka Prefecture: Toshio Saitō
Tochigi Prefecture: Nobuo Yokokawa
Tokushima Prefecture: Yasunobu Takeichi
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
January 9 - The Kanai Building fire in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture leaves 12 dead, 14 injured.
February 4 -All Nippon Airways Flight 60 crashes into Tokyo Bay, killing all 133 people on board.
March 4 - Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 402 crashes while landing at night with poor visibility at Tokyo International Airport, with 64 out of 72 on board killed.
March 5 - BOAC Flight 911 crashes while encountering severe Clear-air turbulence over Mount Fuji shortly after taking off from Tokyo International Airport, killing all 124 on board.
March 11 – A spa hotel caught fire in Minakami, Gunma Prefecture, causing 30 deaths, 29 injuries, according to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency official confirmed report.
March 25 – Hachinohe Rinkai Line was opened.
April 1 - Japan switches to the Metric system.
April 26 - Japan's biggest postwar public transportation strike.
August 22 – Frontier Tea Product Manufacturing, as predecessor of Ito En founded in Shizuoka City.
September 25 – Two typhoons Helen and Ida landed in Japan on same days, according to Japanese government official confirmed report, total 317 persons were human fatalities with 824 persons were hurt.
November 11 - All Nippon Airways Flight 533 crashes into the Seto Inland Sea, killing all 50 on board.
Undated
Yamanashi Women's Junior College is founded.
Japanese birth rates plummeted due to the superstition that girls born in the year of the Fire Horse will grow up to kill their husbands.
Births
January 5 - Yuri Amano, voice actress
January 17 - Jyoji Morikawa, author and illustrator
January 17 - Hiroko Mita, actress
January 28 - Seiji Mizushima, anime director
January 31 - Nobuyuki Hoshino, former professional baseball pitcher
February 4 - Kyōko Koizumi, actress and singer
February 5 - Maiko Kawakami, actress
March 7 - Atsushi Sakurai, singer (Buck-Tick) (died 2023)
April 3 - Mina Tominaga, voice actress
April 19 - El Samurai, professional wrestler
April 27 - Yoshihiro Togashi, author and illustrator
June 26 - Yūko Minaguchi, voice actress
July 11 - Kentaro Miura, manga artist (died 2021)
July 15 - Masatoshi Nagase, actress
July 25 - Wataru Takagi, voice actor
July 28 - Shikao Suga, singer
August 4 - Kensuke Sasaki, professional wrestler
August 14 - Honami Suzuki, actress
August 30 - Mikako Kotani, former synchronised swimming athlete
September 2 - Yu Hayami, singer and actress
September 11 - Kiko, Crown Princess of Japan, wife of Fumihito, Crown Prince of Japan
October 8 - Toshiro Yufune, former professional baseball pitcher
October 27 - Masanobu Takashima, actor
October 31 - Koji Kanemoto, professional wrestler
November 2 - Yoshinari Ogawa, professional wrestler
November 6 - Kae Araki, voice actress
November 13 - Mieharu, actor
November 28 - Narumi Yasuda, actress
December 12 - Último Dragón, professional wrestler
December 17 - Yuko Arimori, former marathon runner
December 22 - Sayuri Kokusho, actress
December 27 - Masahiro Fukuda, former footballer
Deaths
January 10 - Nishizō Tsukahara, admiral (b. 1887)
March 6 - Michitaro Totsuka, admiral (b. 1890)
April 23 - George Ohsawa, dietist, founder of Macrobiotics (b. 1893)
June 7 - Yoshishige Abe, philosopher and politician (b. 1883)
June 15 – Sankichi Takahashi, admiral (b. 1882)
July 12 - D.T. Suzuki, philosopher (b. 1870)
September 12 - Aketo Nakamura, general (b. 1889)
September 13 - Tomoshige Samejima, admiral (b. 1889)
November 9 - Jisaburō Ozawa, admiral (b. 1886)
November 14 - Zengo Yoshida, admiral (b. 1885)
See also
1966 in Japanese television
List of Japanese films of 1966
References
1960s in Japan
1966 by country
Years of the 20th century in Japan
1966 in Asia