1942 in Japan

1942 in Japan
Events in the year 1942 in Japan.
Incumbents
Emperor: Hirohito
Prime Minister: Hideki Tōjō
Governors
Aichi Prefecture: Yukisawa Chiyoji
Akita Prefecture: Fumi
Aomori Prefecture: Seiichi Ueda (until 9 June); Shunsuke Yamada (starting 9 June)
Ehime Prefecture: Masatomi Hatakeda (until 7 July); Ryuichi Fukumoto (starting 7 July)
Fukui Prefecture:
until 9 January: Kubota
9 January-15 June: Shigeo Miyoshi
starting 15 June: Nagano Wakamatsu
Fukushima Prefecture: Sumio Hisakawa (until 7 July); Yoshio Araki (starting 7 July)
Gifu Prefecture: Tetsushin Sudo (until 23 May); Miyoshi Shigeo (starting 23 May)
Gunma Prefecture: Goro Murata
Hiroshima Prefecture: Tokiji Yoshinaga (until 15 June); Saiichiro Miyamura (starting 15 June)
Ibaraki Prefecture: Kanichi Naito (until 7 October); Tsujiyama (starting 7 October)
Iwate Prefecture: Yoshifumi Yamauchi (until 15 June); Osamuzo Suzuki (starting 15 June)
Kagawa Prefecture: Osamu Eianhyaku (until 9 January); Yoshiji Kosuga (starting 9 January)
Kanagawa Prefecture: Mitsuma Matsumura (until month unknown)
Kochi Prefecture: Naoaki Hattori (until 7 July); Satoru Okino (starting 7 July)
Kumamoto Prefecture: Chioji Yukisawa (until 10 June); Hikari Akira (starting 10 June)
Kyoto Prefecture: Ando Kyoushirou
Mie Prefecture: Yoshiro Nakano (until 7 October); Koji Soga (starting 7 October)
Miyagi Prefecture: Nobuo Hayashin (until 7 October); Otomaru Kato (starting 7 October)
Miyazaki Prefecture: Osafume Katsumi
Nagano Prefecture: Noburo Suzuki (until 9 January); Nagoya Osamu (starting 9 January)
Niigata Prefecture: Doi Shohei
Oita Prefecture: Ito Hisamatsu (starting 6 May)
Okinawa Prefecture: Hajime Hayakawa
Saga Prefecture: (until 23 May); Shogo Tanaka (starting 23 May)
Saitama Prefecture: Miyano Shozo (until 9 January); Toshio Otsu (starting 9 January)
Shiname Prefecture: Yasuo Otsubo (until 9 January); Goro Koizumi (starting 9 January)
Tochigi Prefecture: Saburo Yamagata (until 9 January); Sakurai Yasuemon (starting 9 January)
Tokyo: Jitsuzo Kawanishi (until 9 January); Matsumura Miro (starting 9 January)
Toyama Prefecture: Kingo Machimura
Yamagata Prefecture: Hee Yamauchi (until 7 July); Akira Saito (starting 7 July)
Events
Below, events of World War II have the "WWII" preface
11 January – Japanese paratroopers land on Sulawesi.
12 January – Japan declares war on the Dutch.
22 January – Hideki Tōjō warns Australia that "if you continue resistance, we Japanese will destroy you."
4 February – Japan demands the surrender of Singapore.
17 February – Singapore is renamed Shōnan ("Light of the South").
20 March – The navy minister, Admiral Shigetarō Shimada says that in view of the Allies' "Retaliation and hatred", Japan would no longer follow recognized rules of sea warfare.
18 April – Doolittle Raid, the first bombing raid on the Japanese home islands
25 May – Four ships leave Hokkaido to stage a diversionary raid on the Aleutian Islands.
4–7 June – Battle of Midway
21 August – Battle of the Tenaru
11–12 October – Battle of Cape Esperance
12–15 November – Naval Battle of Guadalcanal
Births
January 8 – Junichiro Koizumi, 56th Prime Minister of Japan
January 27 – Tasuku Honjo, immunologist
February 1 – Masa Saito, professional wrestler (d. 2018)
March 29 – Kenichi Ogata, actor
April 2 – Hiroyuki Sakai, chef
April 25 – Katsuji Adachi, professional wrestler (d. 2010)
May 24 – Ichirō Ozawa, politician
July 3 – Mitsuhiro Kitta, golfer
July 5 – Motoaki Inukai, footballer
July 22 – Toyohiro Akiyama, astronaut
August 31 – Isao Aoki, golfer
September 16 – Tadamasa Goto, yakuza boss
September 19 – Nobuo Sekine, sculptor (d. 2019)
Deaths
May 11 – Sakutarō Hagiwara, writer, poet and critic (b. 1886)
May 29 – Akiko Yosano, author and poet (b. 1878)
June 4
Jisaku Okada, Naval officer, killed in action at the Battle of Midway (b. 1897)
Tamon Yamaguchi, admiral (b. 1892)
June 5 – Ryusaku Yanagimoto, captain (b. 1894)
August 21 – Kiyonao Ichiki (b. 1892)
August 26 – Junichi Sasai, aviator (b. 1918)
September 5 – Toshinari Maeda, general (b. 1885)
October 12 – Aritomo Gotō, admiral (b. 1888)
October 21 – Toshio Ōta, aviator (b. 1919)
October 26 – Yumio Nasu, major general (b. 1892)
November 5 – Kiyoura Keigo, politician and Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1850)
November 23 – Tomitarō Horii, lieutenant general (b. 1890)
December 4 – Atsushi Nakajima, author (b. 1909)
See also
List of Japanese films of the 1940s
References
1940s in Japan
1942 by country
Years of the 20th century in Japan
1942 in Asia