1962 in Japan

1962 in Japan
Events in the year 1962 in Japan.
Incumbents
Emperor: Hirohito
Prime minister: Hayato Ikeda (Liberal Democratic)
Chief Cabinet Secretary: Masayoshi Ōhira until July 18, Yasumi Kurogane
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Kisaburo Yokota
President of the House of Representatives: Ichirō Kiyose
President of the House of Councillors: Tsuruhei Matsuno until August 6, Yūzō Shigemune
Governors
Aichi Prefecture: Mikine Kuwahara
Akita Prefecture: Yūjirō Obata
Aomori Prefecture: Iwao Yamazaki
Chiba Prefecture: Hitoshi Shibata (until 2 November); Hisaaki Kano (starting 2 November)
Ehime Prefecture: Sadatake Hisamatsu
Fukui Prefecture: Eizō Kita
Fukuoka Prefecture: Taichi Uzaki
Fukushima Prefecture: Zenichiro Satō
Gifu Prefecture: Yukiyasu Matsuno
Gunma Prefecture: Konroku Kanda
Hiroshima Prefecture: Hiroo Ōhara (until 13 April); Iduo Nagano (starting 29 May)
Hokkaido: Kingo Machimura
Hyogo Prefecture: Masaru Sakamoto (until 6 October); Motohiko Kanai (starting 24 November)
Ibaraki Prefecture: Nirō Iwakami
Ishikawa Prefecture: Jūjitsu Taya
Iwate Prefecture: Senichi Abe
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: Yoshio Miura
Miyazaki Prefecture: Hiroshi Kuroki
Nagano Prefecture: Gon'ichirō Nishizawa
Nagasaki Prefecture: Katsuya Sato
Nara Prefecture: Ryozo Okuda
Niigata Prefecture: Juichiro Tsukada
Oita Prefecture: Kaoru Kinoshita
Okayama Prefecture: Yukiharu Miki
Osaka Prefecture: Gisen Satō
Saga Prefecture: Sunao Ikeda
Saitama Prefecture: Hiroshi Kurihara
Shiga Prefecture: Kyujiro Taniguchi
Shiname Prefecture: Choemon Tanabe
Shizuoka Prefecture: Toshio Saitō
Tochigi Prefecture: Nobuo Yokokawa
Tokushima Prefecture: Kikutaro Hara
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
May 3 - Mikawashima train crash - A freight train and two passenger trains collide near Mikawashima Station in Arakawa, Tokyo, resulting in 160 deaths.
May 17 - Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma halts the sale of the drug Thalidomide.
May 29 – Tobu Department Store in Tokyo-Ikebukuro was open.
November 9 - An All Nippon Airways Vickers Viscount plane crashes in Aichi Prefecture while en route to Nagoya Airport, killing all 4 occupants of the aircraft.
November 18 - Two tankers, the smaller Munakata Maru 1 owned by Idemitsu Kosan and the larger Thrard Brovig, collide in the Keihin canal in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, causing the deaths of 40 crew members from both ships.
Unknown Date – Kotobuki Foods, as predecessor of Skylark (すかいらーく) Restaurant founded in Nishitokyo, Tokyo.
Births
January 20
IKKO, make-up artist
Sakiko Tamagawa, voice actress
February 1 – Takashi Murakami, pop artist
February 25 – Junko Ogata, serial killer
March 10 – Seiko Matsuda, pop singer/songwriter
March 13 – Shoko Sawada, singer-songwriter
March 18 – Kazuhiro Mizoguchi, javelin thrower
March 30 – Yōko Ogawa, writer
April 12 – Nobuhiko Takada, mixed martial arts fighter and professional wrestler
April 30 – Seiji Maehara, politician
May 5 – Kaoru Wada, composer
May 31 – Noriko Hidaka, voice actress
June 10 – Akie Abe, radio DJ
June 11 – Toshihiko Seki, voice actor
June 18 – Mitsuharu Misawa, professional wrestler
July 19 – Aya Kitō, writer (d. 1988)
August 8 – Yūji Machi, voice actor
August 21 – Tsutomu Miyazaki, serial killer (d. 2008)
September 4 – Shinya Yamanaka, physician and researcher
September 13 – Hisao Egawa, voice actor
October 12 – Ko Matsushita, conductor
October 15 – Yasutoshi Nishimura, politician
October 21 – Miki Itō, voice actress
October 27 – Jun'ichi Kanemaru, voice actor
November 14 – Atsuko Tanaka, voice actress
November 27 – Marumi Shiraishi, actress
December 1 – Shozo Hayashiya IX, rakugoka, tarento and voice actor
December 23 – Keiji Mutoh, professional wrestler
Deaths
January 20 – Shizue Tatsuta, film actor (b. 1903).
September 7 – Eiji Yoshikawa, writer and novelist (b. 1892)
October 21 – Kinnosuke Ogura, mathematician, historian of mathematics (b. 1885)
See also
List of Japanese films of 1962
References
Japan
Years of the 20th century in Japan
1960s in Japan
Japan