1991 in Japan

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: (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: is based at Yokosuka, becoming the United States Navy's only forward-deployed aircraft carrier.
September 27: Typhoon Mireille kills 45 people in Japan.
October 3: Kaifu resigns as prime minister.
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)
See also
1991 in Japanese football
1991 in Japanese television
List of Japanese films of 1991
References
1991 in Asia
Years of the 20th century in Japan
Japan
1990s in Japan