1959 in Japan

Events in the year 1959 in Japan.

← 1958 1957 1956 1959 in Japan → 1960 1961 1962
Decades:	1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
See also:	Other events of 1959 History of Japan  • Timeline  • Years

Incumbents

• Emperor: Hirohito
• Prime minister: Nobusuke Kishi

Events

• April 1 – Kyoto Ceramic (now Kyocera) has founded.
• April 10 – The Crown Prince Akihito, the future Emperor of Japan, weds Michiko Shōda, the first commoner to marry into the Japanese Imperial Family.
• June 30 – Twenty-one students are killed and more than a hundred injured when an American North American F-100 Super Sabre jet crashes into Miamori Elementary School on the island of Okinawa. The pilot ejected before the plane struck the school.
• July 22 – A Kumamoto University medical research group studying Minamata disease concludes that it is caused by mercury.
• September 26 – According to Japanese government official confirmed report, Typhoon Vera with tidal wave hit around Ise Bay, total 5,098 person were lives, 38,921 person were hurt.

Births

• January 3 – Dankan, actor and director
• January 16 – Kimiko Ikegami, actress
• January 17 – Momoe Yamaguchi, actress
• February 8 – Amy Yamada, writer
• March 23 – Kazue Ikura, actress, voice actress and narrator
• May 19 – Michiru Shimada, screenwriter (d. 2017)
• June 17 – Kazuki Yao, voice actor and actor
• August 17 – Chika Sakamoto, voice actress
• October 13 – Denny Tamaki, governor of Okinawa Prefecture
• October 21 – Ken Watanabe, actor
• November 21 – Naoko Watanabe, voice actress
• November 24 – Akio Ōtsuka, actor and voice actress
• December 5 – Yoshitomo Nara, artist
• December 6 – Satoru Iwata, video game designer, businessman (d. 2015)

Deaths

• March 7 – Ichirō Hatoyama, politician and 35th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1883)
• April 30 – Kafū Nagai, author, playwright, essayist, and diarist (b. 1879)
• June 20 – Hitoshi Ashida, politician and 35th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1887)