1959 in Japan

Decades:	1930s; 1940s; 1950s; 1960s; 1970s;
See also:	Other events of 1959; History of Japan; Timeline; Years;

Events in the year 1959 in Japan.

Incumbents

Governors

Aichi Prefecture: Mikine Kuwahara
Akita Prefecture: Yūjirō Obata
Aomori Prefecture: Iwao Yamazaki
Chiba Prefecture: Hitoshi Shibata
Ehime Prefecture: Sadatake Hisamatsu
Fukui Prefecture: Seiichi Hane (until 22 April); Eizō Kita (starting 23 April)
Fukuoka Prefecture: Taichi Uzaki
Fukushima Prefecture: Zenichiro Satō
Gifu Prefecture: Yukiyasu Matsuno
Gunma Prefecture: Toshizo Takekoshi
Hiroshima Prefecture: Hiroo Ōhara
Hokkaido: Toshifumi Tanaka (until 22 April); Kingo Machimura (starting 23 April)
Hyogo Prefecture: Masaru Sakamoto
Ibaraki Prefecture: Yoji Tomosue (until 29 March); Nirō Iwakami (starting 23 April)
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: Saburō Sakurai (until 10 February); Kōsaku Teramoto (starting 11 February)
Kyoto Prefecture: Torazō Ninagawa
Mie Prefecture: Satoru Tanaka
Miyagi Prefecture: Yasushi Onuma (until 12 January); Yoshio Miura (starting 4 March)
Miyazaki Prefecture: Jingo Futami (until 22 April); Hiroshi Kuroki (starting 23 April)
Nagano Prefecture: Torao Hayashi (until 22 April); Gon'ichirō Nishizawa (starting 26 April)
Nagasaki Prefecture: Katsuya Sato
Nara Prefecture: Ryozo Okuda
Niigata Prefecture: Kazuo Kitamura
Oita Prefecture: Kaoru Kinoshita
Okayama Prefecture: Yukiharu Miki
Osaka Prefecture: Bunzō Akama (until 22 April); Gisen Satō (starting 23 April)
Saga Prefecture: Naotsugu Nabeshima (until 16 April); Sunao Ikeda (starting 23 April)
Saitama Prefecture: Hiroshi Kurihara
Shiga Prefecture: Kyujiro Taniguchi
Shiname Prefecture: Yasuo Tsunematsu (until 29 April); Choemon Tanabe (starting 30 April)
Shizuoka Prefecture: Toshio Saitō
Tochigi Prefecture: Kiichi Ogawa (until 4 February); Nobuo Yokokawa (starting 5 February)
Tokushima Prefecture: Kikutaro Hara
Tokyo: Seiichirō Yasui (until 18 April); Ryōtarō Azuma (starting 22 April)
Tottori Prefecture: Jirō Ishiba
Toyama Prefecture: Minoru Yoshida
Wakayama Prefecture: Shinji Ono
Yamagata Prefecture: Tōkichi Abiko
Yamaguchi Prefecture: Taro Ozawa
Yamanashi Prefecture: Hisashi Amano

Events

April 1 – Kyoto Ceramic (now Kyocera) has founded.^{[page needed]}
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 2 – Mori Building was founded.^{[citation needed]}
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.^[3]
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.^{[page needed]}

Births

January 3 – Dankan, actor and director
January 16 – Kimiko Ikegami, actress
January 17 – Momoe Yamaguchi, actress
February 8 – Amy Yamada, writer
February 20 – Tomomi Inada, politician
March 23 – Kazue Ikura, actress, voice actress and narrator
May 19 – Michiru Shimada, screenwriter (d. 2017)
May 23 – Ryuta Kawashima, neuroscientist
June 17 – Kazuki Yao, voice actor and actor
July 17 – Kiyotaka Sugiyama, singer-songwriter
August 11 – Yoshiaki Murakami, investor
August 17 – Chika Sakamoto, voice actress
September 8 – Saeko Shimazu, 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)
August 9 – Noboru Ishizaki, admiral (b. 1893)

References

^ "Hirohito | Biography, Accomplishments, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
^ Helms, Ludger (2012). Poor Leadership and Bad Governance: Reassessing Presidents and Prime Ministers in North America, Europe and Japan. Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 178. ISBN 978-0-85793-273-0.
^ "21 Die as Jet Hits School On Okinawa", Oakland Tribune, June 30, 1959, p1

[1] "Hirohito | Biography, Accomplishments, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 27 March 2019.

[2] Helms, Ludger (2012). Poor Leadership and Bad Governance: Reassessing Presidents and Prime Ministers in North America, Europe and Japan. Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 178. ISBN 978-0-85793-273-0.

[3] "21 Die as Jet Hits School On Okinawa", Oakland Tribune, June 30, 1959, p1

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