Births
- 1333 - Emperor Godaigo escapes from Oki Island.
- 1905 - The Japanese army wins the Battle of Fèngtiān (modern day Shěngyáng) in the First Sino-Japanese War.
- 1917 - The Industry Club of Japan is formed.
- 1922 - The Tokyo Expo opens in Ueno Park. The expo was held in the spirit of world peace following World War I, but if failed to attract much attention and ended up losing money.
- 1928 - Takayanagi Kenjirõ successfully transmits human images using a "braun tube" (a CRT) in Hamamatsu, Japan.
- 1945 - An intense bombing campaign of Tokyo begins. Kōtō Ward is set ablaze and over 93,000 people lost their lives.
- 1965 - The weather radar atop Mount Fuji begins operation.
- 1975 - The Sanyō Shinkansen (bullet train) line between Okayama and Hakata, Kyūshū is completed, allowing people to make the 1,176 km trip from Tokyo to Hakata in about 7 hours.
- 1980 - The six main city banks open electronic communications with each other.
- 1981 - Sumō grandmaster (Yokozuna) Wajima retires.
- 1985 - The two segments of what was at the time the world's longest tunnel between Aomori and Hakodate are joined up in the middle.
Births
- 1889 - Toshitsugu Takamatsu (d. 1972), martial artist and educator
- 1922 - Kiyoshi Yamashita (d. 1971), painter
- 1941 - Kazuo Tokumitsu, television host and announcer
- 1946 - Hiroshi Fushida, race car driver
- 1955 - Toshio Suzuki, race car driver
- 1958 - Hiroshi Yanaka, voice actor
- 1962 - Seiko Matsuda, singer-songwriter and actress
- 1972 - Takashi Fujii, comedian and singer
- 1976 - Kisaki, bass player, songwriter, and producer
- 1979 - Masato, kick-boxer
- 1981 - Taiyo Sugiura, actor
- 1982 - Mitsuomi Takahashi, actor
- 1983 - Sonim, singer and actress
- 1995 - Yui Sakuma, model and actress