2016 in Japan

Decades:	1990s; 2000s; 2010s; 2020s; ;
See also:	Other events of 2016; History of Japan • Timeline • Years

The following lists events that happened during 2016 in Japan.

Year: Heisei 28

Incumbents

Emperor: Akihito^[1]
Prime Minister: Shinzō Abe (L–Yamaguchi)
Chief Cabinet Secretary: Yoshihide Suga (L–Kanagawa)
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Itsurō Terada
President of the House of Representatives: Tadamori Oshima (L–Aomori)
President of the House of Councillors: Masaaki Yamazaki (L–Fukui) until July 25, Chūichi Date (L-Hokkaidō) from August 1
National Diets: 190th (regular session, January 4–June 1), 191st (extraordinary session, August 1–3), 192nd (extraordinary session, September 26–November 30 [unless extended or cut short by lower house dissolution])^[2]

Governors

Aichi Prefecture: Hideaki Omura
Akita Prefecture: Norihisa Satake
Aomori Prefecture: Shingo Mimura
Chiba Prefecture: Kensaku Morita
Ehime Prefecture: Tokihiro Nakamura
Fukui Prefecture: Issei Nishikawa
Fukuoka Prefecture: Hiroshi Ogawa
Fukushima Prefecture: Masao Uchibori
Gifu Prefecture: Hajime Furuta
Gunma Prefecture: Masaaki Osawa
Hiroshima Prefecture: Hidehiko Yuzaki
Hokkaido: Harumi Takahashi
Hyogo Prefecture: Toshizō Ido
Ibaraki Prefecture: Masaru Hashimoto
Ishikawa Prefecture: Masanori Tanimoto
Iwate Prefecture: Takuya Tasso
Kagawa Prefecture: Keizō Hamada
Kagoshima Prefecture: Satoshi Mitazono
Kanagawa Prefecture: Yuji Kuroiwa
Kochi Prefecture: Masanao Ozaki
Kumamoto Prefecture: Ikuo Kabashima
Kyoto Prefecture: Keiji Yamada
Mie Prefecture: Eikei Suzuki
Miyagi Prefecture: Yoshihiro Murai
Miyazaki Prefecture: Shunji Kōno
Nagano Prefecture: Shuichi Abe
Nagasaki Prefecture: Hōdō Nakamura
Nara Prefecture: Shōgo Arai
Niigata Prefecture: Hirohiko Izumida (until 27 October); Ryūichi Yoneyama (starting 27 October)
Oita Prefecture: Katsusada Hirose
Okayama Prefecture: Ryuta Ibaragi
Okinawa Prefecture: Takeshi Onaga
Osaka Prefecture: Ichirō Matsui
Saga Prefecture: Yoshinori Yamaguchi
Saitama Prefecture: Kiyoshi Ueda
Shiga Prefecture: Taizō Mikazuki
Shiname Prefecture: Zenbe Mizoguchi
Shizuoka Prefecture: Heita Kawakatsu
Tochigi Prefecture: Tomikazu Fukuda
Tokushima Prefecture: Kamon Iizumi
Tokyo:
- until 21 June: Yōichi Masuzoe
- 21 June-2 August: Tatsumi Ando
- starting 2 August: Yuriko Koike
Tottori Prefecture: Shinji Hirai
Toyama Prefecture: Takakazu Ishii
Wakayama Prefecture: Yoshinobu Nisaka
Yamagata Prefecture: Mieko Yoshimura
Yamaguchi Prefecture: Tsugumasa Muraoka
Yamanashi Prefecture: Hitoshi Gotō

Events

January

Record snowfall and the first Sumo tournament win in a decade for a Japanese rikishi, amid turmoil on the Nikkei 225 and a political scandal involving Abe's cabinet. (See Akira Amari)
Filmmaker and dolphin activist Ric O'Barry was refused entry to the country and was held prior to deportation.

February

February 17 - launch of Hitomi (satellite), ChubuSat-2, ChubuSat-3 and Horyu-4 using a H-IIA 202 space launch vehicle

March

March 11 - Japan commemorates the fifth anniversary of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent of Fukushima nuclear disaster.
March 25 - Kyoto Tamba Kogen Quasi-National Park is established
March 25 - Asagishi, Hanasaki (Hokkaido), Higashi-Oiwake, Kami-Shirataki, Kanehana, Kyū-Shirataki, Ōshida, Shimo-Shirataki, Tomisato and Washinosu stations are closed
March 26 - Higashi-Himeji, Nishi-kumamoto, Ishinomakiayumino, Odasakae and Maya stations opens
March 26 - Hokkaido Shinkansen starts its service from Shin-Aomori Station to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station
March 26 - Museum of Natural and Environmental History, Shizuoka opens
March 27 – Kumamoto gubernatorial election: Incumbent Ikuo Kabashima reelected for a third term^[3]
March 27 - Democratic Party (Japan) is established

April

April 2 - Tsuyama Railroad Educational Museum opens
April 16 – A 7.0 magnitude earthquake strikes Kumamoto prefecture, and kills at least 50 people and 3,129 injured.
April 24 – National Diet, House of Representatives: By-elections in Hokkaido 5th district and in Kyoto 3rd district

May

May 1–2 - G7 Kitakyushu Energy Ministerial Meeting
May 23 - Akatsuki (spacecraft) begins a scientific mission at Venus after a troubled 5-years travel^[4]
May 26–27 – The 42nd G7 summit was held on Kashiko Island

June

IUPAC declared the element 113 Ununtrium as Nihonium, first element in the periodic table whose name is derived from Japan.^[5]
June 5^[6] – Okinawa assembly election: Governor Onaga's anti-base, left-wing supporters expand their majority

July

July 10 – National Diet, House of Councillors: 24th regular election
July 10^[7] – Kagoshima gubernatorial election
July 23 – Tatsuo Hirano, independent member of the House of Councillors from Iwate, joins the Liberal Democratic Party, giving the party the first majority of its own since the 1989 election defeat^[8]
July 26 - A knife attack in Sagamihara kills 19 people and injures up to 50.
July 31^[9] – Tokyo gubernatorial, assembly by-elections

August

Japan at the 2016 Summer Olympics
August 21: Russell M. Nelson dedicates the Sapporo Japan Temple, the 151st LDS temple and third LDS temple in Japan.^[10]

September

July to September - According to Japan National Police Agency official confirmed report, 48 hospitalized patients were die, administer disinfectant liquid diamitol giving for hospitalized patients in hospital, Yokohama. On 7 July 2018, a nurse of the main criminal detained and confessed, according to JNPA.^[11]

October

October 16^[12] – Niigata gubernatorial election
October 21 - A Richer Scale 6.2 earthquake, with aftershocks in Kurayoshi, Tottori Prefecture, according to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency official confirmed report, 30 persons were wounded.^[13]
October 23^[14] – Okayama gubernatorial election
October 23^[15] – Toyama gubernatorial election
October 23 – National Diet, House of Representatives: By-elections in Fukuoka, 6th district^[16] and in Tokyo, 10th district
October 25 - Two explosions in a park in the Japanese city of Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, kill at least one person and injure three others. Local media report that a 72-year-old ex-military officer is responsible for the blasts. A fire the same day destroyed the suspect's house. (The Guardian), (BBC)

November

November 20^[17] – Tochigi gubernatorial election

December

5th: Abe declares his historic plan to visit Pearl Harbor

December 18 - A bottoming net fishing boat Daifuku Maru capsized off coast Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, according to Japan Coast Guard official confirmed report, nine people lost to lives.^{[page needed]}
December 22 - A massive fire in Itoigawa, Niigata Prefecture, according to Japanese Fire and Disaster Management Agency confirmed report, 17 person wounded.^[18]

The Nobel Prize

Yoshinori Ohsumi: 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner.

Culture

Arts and entertainment

List of 2016 box office number-one films in Japan
March 4 - 39th Japan Academy Prize
March 12 - 10th Seiyu Awards

Arts and entertainment

Sports

October 9 – 2016 Formula One World Championship is held at 2016 Japanese Grand Prix
October 16 – 2016 MotoGP World Championship is held at 2016 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix