Suvarna Garge (Editor)

2016 in Japan

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Decades:
  
1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s

The following lists events that have happened or will happen during 2016 in Japan.

Contents

  • Year: Heisei 28

    • Incumbents

  • Emperor: Akihito
  • 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])

    • 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 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
  • March 27 - Democratic Party (Japan) is established

    • April

  • April 2 - Tsuyama Railroad Educational Museum opens
  • April 16 – 2016 Kumamoto earthquake
  • 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
  • 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.
  • June 5 – 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 – 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
  • July 26 - A knife attack in Sagamihara kills 19 people and injures up to 50.
  • July 31 – 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.

    • October

  • October 16 – Niigata gubernatorial election
  • October 23 – Okayama gubernatorial election
  • October 23 – Toyama gubernatorial election
  • October 23 – National Diet, House of Representatives: By-elections in Fukuoka, 6th district 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 – Tochigi gubernatorial election

    • December

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

    Arts and entertainment

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

    • Sports

  • Gamba Osaka U-23 Japanese football team is established
  • Japan at the 2016 Summer Olympics
  • Japan at the 2016 Summer Paralympics
  • Japan at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics
  • Japan at the 2016 UCI Track Cycling World Championships
  • Japan at the 2016 World Speed Skating Championships
  • 2016 J1 League
  • 2016 Japan Super Series
  • 2016 Tokyo Darts Masters
  • Fantastica Mania 2016
  • 2016 Asian Cycling Championships
  • 2016 Kangaroo Cup
  • 2016 Kurume Best Amenity Cup
  • 2016 NHK Trophy
  • 2016 Shimadzu All Japan Indoor Tennis Championships
  • 2016 Tokyo Marathon
  • World Series of Fighting GC: Japan 1

    • April

  • April 3, Kōji Wada, rock singer (b. 1974)

    • May

  • May 5, Isao Tomita, composer (b. 1932)
  • May 17, Yūko Mizutani, voice actress (b. 1964)

    • June

  • June 21, Kunio Hatoyama, politician (b. 1948)

    • July

  • July 31, Chiyonofuji Mitsugu, sumo wrestler (b. 1955)

    • October

  • October 20, Junko Tabei, mountaineer (b. 1939)
  • October 23, Mikijirō Hira, actor (b. 1933)

    • December

  • December 29, Jinpachi Nezu, actor (b. 1947)

    • References

    2016 in Japan Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA