1896 in Japan
Events in the year 1896 in Japan. It corresponds to Meiji 29 in the Japanese calendar.
Incumbents
Governors
- Aichi Prefecture: Tokito Konkyo
- Akita Prefecture: Yasuhiko Hirayama then Saburo Iwao
- Aomori Prefecture: Masa Sawa then Naomasa Maki
- Ehime Prefecture: Chang Masaya Komaki
- Fukui Prefecture: Kunizo Arakawa
- Fukushima Prefecture: Yasutaro Hara then Ogura Nobuchika then Akiyama
- Gifu Prefecture: Sukeo Kabayama
- Gunma Prefecture: Motootoko Nakamura then Abe Hiroshi then Masataka Ishizata
- Hiroshima Prefecture: Nabeshima Miki then Orita Heinai
- Ibaraki Prefecture: Egi Kazuyuki then Motohiro Onoda
- Iwate Prefecture: Ichizo Hattori
- Kagawa Prefecture: Ichizo Fukano then Tsunenori Tokuhisa
- Kochi Prefecture: Ishida Eikichi then Hiroshi Shikakui
- Kumamoto Prefecture: Matsudaira Masanao then Kanetake Oura
- Kyoto Prefecture: Baron Nobumichi Yamada
- Mie Prefecture: Terumi Tanabe
- Miyagi Prefecture: Terumi Tanabe
- Nagano Prefecture: Takasaki Chikaaki
- Niigata Prefecture: Baron Seung Zhi Kuwata
- Oita Prefecture: Tameharu Yamada then Yasuhiko Hirayama
- Okinawa Prefecture: Shigeru Narahara
- Osaka Prefecture: Utsumi Tadakatsu
- Saga Prefecture: Takeuchi
- Saitama Prefecture: Teru Tanabe then Tomi Senketaka
- Shiname Prefecture: Michio Sokabe
- Tochigi Prefecture: Egi Kazuyuki
- Tokyo: Miura Yasushi then Marquis Michitsune Koga
- Toyama Prefecture: Tokuhisa Tsunenori then Ando Kinsuke
- Yamagata Prefecture: Shuichi Kinoshita
Events
- June 15 - Sanriku earthquake: One of the most destructive seismic events in Japanese history. The 8.5 magnitude earthquake occurred at 19:32, approximately off the coast of Iwate Prefecture, Honshu. It resulted in two tsunamis which destroyed about 9,000 homes and caused at least 22,000 deaths. The waves reached a record height of ; more than a meter lower than those created after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake which triggered the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
- December 28 - Nippon Flower Mills was founded.
- Unknown date - Penta-Ocean construction company founded
- Unknown date - Kotaro Mikamo reports the first results of a double-eyelid procedure for aesthetic purposes.
Births
- January 1 - Hankyu Sasaki, admiral
- April 22 - Chishō Takaoka, geisha, writer, and nun
- May 11 - Toshiko, Princess Yasu, daughter of Emperor Meiji
- July 28 - Takeru Inukai, politician and novelist
- August 27 - Kenji Miyazawa, author and poet
- November 13 - Nobusuke Kishi, politician and Prime Minister of Japan
Deaths
- February 28 - Tazawa Inabune, writer
- November 23 - Ichiyō Higuchi, writer