1897 in Japan
Events from the year 1897 in Japan. It corresponds to Meiji 30 in the Japanese calendar.
Incumbents
Governors
- Aichi Prefecture: Tokito Konkyo then Egi Kazuyuki
- Akita Prefecture: Saburo Iwao
- Aomori Prefecture: Naomasa Maki then Ichiro Konoshu
- Ehime Prefecture: Chang Masaya Komaki then Yutori Kojiro then Park Shin Maki Naomasa
- Fukui Prefecture: Kunizo Arakawa then Denzaburo Hatano then Shingo Seki
- Fukushima Prefecture: Akiyama then Kimumichi Nagusami
- Gifu Prefecture: Sukeo Kabayama then Yoshinori Yumoto
- Gunma Prefecture: Masataka Ishizata
- Hiroshima Prefecture: Orita Heinai then Asada Tokunori
- Ibaraki Prefecture: Egi Kazuyuki then Motohiro Onoda then Prince Kiyoshi Honba
- Iwate Prefecture: Ichizo Hattori
- Kagawa Prefecture: Tsunenori Tokuhisa
- Kochi Prefecture: Ishida Eikichi then Hiroshi Shikakui
- Kumamoto Prefecture: Kanetake Oura
- Kyoto Prefecture: Baron Nobumichi Yamada then Baron Utsumi Tadakatsu
- Mie Prefecture: Terumi Tanabe
- Miyagi Prefecture: Minoru Katsumata then Sukeo Kabayama
- Miyazaki Prefecture: Senda Sadakatsuki
- Nagano Prefecture: Takasaki Chikaaki then Gondo Ka'nichi
- Niigata Prefecture: Asada Tokunori then Minoru Katsumata
- Oita Prefecture: Yasuhiko Hirayama then Shigetoo Sugimoto
- Okinawa Prefecture: Shigeru Narahara
- Osaka Prefecture: Utsumi Tadakatsu then Tokito Konkyo
- Saga Prefecture: Akira Oyama
- Saitama Prefecture: Tomi Senketaka
- Shiname Prefecture: Michio Sokabe then Hikoji Nakamura
- Tochigi Prefecture: Sato Nobu then Egi Kazuyuki then Sento Kiyoshi
- Tokyo: Marquis Michitsune Koga then Viscount Okabe Nagahon
- Toyama Prefecture: Ando Kinsuke then Tsurayuki Ishida
- Yamagata Prefecture: Shuichi Kinoshita then Kikuchi Karasu
Events
- January 17 - A first issue newspaper, Kahoku Shinpō was published in Miyagi Prefecture.
- May - Opening of the Kyoto National Museum.
- June 1 - Opening of Matsugishi Station in Chōshi, Chiba.
- June 10 - Founding of the publishing company Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha.
- June 18 - establishment of Kyoto University under the name Kyoto Imperial University.
Births
- March 2 - Shizue Kato, politician and activist
- March 28 - Yusuke Hagihara, astronomer
- April 19 - Jiroemon Kimura, supercentenarian, oldest man ever, world's oldest living person from December 2012 to June 2013.
- October 10 - Shigeji Tsuboi, poet
- October 23 - Yae Ibuka, nurse
- November 12 - Eddie Imazu, art director
- November 17 - Kinichiro Sakaguchi, agricultural chemist and microbiologist
- November 28 - Chiyo Uno, writer and author
- December 8 - Prince Fushimi Hiroyoshi, naval officer
- December 26 - Unno Juza, writer, founding father of Japanese science fiction
Deaths
- August 24 - Mutsu Munemitsu, statesman and diplomat
- November 29 - Mitsukuri Rinsho, statesman and legal scholar