1947 in Japan

Incumbents

• Supreme Commander Allied Powers: Douglas MacArthur
• Emperor: Hirohito
• Prime Minister: Shigeru Yoshida until May 24, Tetsu Katayama
• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Tadahiko Mibuchi from August 4
• Diet
• * President of the House of Representatives: Takeshi Yamazaki until March 31
• * President of the House of Peers: Iemasa Tokugawa until May 2
• * Imperial Diet sessions: 92nd
• Diet
• * President of the House of Representatives: Komakichi Matsuoka from May 24
• * President of the House of Councillors: Tsuneo Matsudaira from May 20
• * Diet sessions: 1st, 2nd

Governors

• Aichi Prefecture: Hideo Aoyagi
• Akita Prefecture: Kosaku Hasuike
• Aomori Prefecture: Bunji Tsushima
• Chiba Prefecture: Tamenosuke Kawaguchi
• Ehime Prefecture: Juushin Aoki
• Fukui Prefecture: Harukazu Obata
• Fukuoka Prefecture: Katsuji Sugimoto
• Fukushima Prefecture: Kan'ichirō Ishihara
• Gifu Prefecture: Kamon Muto
• Gunma Prefecture: Shigeo Kitano
• Hiroshima Prefecture: Tsunei Kusunose
• Hokkaido Prefecture: Toshifumi Tanaka
• Hyogo Prefecture: Yukio Kishida
• Ibaraki Prefecture: Yoji Tomosue
• Ishikawa Prefecture: Wakio Shibano
• Iwate Prefecture: Kenkichi Kokubun
• Kagawa Prefecture: Keikichi Masuhara
• Kagoshima Prefecture: Kaku Shigenari
• Kanagawa Prefecture: Iwataro Uchiyama
• Kochi Prefecture: Wakaji Kawamura
• Kumamoto Prefecture: Saburō Sakurai
• Kyoto Prefecture: Atsushi Kimura
• Mie Prefecture: Masaru Aoki
• Miyagi Prefecture: Saburō Chiba
• Miyazaki Prefecture: Tadao Annaka
• Nagano Prefecture: Torao Hayashi
• Nagasaki Prefecture: Sōjirō Sugiyama
• Nara Prefecture: Mansaku Nomura
• Niigata Prefecture: Shohei Okada
• Oita Prefecture: Tokuju Hosoda
• Okayama Prefecture: Hirokichi Nishioka
• Osaka Prefecture: Bunzō Akama
• Saga Prefecture: Gen'ichi Okimori
• Saitama Prefecture: Mizo Nishimura
• Shiga Prefecture: Iwakichi Hattori
• Shiname Prefecture: Fujiro Hara
• Shizuoka Prefecture: Takeji Kobayashi
• Tochigi Prefecture: Juukichi Kodaira
• Tokushima Prefecture: Goro Abe
• Tokyo Prefecture: Seiichirō Yasui
• Tottori Prefecture: Aiji Nishio
• Toyama Prefecture: Tetsuji Tachi
• Wakayama Prefecture: Shinji Ono
• Yamagata Prefecture: Michio Murayama
• Yamaguchi Prefecture: Tatsuo Tanaka
• Yamanashi Prefecture: Katsuyasu Yoshie

Events

• February 25: Hachikō Line derailment
• February 28: February 28 incident in Taiwan
• April 5: In the first phase of the first unified regional elections the governors of all 46 prefectures are elected directly for the first time. Also up are mayors of municipalities across the country.
• March 3: Sekisui Chemical was founded.
• April 20: First election for the House of Councillors. 111 of 250 seats are won by non-affiliated candidates.
• April 25: 23rd Election for House of Representatives. Socialist Party wins 143 of 466 seats, followed by Liberal Party with 131 and Democratic Party with 124.
• April 30: In the second phase of the unified regional elections prefectural and municipal assemblies are elected.
• May 3: Constitution of Japan goes into effect.
• May 24: Tetsu Katayama becomes prime minister.
• August 4: Supreme Court of Japan established.
• September 14-16 - According to Japanese government official confirmed report, Typhoon Kathleen, an embankment collapse and flash flood occur around Saitama Prefecture, a debris flow and landslide occurred in Ashikaga, Ichinoseki and Mount Akagi area, resulting to toll death number was 1,930 persons, 1,547 persons were wounded.

Full date unknown

• IB Daiwa Corporation is founded.

Births

• January 1 - Hideaki Yanagida, wrestler
• January 18
• * Takeshi Kitano, comedian, actor and director
• * Sachio Kinugasa, professional baseball player
• January 22 - Senichi Hoshino, professional baseball pitcher and coach
• February 5 - Teruhiko Saigō, singer and actor
• February 11 - Yukio Hatoyama, politician
• February 22 - Masahara Nakagawa, politician
• March 6 - Teru Miyamoto, author
• March 20 - Tamio Kageyama, novelist
• March 21 - Kazuhiko Katō, musician
• March 24 - Meiko Kaji, actress
• April 9 - Kazuko Sugiyama, voice actress
• June 10 - Hitoshi Igarashi, scholar
• September 20 - Kazumasa Oda, singer
• September 26 - Tadayoshi Yokota, volleyball player
• September 28 - Keishi Suzuki, former professional baseball pitcher
• October 7 - Reiko Kuroda, chemist
• November 4 - Toshiyuki Nishida, actor
• December 18 - Riyoko Ikeda, manga artist and singer
• December 22 - Mitsuo Tsukahara, artistic gymnast

Deaths

• January 5: Osami Nagano, admiral
• January 10: Sakunosuke Oda, novelist
• March 10 – Harukichi Hyakutake, general
• March 27: Hisakazu Tanaka
• April 26: Hisao Tani, lieutenant general
• June 18: Shigematsu Sakaibara, admiral
• June 19: Kōsō Abe, admiral
• July 13: Yone Noguchi, writer, poet, essayist and novelist
• July 30: Kōda Rohan, writer and author
• August 7: Masao Baba, general
• September 10: Hatazō Adachi, general
• October 18: Michiaki Kamada, vice-admiral
• December 6: Tadashige Daigo, vice-admiral
• December 30: Riichi Yokomitsu, novelist