1949 in Japan
Events in the year 1949 in Japan.
Incumbents
- Supreme Commander Allied Powers: Douglas MacArthur
- Emperor: Hirohito
- Prime Minister: Shigeru Yoshida
- Chief Cabinet Secretary: Eisaku Satō until February 16, Kaneshichi Masuda
- Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Tadahiko Mibuchi
- President of the House of Representatives: vacant until February 11, Kijūrō Shidehara
- President of the House of Councillors: Tsuneo Matsudaira until November 14, Naotake Satō from November 15
- Diet sessions: 5th, 6th, 7th
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 ; vacant thereafter
- Gifu Prefecture: Kamon Muto
- Gunma Prefecture: Yoshio Iyoku
- 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 ; Kazuji Sasaki
- 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:
- * until 28 March: Mizo Nishimura
- * 28 March-17 May: Yoshida Tadakazu
- * starting 17 May: Yuuichi Oosawa
- 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: Kunitake Takatsuji
- Wakayama Prefecture: Shinji Ono
- Yamagata Prefecture: Michio Murayama
- Yamaguchi Prefecture: Tatsuo Tanaka
- Yamanashi Prefecture: Katsuyasu Yoshie
Events
- January 23 - 1949 Japanese general election
- January 26 - A fire breaks out at Hōryū-ji temple in Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture, destroying several murals.
- March Unknown date - Mens Shop Ogori, as predecessor of Uniqlo was founded in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
- May 16: Opening of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya Stock Exchanges.
- May 25: Ministry of International Trade and Industry formed.
- June 1: Japanese National Railways become independent of the Ministry of Transportation.
- June 22: A Typhoon Della, torrential massibie rain and landslide hit, many ship and fishing boat plunged around Uwa Sea, Ehime Prefecture, 468 person were human fatalities, including a passenger ferry Aoba Maru, and 367 persons were hurt, according to Japanese government official confirmed report.
- July 5 - Shimoyama incident
- July 15 - Mitaka incident
- August 17 - Matsukawa derailment
- September 15: First limited express trains begin operation on JNR lines.
- October: Hideki Yukawa becomes the first Japanese winner of a Nobel Prize.
- December 1
- * Izumi Real Estate, later, Sumitomo Realty & Development was founded.
- * Marubeni was established that separate from Itochu.
- December 16 - Auto parts company Denso established.
Films
Late SpringBirths
- January 12: Haruki Murakami, author
- January 15: Rumi Tama, film director, actress, and screenwriter
- January 24: Rihoko Yoshida, voice actress
- January 28: Masachika Ichimura, voice actor and musical singer
- February 2: Yasuko Namba, mountaineer, summited the Seven Summits
- March 3: Hiroshi Kajikawa, archer
- March 23: Aruno Tahara, voice actor
- April 26
- * Morio Kazama, actor
- * Issei Sagawa, murderer
- May 9: Kenji Shimaoka, volleyball player
- May 11: Terumi Niki, actress
- May 12: Moto Hagio, manga artist
- May 25: Yuki Katsuragi, singer
- June 5: Guts Ishimatsu, boxer
- June 20: Arase Nagahide, sumo wrestler
- June 27: Norio Nagayama, spree killer
- July 14: Toyokazu Nomura, judoka
- August 18: Takeshi Shudo, scriptwriter
- September 14: Eikichi Yazawa, singer
- September 19: Sayoko Yamaguchi, model and actress
- September 20: Yutaka Higuchi, figure skater
- September 21: Yūsaku Matsuda, actor
- October 5: Takajin Yashiki, singer and television celebrity
- October 7: Yuji Katsuro, Nordic combined skier
- October 21: Masao Ohba, boxer
- November 17: Yoshito Yasuhara, actor and voice actor
- November 21: Kazumasa Hirai, weightlifter
- November 24: Tamanofuji Shigeru, sumo wrestler
- November 28: Kyoko Mizuki, author and manga artist
- December 2: Shūichi Ikeda, voice actor
- December 16: Kensaku Morita, actor, singer and governor of Chiba Prefecture
- December 20: Takao Okawara, film director, writer and producer
- December 28: Kaoru Kitamura, writer
Deaths
- January 8: Yoshijirō Umezu, war leader
- January 20: Iwata Nakayama, photographer
- February 6: Hiroaki Abe, admiral
- May 5: Hideo Nagata, poet and playwright
- May 6: Kunihiko Hashimoto, composer, violinist, conductor, and musical educator
- May 17: Unno Juza, founding father of Japanese science fiction
- June 30: Harukazu Nagaoka, diplomat
- July 1: Isamu Takeshita, admiral
- July 10: Moritake Tanabe
- August 7: Uemura Shōen, artist
- August 15: Kanji Ishiwara, war leader
- October 5: Yoshio Kodaira, rapist and serial killer
- October 12: Kiyoshi Kawakami, journalist
- November 3: Hidemitsu Tanaka, author
- November 14: Matsudaira Tsuneo, diplomat
- November 20: Wakatsuki Reijirō, former prime minister
- November 25: Kazuo Mizutani, chief of staff
- December 14: Morita Sōhei, author
Statistics
- Yen value: US$1 = ¥360