1962 in Japan
Events in the year 1962 in Japan.
Incumbents
- Emperor: Hirohito
- Prime minister: Hayato Ikeda
- Chief Cabinet Secretary: Masayoshi Ōhira until July 18, Yasumi Kurogane
- Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Kisaburo Yokota
- President of the House of Representatives: Ichirō Kiyose
- President of the House of Councillors: Tsuruhei Matsuno until August 6, Yūzō Shigemune
Governors
- Aichi Prefecture: Mikine Kuwahara
- Akita Prefecture: Yūjirō Obata
- Aomori Prefecture: Iwao Yamazaki
- Chiba Prefecture: Hitoshi Shibata ; Hisaaki Kano
- Ehime Prefecture: Sadatake Hisamatsu
- Fukui Prefecture: Eizō Kita
- Fukuoka Prefecture: Taichi Uzaki
- Fukushima Prefecture: Zenichiro Satō
- Gifu Prefecture: Yukiyasu Matsuno
- Gunma Prefecture: Konroku Kanda
- Hiroshima Prefecture: Hiroo Ōhara ; Iduo Nagano
- Hokkaido: Kingo Machimura
- Hyogo Prefecture: Masaru Sakamoto ; Motohiko Kanai
- Ibaraki Prefecture: Nirō Iwakami
- Ishikawa Prefecture: Jūjitsu Taya
- Iwate Prefecture: Senichi Abe
- Kagawa Prefecture: Masanori Kaneko
- Kagoshima Prefecture: Katsushi Terazono
- Kanagawa Prefecture: Iwataro Uchiyama
- Kochi Prefecture: Masumi Mizobuchi
- Kumamoto Prefecture: Kōsaku Teramoto
- Kyoto Prefecture: Torazō Ninagawa
- Mie Prefecture: Satoru Tanaka
- Miyagi Prefecture: Yoshio Miura
- Miyazaki Prefecture: Hiroshi Kuroki
- Nagano Prefecture: Gon'ichirō Nishizawa
- Nagasaki Prefecture: Katsuya Sato
- Nara Prefecture: Ryozo Okuda
- Niigata Prefecture: Juichiro Tsukada
- Oita Prefecture: Kaoru Kinoshita
- Okayama Prefecture: Yukiharu Miki
- Osaka Prefecture: Gisen Satō
- Saga Prefecture: Sunao Ikeda
- Saitama Prefecture: Hiroshi Kurihara
- Shiga Prefecture: Kyujiro Taniguchi
- Shiname Prefecture: Choemon Tanabe
- Shizuoka Prefecture: Toshio Saitō
- Tochigi Prefecture: Nobuo Yokokawa
- Tokushima Prefecture: Kikutaro Hara
- Tokyo: Ryōtarō Azuma
- Tottori Prefecture: Jirō Ishiba
- Toyama Prefecture: Minoru Yoshida
- Wakayama Prefecture: Shinji Ono
- Yamagata Prefecture: Tōkichi Abiko
- Yamaguchi Prefecture: Masayuki Hashimoto
- Yamanashi Prefecture: Hisashi Amano
Events
- May 3 - Mikawashima train crash - A freight train and two passenger trains collide near Mikawashima Station in Arakawa, Tokyo, resulting in 160 deaths.
- May 17 - Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma halts the sale of the drug Thalidomide.
- May 29 - Tobu Department Store in Tokyo-Ikebukuro was open.
- November 9 - An All Nippon Airways Vickers Viscount plane crashes in Aichi Prefecture while en route to Nagoya Airport, killing all 4 occupants of the aircraft.
- November 18 - Two tankers, the smaller Munakata Maru 1 owned by Idemitsu Kosan and the larger Thrard Brovig, collide in the Keihin canal in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, causing the deaths of 40 crew members from both ships.
- Unknown Date - Kotobuki Foods, as predecessor of Skylark Restaurant founded in Nishitokyo, Tokyo.
Births
- January 20
- * IKKO, make-up artist
- * Sakiko Tamagawa, voice actress
- February 1 – Takashi Murakami, pop artist
- February 25 – Junko Ogata, serial killer
- March 10 – Seiko Matsuda, pop singer/songwriter
- March 13 – Shoko Sawada, singer-songwriter
- March 18 – Kazuhiro Mizoguchi, javelin thrower
- March 30 – Yōko Ogawa, writer
- April 12 – Nobuhiko Takada, mixed martial arts fighter and professional wrestler
- April 30 – Seiji Maehara, politician
- May 5 – Kaoru Wada, composer
- May 31 – Noriko Hidaka, voice actress
- June 10 – Akie Abe, radio DJ
- June 11 – Toshihiko Seki, voice actor
- June 18 – Mitsuharu Misawa, professional wrestler
- July 19 – Aya Kitō, writer
- August 8 – Yūji Machi, voice actor
- August 21 – Tsutomu Miyazaki, serial killer
- September 4 – Shinya Yamanaka, physician and researcher
- September 13 – Hisao Egawa, voice actor
- October 12 – Ko Matsushita, conductor
- October 15 – Yasutoshi Nishimura, politician
- October 21 – Miki Itō, voice actress
- October 27 – Jun'ichi Kanemaru, voice actor
- November 14 – Atsuko Tanaka, voice actress
- November 27 – Marumi Shiraishi, actress
- December 1 – Shozo Hayashiya IX, rakugoka, tarento and voice actor
- December 23 – Keiji Mutoh, professional wrestler
Deaths
- January 20 – Shizue Tatsuta, film actor.
- September 7 – Eiji Yoshikawa, writer and novelist
- October 21 – Kinnosuke Ogura, mathematician, historian of mathematics