1964 in Japan

Events in the year 1964 in Japan. It corresponds to Shōwa 39 in the Japanese calendar.
1964 is considered a seminal year in modern Japanese history. The Tokyo Summer Olympic Games and the first run of bullet train reflected a society-wide sense that post-war reconstruction was over and that Japan had rejoined the international family of nations. Diplomatic negotiations underway this year between South Korea and Japan resulted in a formal normalization of relations the following year.

Incumbents

Emperor: Hirohito
Prime Minister: Hayato Ikeda until November 9, Eisaku Satō
Chief Cabinet Secretary: Yasumi Kurogane until July 18, Zenkō Suzuki until November 9, Tomisaburō Hashimoto
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Kisaburō Yokota
President of the House of Representatives: Naka Funada
President of the House of Councillors: Yūzō Shigemune
Diet sessions: 46th, 47th, 48th

Governors

Aichi Prefecture: Mikine Kuwahara
Akita Prefecture: Yūjirō Obata
Aomori Prefecture: Shunkichi Takeuchi
Chiba Prefecture: Taketo Tomonō
Ehime Prefecture: Sadatake Hisamatsu
Fukui Prefecture: Eizō Kita
Fukuoka Prefecture: Taichi Uzaki
Fukushima Prefecture: Zenichiro Satō ; Morie Kimura
Gifu Prefecture: Yukiyasu Matsuno
Gunma Prefecture: Konroku Kanda
Hiroshima Prefecture: Iduo Nagano
Hokkaido: Kingo Machimura
Hyogo Prefecture: Motohiko Kanai
Ibaraki Prefecture: Nirō Iwakami
Ishikawa Prefecture: Yōichi Nakanishi
Iwate Prefecture: Tadashi Chida
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 ; Takenori Kato
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

March 18: Hayakawa Electric and Sony announce that they have completed a prototype electronic calculator using Japanese-manufactured diodes and transistors.
March 24: U.S. ambassador Edwin Reischauer is stabbed by a Japanese youth.
April 1: Japanese citizens are permitted to freely travel overseas.
April 12: Channel 12, the predecessor of TV Tokyo, begins operations.
April 17 - Orient Lease, as predecessor of Orix Group founded in Osaka.
April 29 - The Keiō Dōbutsuen Line opens.
June 16: An earthquake in Niigata Prefecture kills 12.
July 14: According to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency official confirmed report, a Katsushima Warehouse caught fire and explode in Shinagawa, Tokyo, total 19 person were human fatalities and 117 persons were wounded.
July 18: A heavy rain, following devastate flood and landslide in Shimane and Tottori Prefecture, at least 128 people lives.
August 18 - The International Olympic Committee bans South Africa from the Tokyo Olympics on the grounds that its teams are racially segregated.
September 17: The Tokyo Monorail begins operations.
October 1: The Tōkaidō Shinkansen begins operations.
October 10–24: 1964 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo. Judo introduced for the first time as an Olympic Game.
October 25: Ikeda Hayato resigns as prime minister; Eisaku Satō is elected to replace him.
November 9: Sato announces his first cabinet.
November 17: The political party Komeito is formed.
December 23: Tokyo Metro Tōzai Line was opened.

Births

January 1: Akemi Masuda, athlete
January 4: Riki Takeuchi, actor
January 25: Seiko Senou, actor of 1987 Metal Hero Series Choujinki Metalder.
March 8: Hiroshi Tsuburaya, actor of 1984 Space Sheriff Series Uchuu Keiji Shaider.
March 9: Tomomitsu Niimi, criminal
March 12: Kaori Ekuni, author
March 18:
*Mika Kanai, voice actress and singer
*Yoko Kanno, pianist and songwriter
April 23: Rie Ishizuka, voice actress
April 30: Misa Watanabe, voice actress
May 5: Minami Takayama, singer and voice actress
May 6: Daisuke Araki, former professional baseball player
May 31: Yukio Edano, politician
June 12: Takashi Yamazaki, filmmaker
June 22: Hiroshi Abe, model and actor
June 23: Tomonohana Shinya, sumo wrestler and coach
July 3: Toshiharu Sakurai, voice actor
July 7: Shinichi Tsutsumi, actor
July 9: Kazumi Kawai, actress
July 14: Kippei Shiina, actor
July 19: Masahiko Kondō, solo singer of Johnny & Associates
July 24: Banana Yoshimoto, author
July 25: Reiko Takashima, actress
August 10: Hiro Takahashi, singer, lyricist, and composer
September 13: Junko Mihara, politician, former singer, and actress
September 23: Koshi Inaba, singer of B'z
October 5:
*Keiji Fujiwara, voice actor
*Seiko Hashimoto, ice speed skater
*Megumi Yokota, one of the North Korean abductee victims of the late 1970s
October 12: Masaru Ogawa, figure skater
October 18: Etsuko Inoue, tennis player
October 20: Tomoko Yamaguchi, actress
October 24: Kotaro Tanaka, actor of 1991 Super Sentai Chōjin Sentai Jetman as Red Hawk/Ryu Tendou.
November 4: Yūko Mizutani, voice actress
December 13: hide, musician
December 15: Norihisa Tamura, politician
December 23: Kazuhiro Koshi, skeleton racer
December 28: Kaori Yamaguchi, judoka

Deaths

February 8: Boshirō Hosogaya, admiral
February 17: Chūichi Hara, admiral
April 5: Tatsuji Miyoshi, poet, literary critic, and editor
May 5: Tadao Ikeda, director and screenwriter
May 6: Haruo Satō, novelist and poet
May 8: Kichisaburo Nomura, politician and military leader
August 17: Keiji Sada, actor
November 29: Ryūsaku Tsunoda, educator and historian

Statistics

Yen value: US$1 = ¥360