1978 in Japan
Events in the year 1978 in Japan. It corresponds to Shōwa 53 in the Japanese calendar.
Incumbents
- Emperor: Hirohito
- Prime minister: Takeo Fukuda until December 7, Masayoshi Ōhira
- Chief Cabinet Secretary: Shintaro Abe until December 7, Rokusuke Tanaka
- Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Masao Okahara
- President of the House of Representatives: Shigeru Hori
- President of the House of Councillors: Ken Yasui
- Diet sessions: 84th, 85th, 86th, 87th
Governors
- Aichi Prefecture: Yoshiaki Nakaya
- Akita Prefecture: Yūjirō Obata
- Aomori Prefecture: Shunkichi Takeuchi
- Chiba Prefecture: Kiichi Kawakami
- Ehime Prefecture: Haruki Shiraishi
- Fukui Prefecture: Heidayū Nakagawa
- Fukuoka Prefecture: Hikaru Kamei
- Fukushima Prefecture: Isao Matsudaira
- Gifu Prefecture: Yosuke Uematsu
- Gunma Prefecture: Ichiro Shimizu
- Hiroshima Prefecture: Hiroshi Miyazawa
- Hokkaido: Naohiro Dōgakinai
- Hyogo Prefecture: Tokitada Sakai
- Ibaraki Prefecture: Fujio Takeuchi
- Ishikawa Prefecture: Yōichi Nakanishi
- Iwate Prefecture: Tadashi Chida
- Kagawa Prefecture: Tadao Maekawa
- Kagoshima Prefecture: Kaname Kamada
- Kanagawa Prefecture: Kazuji Nagasu
- Kochi Prefecture: Chikara Nakauchi
- Kumamoto Prefecture: Issei Sawada
- Kyoto Prefecture: Torazō Ninagawa ; Yukio Hayashida
- Mie Prefecture: Ryōzō Tagawa
- Miyagi Prefecture: Sōichirō Yamamoto
- Miyazaki Prefecture: Hiroshi Kuroki
- Nagano Prefecture: Gon'ichirō Nishizawa
- Nagasaki Prefecture: Kan'ichi Kubo
- Nara Prefecture: Ryozo Okuda
- Niigata Prefecture: Takeo Kimi
- Oita Prefecture: Masaru Taki
- Okayama Prefecture: Shiro Nagano
- Okinawa Prefecture:
- * until 23 November: Koichi Taira
- * 23 November-13 December: Takemori Nijima
- * starting 13 December: Junji Nishime
- Osaka Prefecture: Ryōichi Kuroda
- Saga Prefecture: Sunao Ikeda
- Saitama Prefecture: Yawara Hata
- Shiga Prefecture: Masayoshi Takemura
- Shiname Prefecture: Seiji Tsunematsu
- Shizuoka Prefecture: Keizaburō Yamamoto
- Tochigi Prefecture: Yuzuru Funada
- Tokushima Prefecture: Yasunobu Takeichi
- Tokyo: Ryōkichi Minobe
- Tottori Prefecture: Kōzō Hirabayashi
- Toyama Prefecture: Kokichi Nakada
- Wakayama Prefecture: Shirō Kariya
- Yamagata Prefecture: Seiichirō Itagaki
- Yamaguchi Prefecture: Toru Hirai
- Yamanashi Prefecture: Kunio Tanabe
Events
- January 14 - According to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency confirmed report, total of 25 people were dead, 211 people were wounded, a Richer Scale 6.7 earthquake and aftershocks damaged in Izu Peninsula, Shizuoka Prefecture.
- March 26 - Protesters destroy much of equipment in the control tower of Narita Airport with Molotov cocktails, set to open in just four days.
- April 6 - Sunshine 60 has officially open in Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo, the tallest skyscraper in Asia, until 63 Building in Seoul, South Korea on July 27, 1985.
- May 20, 1978 - Narita International Airport opened
- June 2 - Japan Air Lines Flight 115 suffered a tailstrike while landing at Osaka International Airport.
- June 12 - A large 7.7 magnitude earthquake hits offshore Miyagi Prefecture and causes 28 deaths and 1,325 injuries.
- July 30, 1978 - Okinawa Prefecture changed driving on the Right-hand traffic to Left-hand traffic
- August 12 - The Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the [People's Republic of China] is concluded.
- December 16 - The Mystery of Mamo is released in cinemas.
Births
January–June
- January 2 - Toyoguchi Megumi, voice actress
- January 6 -
- *Reina Miyauchi, J-pop singer
- *Ayano Tsuji, J-pop singer
- January 7 - Asami Imajuku, model, actress, and singer
- January 9 - Hassei Takano, actor
- January 10 - Kanako Mitsuhashi, voice actress
- January 11 - Kyoko Hamaguchi, freestyle wrestler
- January 15 - Vanilla Yamazaki, katsudō-benshi, voice actor, an actress
- January 16 - Hisanori Ōiwa, actor, stunt performer and suit actor
- January 17
- * Takatoshi Kaneko, actor
- * Hiro Suzuhira, manga artist
- January 24 - Tomokazu Myojin, football midfielder
- January 26 - Atsuko Kurusu, actress
- January 27 - Akiko Hinagata, actress and former gravure idol.
- February 4 - Shingo Kawaguchi, actor
- February 20 - Ken Takeuchi, voice actor
- February 21 - Miki Sakai, actress and J-pop idol singer
- February 23 - Yuka Motohashi, actress
- February 25
- *Yuji Nakazawa, football player
- *Shintarō Tokita, musician
- February 28 - Rei Kikukawa, actress, model, and television presenter
- March 1
- *Noriyasu Agematsu, composer
- *Sakura Nogawa, voice actress
- March 8 - Genki Sudo, mixed martial artist and a kickboxer
- March 9 - Ryosuke Sawai, baseball player
- March 12 - Arina Tanemura, manga artist
- March 15 - Takeru Kobayashi, competitive eater
- March 18
- *Shimotori Norio, sumo wrestler
- *Yoshie Takeshita, volleyball player
- March 20 - Hanako Oku, singer
- March 24
- *Takeharu Kato, baseball player
- *Kaori Mochida, singer
- March 29 - Hirotoki Onozawa, rugby union player
- April 5 - Yumie Funayama, curler
- April 8 - Daigo, e singer-songwriter, actor, talent, and voice actor
- April 9
- *Kousei Amano, actor
- *Takashi Ōhara, voice actor
- April 14 - Kaori Muraji, classical guitarist
- April 18 - Ryōta Tsuzuki, football player
- April 24 - Kazunari Okayama, football player
- April 26
- *Hiroshi Asai, musician and composer
- *Shinnosuke Tachibana, voice actor
- April 27 - Takahiro Suzuki, baseball player
- May 1 - Sachie Hara, actress and model
- May 3 - Dai Tamesue, hurdler athlete
- May 4 - Daisuke Ono, voice actor
- May 8 - Atsushi Sato, long-distance runner
- May 10 - Daisuke Yamai, basketball pitcher
- May 11 - Ushiomaru Motoyasu, sumo wrestler
- October 2 - Ayumi Hamasaki, singer, songwriter, actress and model
- May 12 - Masahiro Abe, baseball player
- May 13 - Junji Majima, voice actor
- May 15
- *Kōsei Inoue, Judoka
- *Hideki Sahara, football player
- May 17 - Norihiro Yamagishi, football player
- May 18 - Toru Yano, wrestler
- May 23 - Hideaki Kitajima, football player
- June 1 - Ayako Ikeda, singer-songwriter
- June 2 - Junko Yaginuma, announcer and model
- June 5
- *Yuka Inokuchi, voice actress
- *Takayuki Kondō, voice actor
- *Taro Suruga, musician
- June 12 - Yumiko Shaku, actress and model
- June 13 - Mikako Ichikawa, actress and model
- June 17 - Kumiko Asō, actress
- June 24 - Shunsuke Nakamura, football player
- June 25 - Miki Nakao, backstroke swimmer
July –December
- July 3 - Mizuki Noguchi, long-distance runner
- July 4 - Yusuke Murata manga artist
- July 7
- *Kayo Kitada, judoka
- *Misia, singer, songwriter, and record producer
- July 9 - Osamu Hamanaka, baseball player
- July 10 - Kotaro Koizumi, actor
- July 12 - Yoshihito Ishii, baseball player
- July 19 - Atsushi Harada, actor
- July 21 - Kyoko Iwasaki, swimmer
- July 22 - Kyōko Hasegawa, actress and model
- July 23 - Takashi Yamamoto, swimmer
- July 24 - Sayo Aizawa, model
- July 28 - Hitomi Yaida, pop/folk rock singer-songwriter and guitarist
- August 4 - Satoshi Hino, voice actor
- August 8
- *Natsuko Kuwatani, voice actress
- *Miho Shiraishi, actress
- August 12
- *Toru Kurihara, rugby union player
- *Kakizoe Tōru, sumo wrestler
- August 24 - Kentaro Sekimoto, baseball player
- September 6
- *Homare Sawa, football player
- *Keigo Yamashita, Go player
- September 18 - Kaoru Mori, manga artist
- October 2 - Ayumi Hamasaki, recording artist, actress, model, and entrepreneur
- October 18
- *Kotomi Kyono, actress
- *Minoru Shiraishi, voice actor
- October 20 - Nora Hirano, comedian
- October 21 - Mariko Ooe, newsroom announcer
- October 25 - Maria Takagi, actress
- October 25 - An Yong-hak, North Korean, football manager
- October 27 - Manami Konishi, rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actress
- October 31 - Mika Sugisaki, announcer, radio personality, entertainer, and actress
- November 3 - Koshiro Take, jockey
- November 4 - Akiko Abe, announcer and actress
- November 7 - Tomoya Nagase, singer and actor
- November 8 - Kensaku Kishida, actor
- November 10 - Akemi Kanda, voice actress
- November 25
- *Ayumi Ogasawara, curler
- *Ringo Sheena, singer, songwriter and musician
- November 26 - Fukuyama Jun voice actor
- November 28 - Tomohiro Nagatsuka cyclist
- December 5 - Michinao Yamamura, baseball player
- December 7 - Yasue Sato, actress and model
- December 9 - Chihiro Kusaka, voice actress
- December 12 - Hiroki Konno, comedian
- December 23 - Akiko Yada, actress
- December 25 - Miyuki Takahashi, volleyball player
- December 26 - Kaoru Sugayama, volleyball player
- December 29 - Noriko Aoyama, actress and former model
Deaths
- January 3 - Prince Kaya Tsunenori
- January 5 - Shōji Hamada, potter
- February 7 - Keizō Komura, admiral
- March 1 - Kiyoshi Oka, mathematician
- March 5 - Toshiko Higashikuni, daughter of Emperor Meiji
- April 29 - Yukihiko Yasuda, painter
- May 15 - Kiku Amino, author and translator
- May 30 - Tetsu Katayama, politician and 33rd Prime Minister of Japan
- June 6 - Katué Kitasono, poet and photographer
- July 10 - Takashi Suzuki, politician
- July 25 - Masao Koga, composer
- August 1 - Kōgorō Uemura, businessman
- September 9 - Kaoru Abe, saxophonist