1996 in Japan

Events in the year 1996 in Japan.
The year 1996 corresponded to Heisei 8 in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents

Emperor: Akihito
Prime Minister: Tomiichi Murayama until January 11, Ryūtarō Hashimoto
Chief Cabinet Secretary: Kōken Nosaka until January 11, Seiroku Kajiyama
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Tōru Miyoshi
President of the House of Representatives: Takako Doi until September 27, Sōichirō Itō from November 7
President of the House of Councillors: Jūrō Saitō
Diet sessions: 135th, 136th, 137th, 138th, 139th

Governors

Aichi Prefecture: Reiji Suzuki
Akita Prefecture: Kikuji Sasaki
Aomori Prefecture: Morio Kimura
Chiba Prefecture: Takeshi Numata
Ehime Prefecture: Sadayuki Iga
Fukui Prefecture: Yukio Kurita
Fukuoka Prefecture: Wataru Asō
Fukushima Prefecture: Eisaku Satō
Gifu Prefecture: Taku Kajiwara
Gunma Prefecture: Hiroyuki Kodera
Hiroshima Prefecture: Yūzan Fujita
Hokkaido: Tatsuya Hori
Hyogo Prefecture: Toshitami Kaihara
Ibaraki Prefecture: Masaru Hashimoto
Ishikawa Prefecture: Masanori Tanimoto
Iwate Prefecture: Hiroya Masuda
Kagawa Prefecture: Jōichi Hirai
Kagoshima Prefecture: Yoshiteru Tsuchiya ; Tatsurō Suga
Kanagawa Prefecture: Hiroshi Okazaki
Kochi Prefecture: Daijiro Hashimoto
Kumamoto Prefecture: Joji Fukushima
Kyoto Prefecture: Teiichi Aramaki
Mie Prefecture: Masayasu Kitagawa
Miyagi Prefecture: Shirō Asano
Miyazaki Prefecture: Suketaka Matsukata
Nagano Prefecture: Gorō Yoshimura
Nagasaki Prefecture: Isamu Takada
Nara Prefecture: Yoshiya Kakimoto
Niigata Prefecture: Ikuo Hirayama
Oita Prefecture: Morihiko Hiramatsu
Okayama Prefecture: Shiro Nagano ; Masahiro Ishii
Okinawa Prefecture: Masahide Ōta
Osaka Prefecture: Knock Yokoyama
Saga Prefecture: Isamu Imoto
Saitama Prefecture: Yoshihiko Tsuchiya
Shiga Prefecture: Minoru Inaba
Shiname Prefecture: Nobuyoshi Sumita
Shizuoka Prefecture: Yoshinobu Ishikawa
Tochigi Prefecture: Fumio Watanabe
Tokushima Prefecture: Toshio Endo
Tokyo: Yukio Aoshima
Tottori Prefecture: Yuji Nishio
Toyama Prefecture: Yutaka Nakaoki
Wakayama Prefecture: Isamu Nishiguchi
Yamagata Prefecture: Kazuo Takahashi
Yamaguchi Prefecture: Toru Hirai ; Sekinari Nii
Yamanashi Prefecture: Ken Amano

Events

January 11 – Ryutaro Hashimoto, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, becomes Prime Minister.
February 10 – A boulder falls onto the Toyohama Tunnel in Furubira, Hokkaido, crushing a bus and several cars and resulting in 20 fatalities.
February 27 – Red and Green was released in Japan as the first game in the Pokémon series.
April 1 - Tokyo Big Sight opens.
June 13 - Garuda Indonesia Flight 865 crashes on takeoff from Fukuoka Airport, resulting in three fatalities.
June 23 - The Nintendo 64 home video game console is released in Japan.
June 25 - A train on the Takayama Main Line collides with a fallen boulder, resulting in 16 injuries.
July 16 – An outbreak of E. coli food poisoning in Sakai City resulted in 6309 schoolchildren and 92 school staff members from 62 municipal elementary schools falling ill.
August 8 - Tokyo Opera City Tower is completed.
September 29 - According to Japan National Police Agency official confirmed report, three vehicles collided on Route 9 in Muraoka, Hyōgo Prefecture, with a total of 11 deaths.
November 12 - Skymark Airlines was established.
November 26 - Tamagotchi is released.
December 6 - Gamahara Swamp Landslide disaster, A landslide recurs, during restoration work for landslide by heaviest rain hit in July 1995, borders between Nagano Prefecture and Niigata Prefecture, according to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency confirmed report, 14 workers lost their lives and 9 were wounded.

Births

January 10 - Sakurako Ohara, actress and singer
January 12 - Ai Hashimoto, actress and fashion model
January 13 - Ami Inamura, gravure idol, and sportscaster
February 7 - Mai Hagiwara, singer
February 10
*Shiori Niiyama, singer and songwriter
*Ukyo Shuto, professional baseball player
February 16 - Nana Komatsu, actress and model
February 18 - Ikumi Hisamatsu, fashion model and actress
April 3 - Mayo Hibi, tennis player
May 18 - Yuki Kadono, snowboarder
May 21 - Sarina Koga, volleyball player
May 28 - Ayano Kudo, model and actress
June 7 - Sayuri, singer-songwriter
June 11
* Naoki Maeda, footballer
* Ayaka Sasaki, singer
June 13 - Kocchi no Kento, singer-songwriter
June 18 - Ayaka Miyoshi, actress and model
June 30 - Kazuma Okamoto, professional baseball player
July 5 - Risa Shoji, figure skater
July 18 - Shiina Natsukawa, voice actress and singer
August 24 - Kenzo Shirai, gymnast
September 6 - Rika Hongo, figure skater
September 12 - Nakamura Umemaru, actor
September 15 - Nao Furuhata, idol singer
September 16 - Ryusei Yokohama, actor
September 19 - Haruka Kodama, idol singer
September 23 - Takashi Matsuo, actor
October 8 - Sara Takanashi, ski jumper
October 30;
* Mizuki Fukumura, singer
* Shori Sato, actor, model, singer and pop idol
November 9 - Momo Hirai, singer and member of South Korean girl group Twice
November 15 - Kanako Watanabe, swimmer
November 16 - Hiroshi Kaino, professional baseball player
November 18 - Saki Ogawa, singer
December 2 – Minato Oike, BMX freestyle cyclist
December 12 - Karen Miyama, actress
December 13 - Miu Sato, figure skater
December 29 - Sana Minatozaki, singer and member of South Korean girl group Twice

Deaths

January 7 - Tarō Okamoto, artist
January 8 - Michiya Mihashi, enka singer
February 5 - Hideo Oguni, writer
February 12 - Ryōtarō Shiba, writer
February 20 - Tōru Takemitsu, composer
May 11 - Yasuko Namba, mountaineer, summited the Seven Summits
June 6 - Kusuo Kitamura, Olympic swimmer
July 30 - Arihiro Hase, actor
August 4 - Kiyoshi Atsumi, actor
September 23 - Fujiko F. Fujio, cartoonist
September 29 - Shūsaku Endō, novelist
November 9 - Yoshimi Ueda, basketball player and administrator