2017 in Japan

The following is an overview of the year 2017 in Japan.

Incumbents

Governors

Aichi Prefecture: Hideaki Omura
Akita Prefecture: Norihisa Satake
Aomori Prefecture: Shingo Mimura
Chiba Prefecture: Kensaku Morita
Ehime Prefecture: Tokihiro Nakamura
Fukui Prefecture: Issei Nishikawa
Fukuoka Prefecture: Hiroshi Ogawa
Fukushima Prefecture: Masao Uchibori
Gifu Prefecture: Hajime Furuta
Gunma Prefecture: Masaaki Osawa
Hiroshima Prefecture: Hidehiko Yuzaki
Hokkaido: Harumi Takahashi
Hyogo Prefecture: Toshizō Ido
Ibaraki Prefecture: Masaru Hashimoto ; Kazuhiko Ōigawa
Ishikawa Prefecture: Masanori Tanimoto
Iwate Prefecture: Takuya Tasso
Kagawa Prefecture: Keizō Hamada
Kagoshima Prefecture: Satoshi Mitazono
Kanagawa Prefecture: Yuji Kuroiwa
Kochi: Masanao Ozaki
Kumamoto Prefecture: Ikuo Kabashima
Kyoto Prefecture: Keiji Yamada
Mie Prefecture: Eikei Suzuki
Miyagi Prefecture: Yoshihiro Murai
Miyazaki Prefecture: Shunji Kōno
Nagano Prefecture: Shuichi Abe
Nagasaki Prefecture: Hōdō Nakamura
Nara Prefecture: Shōgo Arai
Niigata Prefecture: Ryūichi Yoneyama
Oita Prefecture: Katsusada Hirose
Okayama Prefecture: Ryuta Ibaragi
Okinawa Prefecture: Takeshi Onaga
Osaka Prefecture: Ichirō Matsui
Saga Prefecture: Yoshinori Yamaguchi
Saitama Prefecture: Kiyoshi Ueda
Shiga Prefecture: Taizō Mikazuki
Shiname Prefecture: Zenbe Mizoguchi
Shizuoka Prefecture: Heita Kawakatsu
Tochigi Prefecture: Tomikazu Fukuda
Tokushima Prefecture: Kamon Iizumi
Tokyo: Yuriko Koike
Tottori Prefecture: Shinji Hirai
Toyama Prefecture: Takakazu Ishii
Wakayama Prefecture: Yoshinobu Nisaka
Yamagata Prefecture: Mieko Yoshimura
Yamaguchi Prefecture: Tsugumasa Muraoka
Yamanashi Prefecture: Hitoshi Gotō

Events

January

January 22 - TonenGeneral refinery fire in Arida, Wakayama Prefecture, according to Fire and Disaster Management Angency confirmed report, no one injures in this incident.

March

March 5 - A Bell 412 helicopter crashed into Mt Hachibuse in Nagano Prefecture, According to Japan Transport Ministry official announced, nine rescue workers fatalities.
March 27 - According to National Police Agency of Japan officials, an avalanche occurred at the climbing course in Nasu Spa Family Sky place in Tochigi Prefecture. 8 people died and 40 more were wounded; most of the victims were high-school students.

April

April 20 - According to Japan National Police Agency confirmed report, a 384 million-yen robbery incident in Tenjin area, Fukuoka, nine person detained in this case.

May

May 2 - According to Japan Meteorological Agency confirmed report, a largest scale eruption, with 4000 meter-high in Sakurajima, Kagoshima Prefecture.

June

June 1 - According to Japan National Police Agency confirmed report, eight person arrested for violating customs law, who brought the equivalent of about 200 kg of gold, about 8.2 million US dollars to the fishing port without permission in Karatsu, Saga Prefecture.

July

July 5 - A heavy torrential rain, followed by a debris flow, hit Asakura, Fukuoka Prefecture and Hita, Oita Prefecture. According to an official of the Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency, 36 people died, with 21 wounded.

October

October 22 - 2017 Japanese general election elections were held.
October 30 - Suspected serial killer Takahiro Shiraishi is arrested in Tokyo.

November

November 1 – Shinzo Abe reappoints his government's cabinet ministers following his re-election as the Japanese prime minister.
Emperor Akihito announces that he intends to retire on April 30, 2019.

December

December 20 - Chen Shifeng was sentenced to 20 years in prison after the Jiang Ge Murder Case was solved.

The Nobel Prize

Kazuo Ishiguro: 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature winner.

Arts and entertainment

Sports

Deaths

January

January 3, Shigeru Kōyama, actor
January 6, Kosei Kamo, tennis player
January 15, Kozo Kinomoto, football player
January 17, Tokio Kano, politician
January 21, Hiroki Matsukata, actor
January 22, Masaya Nakamura, businessman
January 25, Shunji Fujimura, actor

February

February 2, Shunichiro Okano, football player
February 3
*Shumon Miura, novelist
*Yoshiro Hayashi, politician
February 7, Miho Nakayama, comedian
February 8
*Rina Matsuno, singer
*Yoshio Tsuchiya, actor
February 10, Tsuyoshi Yamanaka, swimmer
February 11, Jiro Taniguchi, manga artist
February 13, Seijun Suzuki, filmmaker
February 19, Kyoko Hayashi, author
February 24, Fumio Karashima, jazz pianist
February 25, Toshio Nakanishi, musician

March

March 1
*Hiroshi Kamayatsu, musician
*Yasuyuki Kuwahara, football player
March 4, Takashi Inoue, actor
March 7
*Yoshiyuki Arai, politician
*Yukinori Miyabe, speed skater
March 9, Kasugafuji Akihiro, sumo wrestler
March 13
*Hiroto Muraoka, football player
*Morihiro Hashimoto, darts player
March 14, Tsunehiko Watase, actor
March 19, Tomiko Okazaki, politician
March 20, Shuntaro Hida, physician
March 22, Daisuke Satō, writer

April

April 1
*Shigeaki Uno, political scientist
*Ikutaro Kakehashi, engineer, entrepreneur
April 5
*Makoto Ōoka, poet
*Ryo Kagawa, folk singer
April 12
*Toshio Matsumoto, film director
*Peggy Hayama, singer
April 13, Norio Shioyama, animator
April 17, Shōichi Watanabe, scholar
April 22
*Hiroshi Nakai, politician
*Noritoshi Kanai, businessman
April 27, Sadanoyama Shinmatsu, sumo wrestler

May

May 3, Yumeji Tsukioka, actress
May 7, Yoshimitsu Banno, film director
May 10, Gaisi Takeuti, mathematician
May 15, Takeshi Kusaka, actor
May 18, Tatsuya Nōmi, actor
May 23, Kaoru Yosano, politician

June

June 6, Keiichi Tahara, photographer
June 12, Masahide Ōta, academic, politician
June 13, Yōko Nogiwa, actress
June 22, Mao Kobayashi, newscaster
June 23, Nobuyuki Ōuchi, shogi player
June 27, Ryoichi Jinnai, businessman
June 28, Shinji Mori, baseball player

July

July 4, Masatoshi Yoshino, geographer, climatologist
July 8, Seiji Yokoyama, musician
July 11, Keisuke Sagawa, actor
July 18, Shigeaki Hinohara, physician
July 24, Michiko Inukai, author, philanthropist
July 25, Tarō Kimura, politician

August

August 1, Shōgorō Nishimura, film director
August 3, Iwao Ōtani, recording engineer
August 7, Haruo Nakajima, actor
August 18, Tadayoshi Nagashima, politician
August 28, Tsutomu Hata, politician
August 30, Sumiteru Taniguchi, activist

September

September 7, Tsunenori Kawai, politician
September 8, Toshihiko Nakajima, actor
September 18, Kenji Watanabe, swimmer
September 25, Yoshitomo Tokugawa, photographer
September 29, Ryūji Saikachi, voice actor

October

October 4, Yosihiko H. Sinoto, anthropologist
October 11, Chikara Hashimoto, baseball player
October 16, Koichi Kishi, politician
October 18, Taizo Nishimuro, businessman

November

November 16, Hiromi Tsuru, voice actress
November 21, Masao Sugiuchi, go player

December

December 2, Norihiko Hashida, musician
December 8, Atsutoshi Nishida, businessman
December 9, Heitaro Nakajima, engineer
December 14, Tamio Ōki, voice actor
December 15, Michiru Shimada, screenwriter
December 20, Kenichi Yamamoto, engineer and businessman
December 21, Chu Ishikawa, composer
December 28, Junko Maya, actress
December 30
*Tatsuro Toyoda, businessman
*Sansho Shinsui, actor

Elections

National

October 22: By-elections to the National Diet; 2 vacancies as of July 31, both from the House of Representatives: Ehime 3rd district and Aomori 4th district

Prefectural

January 22: Yamagata gubernatorial
January 29: Gifu gubernatorial
March 26: Chiba gubernatorial
April 9: Akita gubernatorial
June 25: Shizuoka gubernatorial
July 2: Tokyo legislative, Hyōgo gubernatorial
August 27: Ibaraki gubernatorial
October 22: Miyagi gubernatorial
November 12: Hiroshima gubernatorial

Major municipal

Elections in the 20 designated major cities and the 23 special wards/"cities":

January 29: Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka legislative
February 5: Chiyoda, Tokyo mayoral
March 26: Shizuoka, Shizuoka legislative
April 23: Nagoya, Aichi mayoral
May 21: Saitama, Saitama mayoral
May 28: Chiba, Chiba mayoral
July 23: Sendai, Miyagi mayoral
July 30: Yokohama, Kanagawa mayoral
September 24: Sakai, Osaka mayoral
October 1: Okayama, Okayama mayoral
October 22: Kawasaki, Kanagawa mayoral, Kōbe, Hyōgo mayoral
before December 18/November 12 : Katsushika, Tokyo mayoral and legislative