2018 in Japan

The following is an overview of the year 2018 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: Kazuhiko Ōigawa
Ishikawa Prefecture: Masanori Tanimoto
Iwate Prefecture: Takuya Tasso
Kagawa Prefecture: Keizō Hamada
Kagoshima Prefecture: Satoshi Mitazono
Kanagawa Prefecture: Yuji Kuroiwa
Kochi Prefecture: Masanao Ozaki
Kumamoto Prefecture: Ikuo Kabashima
Kyoto Prefecture: Keiji Yamada ; Takatoshi Nishiwaki
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:
* until 27 April: Ryūichi Yoneyama
* 27 April-12 June: Morio Takai
* starting 12 June: Hideyo Hanazumi
Oita Prefecture: Katsusada Hirose
Okayama Prefecture: Ryuta Ibaragi
Okinawa Prefecture:
* until 9 August: Takeshi Onaga
* 9 August-12 August: Kiichiro Jahana
* 12 August-3 October: Moritake Tomikawa
* starting 4 October: Denny Tamaki
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

22 to 23 January : A heavy snowfall hits around Tokyo Metropolitan Area. According to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency of Japan in a confirmed report, 956 people were injured.
23 January : Mount Kusatsu-Shirane erupts. According to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency of Japan in a confirmed report, 1 fatality results and 11 people are injured in Gunma Prefecture.
31 January : A fire burns an elderly support facility in Higashi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido. According to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency of Japan in a confirmed report, 11 people died, with three injured.

February

5 to 8 February : A heavy snowfall hits the Sea of Japan. According to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency of Japan in a confirmed report, 22 people died, with 320 injures.

March

1 to 12 March : According to the Japan Meteorological Agency in a confirmed report, a volcano erupts in Shinmoedake, Kyushu Island.
12 March : According to the Japanese Government, an official confirmed that the Japan Ministry of Finance rewrote 14 decision documents in accordance with the response about a cooperative school in Osaka Prefecture to the National Assembly in 2017.
13 March : According to the Japan Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, an official report confirmed the Kumano cherry tree as a new species Cherry tree. The tree was discovered widely throughout the Kii peninsula. The last new type of Sakura tree found in Japan was in 1915.

April

8 April : According to National Police Agency of Japan official confirmed report, a thirty-eight years old men arrested on suspicion of five local residents murdered, and suspects confessed in Hioki, Kagoshima Prefecture.
9 April : A Richer Scale 5.7 magnitude earthquake hit in Oda, Shimane Prefecture, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency of Japan in a confirmed report, nine persons were injured.
11 April : According to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency of Japan in a confirmed report, a sudden landslide occurred on a mountain slope in Yabakei, Nakatsu, Oita Prefecture, where six person fatalities in the incident.
19 April : According to a Japan Meteorological Agency confirmed report, Mount Iou erupted for the first time since 1768 in border between Miyazaki Prefecture and Kagoshima Prefecture.

June

9 June - According to the Japan National Police Agency in a confirmed report, 22-year-old unemployed Ichiro Kojima was detained by police after stabbing 3 passengers, killing one, on a bullet train leading from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka, nearby Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture.
18 June - 2018 Osaka earthquake, According to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency in a confirmed report, a 5.5 Richter scale earthquake killed four and injured 434 people in Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture.
26 June - According to Japan National Police Agency confirmed report, a man murdered the police officer in policebox, depriving the handgun and escaping, after a man killed to a security guard man near a nearby elementary school in Toyama City. A twenty-two years old detained, after critical condition by with attempted suicide.
29 June - According to Japan Meteorological Agency confirmed report, a F2 level tornado hit in around area of Maibara, Shiga Prefecture. According to local government official confirmed, many houses were collapsed and damaged, total eight person were wounded.

July

28 June – 9 July: 2018 Japan floods - Heavy floods was started in western areas of Japan, most in the Hiroshima Prefecture, which has been hit by torrential rain. As of 20 July, 225 people were killed, another 13 were declared missing and 1.5 million people were displaced.
9 July – 26 August: The 2018 Northeast Asia heat wave kills least 116 people, due to heat-related causes, and at least 22,000 more suffer from heat strokes
20 July: Mamoru Hosoda's Japanese animated film Mirai is released in cinema
26 July: A fire at under constructing technology centre fire in Tama City, Tokyo. According to Fire and Disaster Management Agency confirmed report, total five workers fatalities with 42 injured.

August

9 August: According to Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism official confirmed report, nine people lost their lives when a Bell 412EP helicopter crashed into forest site, Nakanojo, Gunma Prefecture.

September

4 September: Typhoon Jebi. Storm surge in Osaka Bay inundated Kansai International Airport and pushed a tanker vessel into the bridge that connects the artificial island to the mainland, damaging it. According to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency official report, strong wind and damage around Kansai area resulted in thirteen fatalities and 912 people receiving injuries.
6 September: 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi earthquake, A Richter scale 6.6 earthquake created a region-wide power outage, because of damage to a thermal power station in the hard-hit town, Atsuma. According to a Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency official report, 41 people were killed and 692 people were wounded.
16 September: Namie Amuro, a famous pop singer, officially retired after 25 years in the entertainment industry.
20 September: Prime Minister Shinzō Abe won the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) leadership for a new 3-year term.

November

19 November - According to Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office Special Prosecutors Department official confirmed report, Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan, was arrested by the prosecutor special authority for alleged false statement of the securities report that he declared the compensation inexorably. Ghosn president position and position of representative director of Nissan, succeeded at the Board of Directors on 22 November.
23 November - Osaka decide on the venue on Expo 2025 the winner at BIE's 164th General Assembly.
26 November - According to Japan National Police Agency confirmed report, six person were murdered, with a suspicion suicide onto Gokase River, in Takachiho, Miyazaki Prefecture.

December

26 December - Japan announced that since the International Whaling Commission IWC failed its duty to promote sustainable hunting, which is one of its stated goals, Japan is withdrawing its membership and will resume commercial hunting in its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone from July 2019, but will cease whaling activities in the Antarctic Ocean.
27 December - Japan executes two more prisoners, bringing 2018 executions to 15 taking annual total to highest since 2008.

The Nobel Prize

Tasuku Honjo: 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner.

Arts and entertainment

Sports

Deaths

January

January 1 – Katsuhikari Toshio, sumo wrestler
January 4 – Senichi Hoshino, baseball player and manager
January 5 – Mikio Fujioka, guitarist
January 7 – Marley Carib, manga artist
January 11 – Sumiko Iwao, psychologist and educator
January 14 – Yosuke Natsuki, actor
January 18 – Yasuo Tanaka, astrophysicist
January 20 – Miyako Sumiyoshi, speed skater
January 21 – Tsukasa Hosaka, football player and manager
January 26
*Hiromu Nonaka, politician
*Yukiaki Okabe, freestyle swimmer
January 27 – Tadashi Sawashima, film director
January 31
*Tadashi Sasaki, engineer
*Itokin, musician

February

February 4 – Takuya Iwasaki, archaeologist
February 5 – Yoshihide Kozai, astronomer
February 10
*Michiko Ishimure, novelist
*Tamio Kawachi, actor
18 February – Eido Tai Shimano, Buddhist monk
February 20
* Jiichiro Date, freestyle wrestler.
* Tōta Kaneko, poet
February 21 – Ren Osugi, actor

March

March 24 – Hidetoshi Nagasawa, sculptor and architect

April

April 5 – Isao Takahata, film director
April 21 – Nabi Tajima, supercentenarian
April 23 – Sachio Kinugasa, baseball player
April 27 – Yukiji Asaoka, actress

May

May 16 – Hideki Saijo, singer and actor
May 17 – Yuriko Hoshi, actress
May 21 – Nobukazu Kuriki, mountaineer

June

June 18 – Go Kato, actor

July

July 2 – Katsura Utamaru, rakugo comedian
July 6
*Shoko Asahara, doomsday cult leader.
*Seiichi Endo, cult member and criminal.
*Yoshihiro Inoue, cult member and criminal.
*Kimishige Ishizaka, immunologist.
*Tomomitsu Niimi, cult member and criminal.
July 19 – Shinobu Hashimoto, screenwriter
July 21 – Ryu Matsumoto, politician.

August

August 4 – Masahiko Tsugawa, actor
August 8 – Takeshi Onaga, politician
August 10 – Kin Sugai, actress
August 13 – Unshō Ishizuka, voice actor
August 15 – Momoko Sakura, manga artist
August 25 – Miyoko Asō, voice actress
August 27 – Aya Koyama, mixed martial artist

September

September 15 – Kirin Kiki, actress
September 18 – Norifumi Yamamoto, mixed martial artist

October

October 8 – Wajima Hiroshi, sumo wrestler
October 11 – Yoshito Sengoku, politician
October 17 – Kōji Tsujitani, voice actor
October 19 – Takanobu Hozumi, actor
October 20 – Jun Ashida, fashion designer
October 27 – Kyoko Enami, actress

November

November 6 – Tetsuo Gotō, voice actor
November 11 – Hiroyuki Sonoda, politician
November 27 – Mahito Tsujimura, voice actor
November 28 – Masahiko Katsuya, columnist
November 29 – Harue Akagi, actress

December

December 28 – Toshiko Fujita, voice actress

Elections

Prefectural

March 11: Ishikawa gubernatorial
April 8: Kyoto gubernatorial
June 10: Niigata gubernatorial
September 30: Okinawa gubernatorial

AKB48 Senbatsu Sousenkyo

The 53rd single 10th Sekai Senbatsu Sousenkyo was held on Nagoya Stadium, Aichi Prefecture, Japan on June 16, 2018

Final Senbatsu Results:

*1. Jurina Matsui
*2. Akari Suda
*3. Sakura Miyawaki
*4. Yuka Ogino
*5. Nana Okada
*6. Yui Yokoyama
*7. Tomu Mutou