2023 in Japan

Incumbents

• Emperor: Naruhito
• Prime Minister: Fumio Kishida
• Chief Cabinet Secretary
• *Hirokazu Matsuno
• *Yoshimasa Hayashi
• Chief Justice of Japan: Saburo Tokura
• Speaker of the House of Representatives
• *Hiroyuki Hosoda
• *Fukushiro Nukaga
• President of the House of Councillors: Hidehisa Otsuji

  Governors

• Aichi Prefecture: Hideaki Omura
• Akita Prefecture: Norihisa Satake
• Aomori Prefecture: Shingo Mimura, Sōichirō Miyashita,
• Chiba Prefecture: Toshihito Kumagai
• Ehime Prefecture: Tokihiro Nakamura
• Fukui Prefecture: Tatsuji Sugimoto
• Fukuoka Prefecture: Seitaro Hattori
• Fukushima Prefecture: Masao Uchibori
• Gifu Prefecture: Hajime Furuta
• Gunma Prefecture: Ichita Yamamoto
• Hiroshima Prefecture: Hidehiko Yuzaki
• Hokkaido: Naomichi Suzuki
• Hyogo Prefecture: Motohiko Saitō
• Ibaraki Prefecture: Kazuhiko Ōigawa
• Ishikawa: Masanori Tanimoto
• Iwate Prefecture: Takuya Tasso
• Kagawa Prefecture: Keizō Hamada
• Kagoshima Prefecture: Kōichi Shiota
• Kanagawa Prefecture: Yuji Kuroiwa
• Kumamoto Prefecture: Ikuo Kabashima
• Kochi Prefecture: Seiji Hamada
• Kyoto Prefecture: 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, Makoto Yamashita
• Niigata Prefecture: Hideyo Hanazumi
• Oita Prefecture: Katsusada Hirose, Kiichiro Satō
• Okayama Prefecture: Ryuta Ibaragi
• Okinawa Prefecture: Denny Tamaki
• Osaka Prefecture: Hirofumi Yoshimura
• Saga Prefecture: Yoshinori Yamaguchi
• Saitama Prefecture: Motohiro Ōno
• Shiga Prefecture: Taizō Mikazuki
• Shimame Prefecture: Tatsuya Maruyama
• Shizuoka Prefecture: Heita Kawakatsu
• Tochigi Prefecture: Tomikazu Fukuda
• Tokushima Prefecture: Kamon Iizumi, Masazumi Gotoda
• Tokyo Prefecture: Yuriko Koike
• Tottori Prefecture: Shinji Hirai
• Toyama Prefecture: Hachiro Nitta
• Wakayama Prefecture: Shūhei Kishimoto
• Yamagata Prefecture: Mieko Yoshimura
• Yamaguchi Prefecture: Tsugumasa Muraoka
• Yamanashi Prefecture: Kotaro Nagasaki

  Events

January

• January 1-March 28 - The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries releases a report stating that the Japanese Self-Defence Forces had culled 9.9 million chickens in 2023 to prevent the bird flu and they found 83 infected corpses.
• January 13 - Tetsuya Yamagami is indicted for the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on July 8, 2023.
• January 19 - The Tokyo Institute of Technology and the Tokyo Medical and Dental University announce a merger to form the Tokyo Institute Science University, to be completed in April 2024.
• January 20 - The Bank of Japan reported that inflation in Japan increased by 4.0% in December 2022, the highest recorded increase since 1981.
• January 22 - Four people were killed, and three others were found unconscious in an apartment fire in Kobe.
• January 25 - A Hong Kong-registered ship carrying 22 people capsized off the waters of Japan. 13 crew members were rescued, with two reported dead and nine reported missing.
• January 29 – A 17-year-old student was filmed licking soy sauce bottles in the sushi chain Sushiro. Outrage spreads across Japan, starting a series of pranks across the country referred to as "sushi terrorism".

  February

• February 3 – An Executive Secretary to the Prime Minister of Fumio Kishida, says, "I would not want to live next to, or look at the homosexual. If same-sex marriage were legalized, some people would abandon their country". He is fired the following day.
• February 6 – Mitsubishi Aircraft announces they have completely withdrawn from the manufacture, sales, and development of the Mitsubishi SpaceJet.

  March

• March 15 – YouTuber and former MP Yoshikazu Higashitani is expelled from the House of Councillors for never attending parliament. An arrest warrant was requested for him the following day.

  April

• April 1 – All cyclists are obliged to make an effort to wear helmets.
• April 6 – A JSDF Mitsubishi UH-60JA helicopter crashes off the coast of Miyakojima in Okinawa Prefecture with 10 people on board.
• April 13 – North Korea launches a ballistic missile toward northern Japan, prompting evacuation orders in Hokkaido.
• April 15 – An assassination attempt is made on Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida when what was described as a "smoke bomb" was thrown in his direction, while he was giving a speech in Wakayama. Despite the bomb's detonation, Kishida is unharmed.

  May

• May 5 – 2023 Ishikawa earthquake. A magnitude 6.2 earthquake hits the Noto Peninsula, Ishikawa Prefecture, killing one person and injuring 48 others.
• May 11 – A magnitude 5.2 earthquake hits the Tokyo Metropolitan area, injuring nine people.
• May 19 to 21 – 49th G7 summit in Hiroshima.
• May 25 – Four people including two policemen are killed in a stabbing and shooting incident in Nakano.

  June

• June-September - 2023 Japanese heatwaves, according to 2024 Ministry of Health, Laqbour and Welfare Vital Statistics Report edition, 1,651 persons were human fatalities by heatwave in nationwide.
• June 2-3 – Torrential rain from Typhoon Mawar causes a flash flood, a levee collapse, and a landslide in the Tokyo Metropolitan area, the Kii Peninsula, and Hamamatsu, killing 7 people and injuring 45 people.
• June 4 – The former member of House of Councillors, Yoshikazu Higashitani is arrested on his way to Japan from Dubai, according to the Japan National Police Agency and Interpol.
• June 14 – 2023 Japan military facility shooting
• June 16 – The Japanese Diet passes the LGBT Understanding Promotion Act, raises the age of consent from 13 to 16, and criminalizes voyeurism.
• June 18 – A bus and a truck carrying livestock collide in Yakumo, Hokkaido with five fatalities and twelve injuries.
• June 23 – According to a report by the World Health Organization, a patient who died of myocarditis in June 2022 was confirmed as the first case of the Oz virus in the world based on the results from the Japan National Institute of Infectious Diseases.

  July

• July 4 – The UN's nuclear watchdog approves plans to release water from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the ocean.
• 11 July – Floods and mudslides kill at least six people in southwestern Japan and injure nineteen more. Five others are reported missing.
• July 14 – An explosion occurs during the test of solid fuel Epsilon rocket at JAXA's Noshiro Testing Center in Noshiro, Akita Prefecture. No injuries are reported.
• July 15-16 – Heavy rain causes flooding, levee breaches, and landslides across Akita Prefecture, killing one person and injuring four others.

  August

• August 1 to 9 - Typhoon Khanun hits the Sakishima Islands, Okinawa Island, killing one person and wounding 91 people.
• August 15 - Torrential rain from Typhoon Lan causes a levee collapse which injures 66 persons mainly around Fukuchiyama, Tottori City.
• August 24 - According to a Japanese government official announcement, and despite opposition from environmental activists and government officials in neighboring countries, discharge of radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean starts. The Chinese government announces a prohibition on all fish imports from Japan the same day.
• August 26 - Utsunomiya Light Rail, officially starts operating in Tochigi Prefecture, the first new tram in Japan in 75 years.

  September

• September 4 - The Supreme Court of Japan formally orders Okinawa to allow the United States Armed Forces to expand its runways and military infrastructure on the island despite protests from the locals who oppose the American military's presence.
• September 8-9 - Heavy rain from Tropical Storm Yunyeung leads to a flash flood and a levee collapse in Iwaki, Kitaibaraki and Boso Peninsula. There is one fatality and 21 injuries.
• September 13 - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announces the second reshuffling of his cabinet.
• September 29 - K-Arena Yokohama, a major concert hall in Tokyo Metropolitan area, opens in Nishi-ku, Yokohama.

  October

• October 2 - Entertainment giant Johnny & Associates changes its name to Smile-Up and spins off the talent agency as Starto.
• October 7 - Four climbers on Mount Asahi, Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture die due to sudden weather changes.
• October 25 - The Supreme Court of Japan rules that requiring sterilization as part of gender transitioning is unconstitutional, but sends the gender-affirming surgery requirement back to a lower court.
• October 30 - Japan suspends the pilot experiment of its first fully autonomous self-driving car following a minor collision.
• October 31 - Two men at a hospital are injured by gunshots at a hospital and two post office employees are held hostage in Warabi, Saitama Prefecture. One hostage is released and the other escapes without injuries. An 86-year-old man is arrested inside the post office.

  November

• November 4 - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visits the Philippines and meets Philippine President Bongbong Marcos, and addresses a joint session of the Philippine Congress.
• November 5 - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visits Malaysia and meets Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
• * 2023 Japan Series: In Japanese baseball, the Hanshin Tigers defeat the Orix Buffaloes to win the Japan Series in seven games, capturing their second championship, their first since 1985, breaking the Curse of the Colonel.
• November 23 – The High Court of Seoul orders Japan to pay ₩200 million in compensation to 16 women who were comfort women during World War II, overturning a previous ruling that denied the women's claims due to sovereign immunity.
• November 29 – A United States Air Force V-22 Osprey crashes off the coast of Japan's Kagoshima Prefecture with eight crew members on board. A search and rescue operation is launched, according to the Japan Coast Guard.