1914 in Japan explained

Events in the year 1914 in Japan. It corresponds to Taishō 3 (大正3年) in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents

Emperor

Taishō^[1]

Prime Minister

- Yamamoto Gonnohyōe
- Ōkuma Shigenobu

Governors

Aichi Prefecture

Matsui Shigeru

Akita Prefecture: Toyosuke Haneda (until 28 May); Saburo Sakamoto (starting 28 May)
Aomori Prefecture: Takeo Tanaka (until 28 April); Matsujiro Obama (starting 28 April)
- Ehime Prefecture: Renarto Fukamachi Fukui Prefecture: Teru Kagawa (until 9 June); Sato Kozaburo (starting 9 June)
  - Fukushima Prefecture: Ota Masahiro Gifu Prefecture: Shimada Gotaro Gunma Prefecture: Muneyoshi Oshiba (until 28 April); Miyake Gennosuke (starting 28 April)
Hiroshima Prefecture

Hyogo Prefecture: Seino Chotarno
Ibaraki Prefecture

Ishikawa Prefecture

Kiichirō Kumagai (until month unknown)

Iwate Prefecture: Sadajiro Tsutsumi (until 9 January); Rinpei Otsu (starting 9 January)
Kagawa Prefecture: Kogoro Kanokogi (until 9 June); Takeji Kawamura (starting 9 June)
Kochi Prefecture: Kinjiro Nagai (until 9 June); Toki Kahei (starting 9 June)
Kumamoto Prefecture

Akahoshi Futoshi (until 28 April); Kawakami Shinhare (starting 28 April)

Kyoto Prefecture

Mie Prefecture: Magoichi Tahara (until 28 April); Eitaro Mabuchi (starting 28 April)
Miyagi Prefecture

Mori Masataka (until 28 April); Magoichi Tahara (starting 28 April)

Miyazaki Prefecture: Tadakazu Ariyoshi
Nagano Prefecture

Ichiro Yoda (until 28 April); Yuichiro Chikaraishi (starting 28 April)

Niigata Prefecture

Ando Kensuke (until 28 April); Keisuke Sakanaka (starting 28 April)

Okinawa Prefecture

Takuya Takahashi (until 9 June); Kyūgorō Ōmi (starting 9 June)

Osaka Prefecture

Saga Prefecture

Fuwa (until 9 June); Raizo Wakabayashi (starting 9 June)

Saitama Prefecture

Soeda Keiichiro (until 9 June); Akira Masaya (starting 9 June)

Shiname Prefecture: Takaoka Naokichi (until 28 April); Ichiro Oriharami (starting 28 April);
Tochigi Prefecture: Okada Bunji (until 5 June); Shin Kitagawa (starting 5 June)
Tokyo

Munakata Tadash (until 21 April); Kubota Kiyochika (starting 21 April)

- Toyama Prefecture: Tsunenosuke Hamada Yamagata Prefecture: Iwataro Odakiri

Events

January - Siemens scandal breaks out.
February 10 - 14 large-scale demonstrations erupted in Tokyo in response to the Siemens scandal.
March 24 - Both houses of the Imperial Diet refused to pass the 1914 Navy budget
April 16 - Yamamoto Gonnohyōe resigns as Prime Minister
August 7 - The United Kingdom (Japan's ally since 1902) officially asked Japan for assistance in destroying the raiders from the Imperial German Navy in and around Chinese waters.
August 23 - Japan declares war on Germany.^[2]
August 25 - Japan declares war on Austria-Hungary, after Vienna refused to withdraw the Austro-Hungarian cruiser SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth from Qingdao.
September 2 - Japanese forces landed on China's Shandong province and surrounded the German settlement at Qingdao
September 6 - A seaplane launched by the seaplane-carrier Wakamiya. unsuccessfully attacked the Austro-Hungarian cruiser Kaiserin Elisabeth and the German gunboat Jaguar with bombs
October - The Imperial Japanese Navy seized several of Germany's island colonies in the Pacific - the Mariana, Caroline, and Marshall Islands - with virtually no resistance. The Japanese Navy conducted the world's first naval-launched air raids against German-held land targets in Shandong province and ships in Qiaozhou Bay from Wakamiya.
October 17 - November 7 - Naval operations around Qingdao, China.
October 31 - November 7 - Siege of Tsingtao (Qingdao) concluded with the surrender of German colonial forces.
December 20 - Tokyo Station opened with four platforms; two serving electric trains and two serving non-electric trains.

Births

January 12 - Mieko Kamiya, psychiatrist (d. 1979)
April 16 - Hiro Saga, noblewoman (d. 1987)
May 20 - Hideko Maehata, breaststroke swimmer and first Japanese woman to win an Olympic gold medal. (d. 1995)
May 30 - Akinoumi Setsuo, sumo wrestler (d. 1979)
June 12 - Go Seigen, Go player (d. 2014)
July 30 - Michizō Tachihara, poet and architect (d. 1939)
August 2 - Sueo Ōe, athlete (d. 1941)
August 19 - Fumio Hayasaka, composer (d. 1955)^[3]
August 25 - Shizuko Kasagi, singer (d. 1985)
September 1 - Tsuneko Sasamoto, photojournalist (d. 2022)
October 1 - Hamao Umezawa, microbiologist (d. 1986)
October 25 - Yukie Arata, freestyle swimmer (d. unknown)
November 3 - Saburo Okita, foreign minister (d. 1993)

Deaths

January 16 - Itō Sukeyuki, admiral (b. 1843)
February 16 - Aoki Shūzō politician and diplomat (b. 1844)
April 9 - Empress Shōken, consort of Emperor Meiji (b. 1849)
November 16 - Shunrō Oshikawa, author and journalist (b. 1876)

Notes and References

Web site: Taishō emperor of Japan . Encyclopedia Britannica . 27 March 2019 . en.
Book: Tucker . Spencer . Roberts . Priscilla Mary . World War I: A Student Encyclopedia . 2006 . ABC-CLIO . 978-1-85109-879-8 . 974 . en.
Web site: Fumio Hayasaka . https://web.archive.org/web/20160720195301/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba16301b0 . dead . July 20, 2016 . BFI . 23 November 2020 . en.