1931 in Japan explained

Events in the year 1931 in Japan.

Incumbents

• Emperor

Hirohito^[1]

• Prime Minister

• • Osachi Hamaguchi

until April 14

• • Wakatsuki Reijirō

April 14  - December 13

• • Inukai Tsuyoshi

from December 13

Governors

• Aichi Prefecture

• • starting 20 January: Masao Oka
  • 20 January-21 December: Kosaka Masayasu
  • until 21 December: Yujiro Osaki
• Akita Prefecture: Koki Hiegata (until 18 December); Takeshi Uchida (starting 18 December)
• Aomori Prefecture: Migaku Moriya (until 18 December); Teizaburo Miyamoto (starting 18 December)
• Ehime Prefecture: Koichiro Sasai (until 18 December); Kume Shigeo (starting 18 December)
• Fukui Prefecture: Tachibana Saitanao (until 18 December); Keizo Ichimura (starting 18 December)
• Fukushima Prefecture:
  • until 15 April: Koyanagi Makimamoru
  • 15 April-18 December: Goro Kawasaki
  • starting 18 December: Murai Hachiro
• Gifu Prefecture:
  • until 8 May: Ken Usawa
  • 8 May-18 December: Yoshida Katsutaro
  • starting 18 December: Takehiko Ito
• Gunma Prefecture:
  • until 27 June: Hotta Kanae
  • 27 June-18 December: Kiichi Harata
  • starting 18 December: Masao Kanazawa
• Hiroshima Prefecture

• • until 8 May: Hiroshi Kawabuchi
  • 8 May-18 December: Takekai Shirane
  • starting 18 December: Ryo Chiba
• Ibaraki Prefecture

• • until 27 June: Shozo Ushijima
  • 27 June-18 December: Tanaka
  • starting 18 December: Seikichi Kimishima
• Ishikawa Prefecture

Nakano Kunikazu (until month unknown)

• Iwate Prefecture: Toyoshiro Kubo (until 18 December); Hidehiko Ishiguro (starting 18 December)
• Kagawa Prefecture:
  • until 27 June: Susumu Tsuboi
  • 27 June-18 December: Yusai Takahashi
  • starting 18 December: Akira Ito
• Kanagawa Prefecture

Jiro Yamagata (until month unknown)

• Kochi Prefecture:
  • until 27 June: Tanaka
  • 27 June-18 December: Tsuboi
  • starting 18 December: Kodora Akamatsu
• Kumamoto Prefecture

Bunpei Motoyama (until 18 December); Kenichi Yamashita (starting 18 December)

• Kyoto Prefecture

• • until October: Sasaki Shinichi
  • October-December: Shinya Kurosaki
  • starting December: Sukenari Yokoyama
• Mie Prefecture: Keizo Ichimura (until 18 December); Hirose Hisatada (starting 18 December)
• Miyagi Prefecture: Michio Yuzawa
• Miyazaki Prefecture:
  • until 18 December: Ariyoshi
  • 18 December-21 December: Kiyoshi Nakarai
  • starting 21 December: Gisuke Kinoshita
• Nagano Prefecture

Shintaro Suzuki (until 18 December); Ishigaki Kuraji (starting 18 December)

• Niigata Prefecture

• until 2 October: Toyoji Obata
• 2 October-18 December: Nakano Kunikazu
• starting 18 December: Obata Toyoji
• Okinawa Prefecture

Jiro Ino

• Osaka Prefecture

Saito Munenori (starting month unknown)

• Saga Prefecture

• • until 18 December: Inoue
  • 20 January-18 December: Nakarai Kiyoshi
  • starting 18 December: Saburo Hayakawa
• Saitama Prefecture

• • until 15 April: Niwa Shichiro
  • 15 April-18 December: Kozo Yamanaka
    • starting 18 December: Umekichi Miyawaki Shiname Prefecture:
  • until 21 August: Keiichi Omori
  • 21 August-18 December: Kanichi Misawa
    • starting 18 December: Rinsaku Yagi Tochigi Prefecture:
  • until 27 January: Harada
    • • 20 January-27 December: Asari Saburo starting 27 December: Chokichi Toshima
• Tokyo

Torataro Shizuka (until 18 October); Hasegawa Hisakazu (starting 18 October)

• Toyama Prefecture: Kozo Yamanaka (until 15 April); Keiichi Suzuki (starting 15 April)
• Yamagata Prefecture:
  • until 24 October: Kubota Osamu Kosuke
  • 24 October-18 December: Ken Yamaguchi
  • starting 18 December: Sada Kawamura

Events

• March - March Incident
• March 27  - A real estate brand, Shōei Corporation was founded, as predecessor for Hullic.
• June 5 – 1931 Empress of Canada stabbings: A man killed 2 and wounded 29 others with a knife aboard the Canadian Pacific Steamships liner RMS Empress of Canada as the ship sailed off Japan.^[2]
• June 27 - Nakamura Incident
• July 1 - Wanpaoshan Incident
• September 21  - A Richer Scale magnitude 6.5 earthquake hit in Yorii, Saitama Prefecture. According to Japanese government official confirmed report, killing 16 persons, 146 persons were wounded.
• October 21 - October Incident
• November 4 - Resistance at Nenjiang Bridge
• November 4–18 - Jiangqiao Campaign
• Unknown date
  • Teikyo Commerce School, later Teikyo University was founded in Tokyo.
  • A time recorder and robot brand, Amano was founded in Yokohama, as predecessor name of Amano Manufacturing.
  • A mail order cram school, Jitsuryoku-Zōshinsha (Ability Promotion), as predecessor of Zōshinsha Holdings (Z-kai) was founded.^[3]

Films

• Tokyo Chorus

Births

January–March

• January 2  - Toshiki Kaifu, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2022)
• January 6  - Kaoru Yachigusa, actress (d. 2019)
• January 20  - Ariyoshi Sawako, writer (d. 1984)
• January 21  - Yoshiko Kuga, actress (d. 2024)
• January 28  - Sakyo Komatsu, science fiction writer (d. 2011)
• February 16  - Ken Takakura, actor (d. 2014)
• March 7  - Atsuko, Princess Yori, fourth daughter of Emperor Shōwa
• March 9  - Masahiro Shinoda, film director

April–June

• April 11  - Koichi Sugiyama, composer and conductor (d. 2021)
• May 10  - Ichirō Nagai, voice actor (d. 2014)
• June 22  - Teruyuki Okazaki, black belt in Shotokan Karate (d. 2020)

July–September

• July 5  - Ryuzo Sato, economist
• July 11  - Yasuo Ōtsuka, animator (d. 2021)
• August 29  - Ichikawa Raizō VIII, actor (d. 1969)
• August 30  - Jōji Yanami, voice actor
• September 17  - Ayako Sono, writer (d. 2021)
• September 21  - Syukuro Manabe, Japanese-American meteorologist and climatologist^[4]

October–December

• October 24  - Ken Utsui, actor (d. 2014)
• November 29  - Shintaro Katsu, actor (d. 1997)
• December 5  - Kyōko Kagawa, actress
• December 11  - Fujiko Yamamoto, actress
• December 15  - Shuntarō Tanikawa, poet and translator
• December 19  - Reiko Sato, actress and dancer (d. 1981)
• December 31  - Sakata Tōjūrō IV, kabuki actor (d. 2020)

Full date unknown

• Miyozo Yamazaki, amateur archaeologist^[5]

Deaths

• January 27  - Nishinoumi Kajirō II, Sumo wrestler, 25th yokozuna (b. 1880)
• June 13  - Kitasato Shibasaburō, physician and bacteriologist (b. 1853)
• June 26  - Yamakawa Kenjirō, physicist, university president (b. 1854)
• August 2  - Kinue Hitomi, sprinter and long jumper (b. 1907)
• August 26  - Osachi Hamaguchi, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1870)
• September 2  - Ichinohe Hyoe, general (b. 1855)
• November 11  - Shibusawa Eiichi, industrialist (b. 1840)

See also

• 1931 in Japanese football
• List of Japanese films of the 1930s

Notes and References

1. Web site: Hirohito Biography, Accomplishments, & Facts . Encyclopedia Britannica . 27 March 2019 . en.
2. News: 5 June 1931 . Honolulu Man Slashes 31 on Vessel at Sea . en-US . Honolulu Star-Bulletin . 2023-04-17.
3. [:ja:Z会#沿革]
4. Web site: The Nobel Prize in Physics 2021 . NobelPrize.org . 29 May 2022.
5. News: "The nail that sticks up gets hammered down," So warns a proverb in conformist Japan. Some "nails," though, refuse to bend.. Grossfeld. Stan. Mar 23, 1997. Boston Globe. 28 September 2011.