1959 in Japan explained

Events in the year 1959 in Japan.

Incumbents

• Emperor

Hirohito^[1]

• Prime minister

Nobusuke Kishi^[2]

Governors

• Aichi Prefecture

• • • • • Akita Prefecture: Yūjirō Obata Aomori Prefecture: Iwao Yamazaki Chiba Prefecture: Hitoshi Shibata Ehime Prefecture: Sadatake Hisamatsu Fukui Prefecture: Seiichi Hane (until 22 April); Eizō Kita (starting 23 April)
• Fukuoka Prefecture: Taichi Uzaki
  • • • Fukushima Prefecture: Zenichiro Satō Gifu Prefecture: Yukiyasu Matsuno Gunma Prefecture: Toshizo Takekoshi Hiroshima Prefecture

• Hokkaido

Toshifumi Tanaka (until 22 April); Kingo Machimura (starting 23 April)

• • Hyogo Prefecture: Masaru Sakamoto Ibaraki Prefecture

Yoji Tomosue (until 29 March); Nirō Iwakami (starting 23 April)

• Ishikawa Prefecture

• • • • Iwate Prefecture: Senichi Abe Kagawa Prefecture: Masanori Kaneko Kagoshima Prefecture: Katsushi Terazono Kanagawa Prefecture

• • Kochi Prefecture: Masumi Mizobuchi Kumamoto Prefecture

Saburō Sakurai (until 10 February); Kōsaku Teramoto (starting 11 February)

• Kyoto Prefecture

• • Mie Prefecture: Satoru Tanaka Miyagi Prefecture

Yasushi Onuma (until 12 January); Yoshio Miura (starting 4 March)

• Miyazaki Prefecture: Jingo Futami (until 22 April); Hiroshi Kuroki (starting 23 April)
• Nagano Prefecture

Torao Hayashi (until 22 April); Gon'ichirō Nishizawa (starting 26 April)

• • • Nagasaki Prefecture: Katsuya Sato Nara Prefecture: Ryozo Okuda Niigata Prefecture

Kazuo Kitamura

• • Oita Prefecture: Kaoru Kinoshita Okayama Prefecture

• Osaka Prefecture

Bunzō Akama (until 22 April); Gisen Satō (starting 23 April)

• Saga Prefecture

Naotsugu Nabeshima (until 16 April); Sunao Ikeda (starting 23 April)

• Saitama Prefecture

• Shiga Prefecture

• Shiname Prefecture: Yasuo Tsunematsu (until 29 April); Choemon Tanabe (starting 30 April)
  • Shizuoka Prefecture: Toshio Saitō Tochigi Prefecture: Kiichi Ogawa (until 4 February); Nobuo Yokokawa (starting 5 February)
  • Tokushima Prefecture: Kikutaro Hara Tokyo

Seiichirō Yasui (until 18 April); Ryōtarō Azuma (starting 22 April)

• • • • • • Tottori Prefecture: Jirō Ishiba Toyama Prefecture: Minoru Yoshida Wakayama Prefecture: Shinji Ono Yamagata Prefecture: Tōkichi Abiko Yamaguchi Prefecture: Taro Ozawa Yamanashi Prefecture: Hisashi Amano

Events

• April 1  - Kyoto Ceramic (now Kyocera) has founded.
• April 10  - The Crown Prince Akihito, the future Emperor of Japan, weds Michiko Shōda, the first commoner to marry into the Japanese Imperial Family.
• June 2  - Mori Building was founded.
• June 30  - Twenty-one students are killed and more than a hundred injured when an American North American F-100 Super Sabre jet crashes into Miamori Elementary School on the island of Okinawa. The pilot ejected before the plane struck the school.^[3]
• July 22  - A Kumamoto University medical research group studying Minamata disease concludes that it is caused by mercury.
• September 26  - According to Japanese government official confirmed report, Typhoon Vera with tidal wave hit around Ise Bay, total 5,098 person were lives, 38,921 person were hurt.

Births

• January 3  - Dankan, actor and director
• January 16  - Kimiko Ikegami, actress
• January 17  - Momoe Yamaguchi, actress
• February 8  - Amy Yamada, writer
• February 20  - Tomomi Inada, politician
• March 23  - Kazue Ikura, actress, voice actress and narrator
• May 19  - Michiru Shimada, screenwriter (d. 2017)
• May 23  - Ryuta Kawashima, neuroscientist
• June 17  - Kazuki Yao, voice actor and actor
• July 17  - Kiyotaka Sugiyama, singer-songwriter
• August 11  - Yoshiaki Murakami, investor
• August 17  - Chika Sakamoto, voice actress
• September 8  - Saeko Shimazu, voice actress
• October 13  - Denny Tamaki, governor of Okinawa Prefecture
• October 21  - Ken Watanabe, actor
• November 21  - Naoko Watanabe, voice actress
• November 24  - Akio Ōtsuka, actor and voice actress
• December 5  - Yoshitomo Nara, artist
• December 6  - Satoru Iwata, video game designer, businessman (d. 2015)

Deaths

• March 7  - Ichirō Hatoyama, politician and 35th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1883)
• April 30  - Kafū Nagai, author, playwright, essayist, and diarist (b. 1879)
• June 20  - Hitoshi Ashida, politician and 35th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1887)
• August 9  - Noboru Ishizaki, admiral (b. 1893)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Hirohito Biography, Accomplishments, & Facts . Encyclopedia Britannica . 27 March 2019 . en.
2. Book: Helms . Ludger . Poor Leadership and Bad Governance: Reassessing Presidents and Prime Ministers in North America, Europe and Japan . 2012 . Edward Elgar Publishing . 978-0-85793-273-0 . 178 . en.
3. "21 Die as Jet Hits School On Okinawa", Oakland Tribune, June 30, 1959, p1