1977 in Japan explained

Events in the year 1977 in Japan. It corresponds to Shōwa 52 (昭和52年) in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents

• Emperor

Hirohito^[1]

• Prime minister

Takeo Fukuda (Liberal Democratic)

• Chief Cabinet Secretary

Sunao Sonoda until November 28, Shintaro Abe

• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Ekizo Fujibayashi until August 25, Masao Okahara from August 26
• President of the House of Representatives: Shigeru Hori
• President of the House of Councillors: Kenzō Kōno until July 3, Ken Yasui from July 28
• Diet sessions: 80th (regular session opened on December 30, 1976, to June 9), 81st (extraordinary, July 27 to August 3), 82nd (extraordinary, September 29 to November 25), 83rd (extraordinary, December 7 to December 10), 84th (regular, December 19 to June 16, 1978)

Governors

• Aichi Prefecture

• • • • • • • • Akita Prefecture: Yūjirō Obata Aomori Prefecture: Shunkichi Takeuchi Chiba Prefecture: Kiichi Kawakami Ehime Prefecture: Haruki Shiraishi Fukui Prefecture: Heidayū Nakagawa Fukuoka Prefecture: Hikaru Kamei Fukushima Prefecture: Isao Matsudaira Gifu Prefecture: vacant (until 8 February); Yosuke Uematsu (starting 8 February)
  • Gunma Prefecture: Ichiro Shimizu Hiroshima Prefecture

• Hokkaido

• Hyogo Prefecture: Tokitada Sakai
• Ibaraki Prefecture

• Ishikawa Prefecture

• • • Iwate Prefecture: Tadashi Chida Kagawa Prefecture: Tadao Maekawa Kagoshima Prefecture: Saburō Kanemaru (until 3 February); Kaname Kamada (starting 3 March)
• Kanagawa Prefecture

• • Kochi Prefecture: Chikara Nakauchi Kumamoto Prefecture

• Kyoto Prefecture

• • Mie Prefecture: Ryōzō Tagawa Miyagi Prefecture

• • Miyazaki Prefecture: Hiroshi Kuroki Nagano Prefecture

• • • Nagasaki Prefecture: Kan'ichi Kubo Nara Prefecture: Ryozo Okuda Niigata Prefecture

• • Oita Prefecture: Masaru Taki Okayama Prefecture

• Okinawa Prefecture

• Osaka Prefecture

• Saga Prefecture

• Saitama Prefecture

• Shiga Prefecture

• • • • • Shiname Prefecture: Seiji Tsunematsu Shizuoka Prefecture: Keizaburō Yamamoto Tochigi Prefecture: Yuzuru Funada Tokushima Prefecture: Yasunobu Takeichi Tokyo

• • • • • • Tottori Prefecture: Kōzō Hirabayashi Toyama Prefecture: Kokichi Nakada Wakayama Prefecture: Shirō Kariya Yamagata Prefecture: Seiichirō Itagaki Yamaguchi Prefecture: Toru Hirai Yamanashi Prefecture: Kunio Tanabe

Events

• January to February  - According to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency, a widely heavy snow and avalanche, affective winter storm hit around nationwide, resulting to official confirmed report, total 101 person were human fatalities and 834 persons were wounded.^[2]
• January 4 - Poisoned cola is placed in a telephone booth near Shinagawa Station, killing two.
• June 15 - Outbreak of cholera in Arida, Wakayama prefecture.^[3]
• August 7 - Mount Usu erupts.^[4]
• September 9 - Typhoon Babe strikes Okinoerabujima.
• September 19 - Yutaka Kume is abducted by North Korean agents in Noto Peninsula - beginning of North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens.

Births

• January 3 - Mayumi Iizuka, voice actress
• January 22 - Hidetoshi Nakata, footballer
• January 30  - Takahiro Arai, former professional baseball player
• February 10  - Morihiro Hashimoto, darts player (d. 2017)
• March 15 - Norifumi Yamamoto, mixed martial artist
• April 27 - Dai Fujikura, composer
• April 29 - Daisuke Amaya, indie game developer
• May 8 - Chiaki Takahashi, voice actress
• May 26 - Misaki Ito, actress
• June 22 - Ryōko Ono, voice actress
• June 25 - Naoya Tsukahara, gymnast
• June 26 - Tite Kubo, manga artist, creator of BLEACH
• August 13 - Miho Konishi, actress
• August 22 - Miho Kanno, actress and singer
• August 23 - Kenta Miyake, voice actor
• August 25 - Masumi Asano, voice actress
• August 30 - Sayori Ishizuka, voice actress
• September 6 - Kiyoshi Hikawa, enka singer^[5]
• September 15 - Angela Aki, singer-songwriter
• September 20 - Namie Amuro, singer
• September 23 - Nozomi Momoi, Japanese AV idol, and murder victim (d. 2002)
• September 25 - Atsushi Aoki, Japanese professional wrestler (d. 2019)
• October 1  - Christel Takigawa, television presenter
• December 6 - Miwa Yasuda, voice actress

Deaths

• March 21 - Kinuyo Tanaka, actress (b. 1909)
• March 31 - Yasuji Kamada, photographer (b. 1883)
• December 19 - Takeo Kurita, admiral (b. 1889)

See also

• 1977 in anime
• 1977 in Japanese television
• List of Japanese films of 1977

Notes and References

1. Web site: Hirohito Biography, Accomplishments, & Facts . Encyclopedia Britannica . 27 March 2019 . en.
2. [:ja:昭和52年豪雪]
3. Web site: 有田市を中心として発生したコレラ. Infectious Disease Surveillance Center. 21 January 2015. ja. Outbreak of cholera around Arida. https://web.archive.org/web/20110418093910/http://www1.iph.pref.osaka.jp/ophl2/upload/109/277wakayama.html. 2011-04-18. dead.
4. Web site: The 1977–78 Eruptions at the Mountain Peak and Ground Deformation . 2010-10-28 . dead . https://archive.today/20101012064220/http://www.toya-usu-geopark.org/en/midokoromap/94 . 2010-10-12 . Last access 28 October 2010.
5. http://columbia.jp/~hikawa/profile.html Hikawa Kiyoshi: Profile