1998 in Japan explained

Events in the year 1998 in Japan. It corresponds to the year Heisei 10 (平成10年) in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents

Emperor: Akihito^[1]
Prime Minister: Ryutaro Hashimoto (L–Okayama) until July 30, Keizo Obuchi (L–Gunma)
Chief Cabinet Secretary: Kanezō Muraoka (L–Akita) until July 30, Hiromu Nonaka (L–Kyōto)
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Shigeru Yamaguchi
President of the House of Representatives: Sōichirō Itō (L–Miyagi)
President of the House of Councillors: Jūrō Saitō (L–Mie) until July 25 and again from August 4
Diet sessions: 142nd (regular, January 12 to June 18), 143rd (extraordinary, August 7 to October 16), 144th (extraordinary, November 27 to December 14)

- - - - Akita Prefecture: Sukeshiro Terata Aomori Prefecture: Morio Kimura Chiba Prefecture: Takeshi Numata Ehime Prefecture: Sadayuki Iga Fukui Prefecture: Yukio Kurita
- Fukuoka Prefecture: Wataru Asō Fukushima Prefecture: Eisaku Satō
  - Gifu Prefecture: Taku Kajiwara Gunma Prefecture: Hiroyuki Kodera Hiroshima Prefecture

- Iwate Prefecture: Hiroya Masuda Kagawa Prefecture: Jōichi Hirai (until 4 September); Takeki Manabe (starting 5 September)
- Kagoshima Prefecture: Tatsurō Suga Kanagawa Prefecture

Nagasaki Prefecture: Isamu Takada (until 1 March); Genjirō Kaneko (starting 2 March)
Nara Prefecture: Yoshiya Kakimoto
Niigata Prefecture

Masahide Ōta (until 10 December); Keiichi Inamine (starting 10 December)

Yoshihiko Tsuchiya

Minoru Inaba (until 20 July); Yoshitsugu Kunimatsu (starting 20 July)

- - Shiname Prefecture: Nobuyoshi Sumita Shizuoka Prefecture: Yoshinobu Ishikawa Tochigi Prefecture: Fumio Watanabe
- Tokushima Prefecture: Toshio Endo Tokyo

- Tottori Prefecture: Yuji Nishio Toyama Prefecture: Yutaka Nakaoki
  - - Wakayama Prefecture: Isamu Nishiguchi Yamagata Prefecture: Kazuo Takahashi Yamaguchi Prefecture: Sekinari Nii Yamanashi Prefecture: Ken Amano

February 7 – February 22: The 1998 Winter Olympics are held in Nagano.^[2]
March 5 – March 14: The 1998 Winter Paralympics are held in Nagano.
April 1: Toyota City, Fukuyama City, Kōchi City and Miyazaki City become core cities.
April 5: The Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge linking Shikoku with Honshū and costing about ¥ 500 billion (US$3.8 billion), opens to traffic, becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world.^[3]
May 26: Takashi Imai is inaugurated as the 9th head of the Keidanren.
June 22: Financial Services Agency established.
July 5: Japan launches the Nozomi probe to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as an outer space-exploring nation.
July 12: Election for the House of Councillors held.
July 25: Masumi Hayashi poisons a curry pot at a festival in Wakayama, causing the death of two adults and two children.
September 3: Metal Gear Solid is first released for the PS1 in Japan.
September 7 1998: Serial Experiments Lain Episode 10 : LOVE is released in [J]apan.
September 22 - 23: Typhoon Vivki causes damage to several cultural heritage sites in Wakayama, Nara, Kyoto and Shiga Prefecture and causing 19 deaths.
October 8: Japan-South Korea Joint Declaration of 1998.
November 13: Free solo climber Alain Robert scales the Shinjuku Center Building and is arrested on its roof.
November 26: Japan-China Joint Declaration On Building a Partnership of Friendship and Cooperation for Peace and Development.
December 18: Mario Party is released in Japan.

January 5 - Marie Iitoyo, model and actress
January 23 - Yuto Adachi, singer and member of South Korean boy band Pentagon
February 8 - Rui Hachimura, basketball player
March 19 - Sakura Miyawaki, singer and member of South Korean girl group Le Sserafim
March 26 - Satoko Miyahara, figure skater
April 6 - Rina Katsuta, singer
April 10 - Airi Kinoshita, murder victim (d. 2005)
April 28 - Manamo Miyata, singer and member of Hinatazaka46
May 13 - Karen Iwata, singer and voice actress
May 28 - Riho Sayashi, J-pop singer
May 31 - Ryang Hyon-ju, North Korean, footballer
June 14 - Taishi Nakagawa, actor and model
June 19 - Suzu Hirose, model and actress
July 9 - Tiger Onitsuka, jazz drummer
July 16 - Rina Matsuno, singer (d. 2017)
July 17 - Shione Sawada, actress
July 26 - Maya Sakura, singer
July 27 - Risa Watanabe, idol and model
August 5 - Kanon Suzuki, singer
August 17 - Yoshinobu Yamamoto, professional baseball player
August 28 - Haruka Fukuhara, actress, model and singer
October 30 - Meimi Tamura, singer and actress
November 12 - Yuna Taira, actress
November 29 - Ayumu Hirano, snowboarder
December 24 - Keito Tsuna, actor
December 30 - Akari Uemura, pop singer

January 9 - Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
January 21 - Yoshifumi Kondō, animator (b. 1950)
January 26 - Shinichi Suzuki, violinist (b. 1898)
January 27 - Tamio Kageyama, novelist (b. 1947)
January 28 - Shotaro Ishinomori, Manga artist, "Father of Henshin heroes." (b. 1938)
February 5 - Takahashi Chikuzan, Tsugaru-jamisen performer and composer (b. 1910)
March 10 - Kenkō Satoshi, Sumo wrestler (b. 1967)
March 13 - Kosho Uchiyama, Sōtō priest (b. 1912)
April 20 - Yoshio Inaba, actor (b. 1920)
May 2 - Matsumoto Hideto (hide), Japanese musician (b. 1964)
May 10 - Nekojiru, manga artist (b. 1967)
May 19 - Sōsuke Uno, Prime Minister (b. 1922)
August 3 - Reizo Koike, breaststroke swimmer (b. 1915)
August 28 - Hirokazu Kobayashi, aikidoka (b. 1929)
September 6 - Akira Kurosawa, screenwriter, producer, and director (b. 1910)
September 27 - Narita Bryan, racehorse (b. 1991)
October 12 - Ineko Sata, communist and feminist author of proletarian literature (b. 1904)
November 1 - Silence Suzuka, racehorse (b. 1994)
November 5 - Momoko Kōchi, actress (b. 1932)
December 1 - Shōji Nakayama, actor (b. 1928)
December 2 - Mikio Oda, athlete (b. 1905)
December 30 - Keisuke Kinoshita, film director (b. 1912)

Web site: Akihito Biography, Reign, & Facts . Encyclopedia Britannica . 27 March 2019 . en.
Book: Bell . Daniel . Encyclopedia of International Games . 17 March 2016 . McFarland . 978-1-4766-1527-1 . 519 . en.
Web site: Public Roads - World's Longest Suspension Bridge Opens in Japan, July/August 1998 . Fhwa.dot.gov . 2016-04-08.