2024 in Japan

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Decades:	2000s; 2010s; 2020s; ; ;
See also:	Other events of 2024; History of Japan • Timeline • Years

Events in the year 2024 in Japan.

Incumbents edit

Governors edit

Aichi Prefecture: Hideaki Omura
Akita Prefecture: Norihisa Satake
Aomori Prefecture: Sōichirō Miyashita
Chiba Prefecture: Toshihito Kumagai
Ehime Prefecture: Tokihiro Nakamura
Fukui Prefecture: Tatsuji Sugimoto
Fukuoka Prefecture: Seitaro Hattori
Fukushima Prefecture: Masao Uchibori
Gifu Prefecture: Hajime Furuta
Gunma Prefecture: Ichita Yamamoto
Hiroshima Prefecture: Hidehiko Yuzaki
Hokkaido: Naomichi Suzuki
Hyogo Prefecture: Motohiko Saitō
Ibaraki Prefecture: Kazuhiko Ōigawa
Ishikawa: Masanori Tanimoto
Iwate Prefecture: Takuya Tasso
Kagawa Prefecture: Keizō Hamada
Kagoshima Prefecture: Kōichi Shiota
Kanagawa Prefecture: Yuji Kuroiwa
Kumamoto Prefecture: Ikuo Kabashima
Kochi Prefecture: Seiji Hamada
Kyoto Prefecture: Takatoshi Nishiwaki
Mie Prefecture: Eikei Suzuki
Miyagi Prefecture: Yoshihiro Murai
Miyazaki Prefecture: Shunji Kōno
Nagano Prefecture: Shuichi Abe
Nagasaki Prefecture: Hōdō Nakamura
Nara Prefecture: Makoto Yamashita
Niigata Prefecture: Hideyo Hanazumi
Oita Prefecture: Kiichiro Sato
Okayama Prefecture: Ryuta Ibaragi
Okinawa Prefecture: Denny Tamaki
Osaka Prefecture: Hirofumi Yoshimura
Saga Prefecture: Yoshinori Yamaguchi
Saitama Prefecture: Motohiro Ōno
Shiga Prefecture: Taizō Mikazuki
Shimame Prefecture: Tatsuya Maruyama
Shizuoka Prefecture: Heita Kawakatsu
Tochigi Prefecture: Tomikazu Fukuda
Tokushima Prefecture: Masazumi Gotoda
Tokyo Prefecture: Yuriko Koike
Tottori Prefecture: Shinji Hirai
Toyama Prefecture: Hachiro Nitta
Wakayama Prefecture: Shūhei Kishimoto
Yamagata Prefecture: Mieko Yoshimura
Yamaguchi Prefecture: Tsugumasa Muraoka
Yamanashi Prefecture: Kotaro Nagasaki

Arts and entertainment edit

Events edit

January edit

January 1 –
- Six wards in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, including Naka-ku, Minami-ku, Higashi-ku, Nishi-ku, and Kita-ku, are disestablished and replaced by two new wards, namely Hamana-ku and Chūō-ku.^[2]
- A 7.5 magnitude earthquake strikes Ishikawa Prefecture,^[3] killing 241 people.^[4]
January 2 – 2024 Haneda Airport runway collision: A Japan Airlines Airbus A350-900 collides with a Japan Coast Guard DHC-8 aircraft and bursts into flames at Tokyo's Haneda Airport. The Coast guard plane was going to deliver aid to those affected by the earthquake in Ishikawa Prefecture the day before. All 379 occupants aboard the Japan Airlines flight are evacuated, while five of the six occupants aboard the Coast Guard aircraft are killed.^[5]
January 3 – Three men are stabbed on a train at Akihabara Station, Tokyo. A woman is arrested by police.^[6]
January 19:
- Japan becomes the fifth country to successfully land on the surface of the moon with the SLIM lunar lander mission.^{[citation needed]}
  - 2023–2024 Japanese slush fund scandal
  - Several Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers are indicted in a scandal involving misuse of campaign funds, including incumbent lawmakers Yasutada Ōno and Yaichi Tanigawa, both of whom resign from the party following their indictments.^[7]
  - The Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai, Kōchikai, and Shisuikai factions of the Liberal Democratic Party all announce their intention to dissolve as a result of the scandal.^[8]
January 23 – Two railway workers are injured after being electrocuted while trying to fix a massive power outage that shuts down the Shinkansen system in a section operated by JR East between Omiya Station in Saitama and Ueno Station in Tokyo. A train is also damaged during the outage.^[9]^[10]
January 24 – Ukrainian-born Karolina Shiino is announced as the winner of the 2024 Miss Nippon Grand Prix beauty pageant.^[11] She is the first naturalised Japanese citizen to win the pageant.^[12] Her win sparks debates over "Japaneseness" and the shifting demographics of Japan.^[13]^[14]^[15]^[16]
January 25 – Kyoto Animation arson attack: A court sentences Shinji Aoba to death for a 2019 arson attack on a Kyoto Animation studio in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, which killed 36 people.^[17]
January 26 – 1974 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries bombing: Police announce they have arrested who they believe to be Satoshi Kirishima, a member of East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front who has been a fugitive from justice for 50 years for his role in a series of bombings of companies.^[18]
January 29 – The man believed to be Satoshi Kirishima dies.^[19] DNA comparison with relatives further confirms his identity as Kirishima.^[20]

February edit

February 5 – Ukrainian-born Karolina Shiino relinquishes her crown as winner of the 2024 Miss Nippon Grand Prix beauty pageant after news emerges of her having an affair with a married man.^[21]^[22]
February 27 – Sony announces it will cut 900 jobs across its global workforce and proposes the closure of London Studio as part of the restructuring.^[23]

March edit

March 4 – The Nikkei 225 reaches 40,000 points for the first time.^[24]
March 11 – Two New Zealand skiers are killed and another is injured following an avalanche on Mount Yotei in Hokkaido.^[25]
March 12 – A court in Fukuoka overturns the death sentence of Yakuza Kudo-kai leader Satoru Nomura imposed for a 1998 murder and sentences him to life in prison.^[26]
March 13:
- KAIROS-1, designed by Space One as Japan's first privately-manufactured rocket, explodes seconds after its maiden launch from Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture.^[27]
- The Fuji-Q Highland amusement park announces the removal of the famed high-speed roller coaster Do-Dodonpa,^[28] which had been closed since August 2021 following numerous incidents resulting in injuries within a year.^[29]
- The Tokyo District Court orders the government to return the remains of Aum Shinrikyo leader Shoko Asahara, who was executed in 2018 for the Tokyo subway attack in 1995, to his family.^[30]
March 14:
- In separate lawsuits, the Sapporo High Court and the Tokyo District Court rule that the non-recognition of same-sex marriage in Japan is unconstitutional.^[31]
- The Tokyo District Court convicts former State Minister of Justice Mito Kakizawa of vote-buying worth 2.8 million yen ($19,000) during mayoral elections in the Kōtō ward of Tokyo in April 2023 and sentences him to a two-year suspended sentence.^[32]
- The Tokyo District Court convicts former Member of the House of Councillors and YouTuber GaaSyy of online harassment and sentences him to a three-year suspended sentence.^[33]
March 16: The Hokuriku Shinkansen railway extension from Kanazawa to Tsuruga, Fukui is completed.^[34]
March 20: South Korean-flagged tanker Keoyoung Sun capsizes off the coast of Yamaguchi Prefecture during stormy weather. Nine crew members are found dead, while one person remains missing. Two people are rescued.^[35]
March 26: The Cabinet of Japan allows the sale and export of fighter aircraft to other countries.^[36]
March 29 – North Korean state media cites foreign minister Choe Son Hui as saying that North Korea rejects any talks with Japan on any issue, including the Japanese abductees, after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he was willing to meet in person with Kim Jong Un.^[37]
March 30 – Authorities raid a facility of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Company in Osaka after five deaths from kidney failure are linked to consumption of its health supplements containing the red mold benikoji.^[38]

April edit

April 1:
- A magnitude 6.0 earthquake strikes Iwate Prefecture, injuring two people.^[39]
- The Imperial House of Japan opens an account on Instagram for the first time.^[40]
April 2 – The governor of Shizuoka Prefecture, Heita Kawakatsu, announces his resignation following uproar over comments he made the previous day comparing civil servants with other professions.^[41]
April 3 – A magnitude 7.4 earthquake strikes off the coast of Taiwan, prompting tsunami warnings for Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. A 30-cm tsunami is observed at Yonaguni Island and Miyako Island while a 20-cm tsunami reaches Ishigaki Island.^[42]^[43]
April 15 –
- Nearly 60,000 residents of Naha are ordered evacuated due to risks of landslides caused by heavy rains.^[44]^[45]
- Japan raises its four-stage danger ranking level for most of Iran, including Tehran, to Level 3, which urges to avoid all travel to Iran following the Iranian strikes in Israel.^[46]
April 17 – A magnitude 6.6 earthquake strikes along the Bungo Channel between Shikoku and Kyushu, injuring 12 people.^[47]
April 20 – Two SH-60K helicopters of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces crash into the Pacific Ocean following a possible collision during a training exercise near Torishima Island, killing one person and leaving seven others missing.^[48]
April 22 – China objects to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's offering at Yasukuni Shrine.^[49]
April 25 – Hiroyuki Miyazawa resigns as a member of the House of Representatives after reports emerge of him having an extra-martial affair.^[50]
April 28 – By-elections are held for three seats in the House of Representatives, which are all won by the Constitutional Democratic Party.^[51]

Sports edit

March 30 – 2023–24 Formula E World Championship is held at 2024 Tokyo ePrix
April 7 – 2024 Formula One World Championship is held at 2024 Japanese Grand Prix
September 15 – 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship is held at 2024 6 Hours of Fuji
October 6 – 2024 MotoGP World Championship is held at 2024 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix

Deaths edit