← 1919 1918 1917 1920 in Japan → 1921 1922 1923
Decades:	1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s
See also:	Other events of 1920 History of Japan  • Timeline  • Years

Events in the year 1920 in Japan. It corresponds to Taishō 9 (大正9年) in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents

• Emperor: Taishō^[1]
• Prime Minister: Hara Takashi

Governors

• Aichi Prefecture: Shunji Miyao
• Akita Prefecture: Ryoshin Nao
• Aomori Prefecture: Hidehiko Michioka
• Ehime Prefecture: Toshio Mawatari
• Fukui Prefecture: Kohei Yuji
• Fukuoka Prefecture: Yasukouchi Asakichi
• Fukushima Prefecture: Miyata Mitsuo
• Gifu Prefecture: Kanokogi Kogoro
• Gunma Prefecture: Muneyoshi Oshiba
• Hiroshima Prefecture: Raizo Wakabayashi
• Ibaraki Prefecture: Yuichiro Chikaraishi
• Iwate Prefecture: Takeo Kakinuma
• Kagawa Prefecture: Yoshibumi Satake
• Kochi Prefecture: Abe Yoshihiko
• Kumamoto Prefecture: Hikoji Kawaguchi
• Kyoto Prefecture: Eitaro Mabuchi
• Mie Prefecture: Haruki Yamawaki
• Miyagi Prefecture: Mori Masataka
• Miyazaki Prefecture: Naomiki Hirose
• Nagano Prefecture: Tenta Akaboshi
• Niigata Prefecture: Ota Masahiro
• Okayama Prefecture: Masao Kishimoto
• Okinawa Prefecture: Sōsuke Kawagoe
• Saga Prefecture: Sawada Ushimaro
• Saitama Prefecture: Horiuchi Hidetaro
• Shiname Prefecture: Sanehide Takarabe
• Tochigi Prefecture: Hiroyoshi Hiratsuka
• Tokushima Prefecture: Rinpei Otsu
• Tokyo: Hiroshi Abe
• Toyama Prefecture: Higashizono Motomitsu
• Yamagata Prefecture: Ichiro Yoda
• Yamanashi Prefecture: Miki Nagano

Events

• January 10 – Japan is a founding member of the League of Nations.
• January 30 – Mazda founded, as predecessor name was Toyo Cork Industry.^{[citation needed]}
• February Unknown date – Kawanishi Engineering Works, as predecessor of ShinMaywa, is founded in Hyogo-ku, Kobe.
• February 1 – Japanese sugar plantation workers in Hawaii officially join a strike led by Filipinos and Hispanic workers.
• February 24 – Nikolayevsk Incident: Realizing that he is outnumbered and far from reinforcement, the commander of the Japanese garrison allowed Yakov Triapitsyn's troops to enter the town of Nikolayevsk-on-Amur under a flag of truce.^[2]
• May 10 – In the general election, the Rikken Seiyūkai, led by Prime Minister Hara Takashi, increases on its majority of seats in the lower house of the Diet.^[3]
• June - About 450 Japanese civilians and 350 Japanese soldiers, along with Russian White Army supporters, are massacred by partisan forces associated with the Red Army at Nikolayevsk on the Amur River.
• June Unknown date – Shikishima Bakery was founded in Nagoya, as predecessor of Pasco Shikishima.^{[citation needed]}
• September 1 – Rinnai was founded in Nagoya.^{[citation needed]}
• September 17 – The Victory Medal, a commemorative military medal of Japan awarded to mark service during the First World War, is established by Imperial Edict.
• October 21 – The Battle of Qingshanli begins between the Imperial Japanese Army and Korean armed groups in a densely wooded region of eastern Manchuria called Qīngshānlǐ.^[4]
• December 16 – Bank of Yokohama was founded, as predecessor name was Yokohama Kōshō Bank (横浜興商銀行) in Kanagawa Prefecture.^{[citation needed]}
• date unknown
  • The literary magazine Teikoku Bungaku is published for the last time.
  • The Guards Cavalry Regiment, Guards Field Artillery Regiment, Guards Engineer Battalion, Guards Transport Battalion, plus other Guards service units are added to the Japanese Imperial Guard.

Births

• January 23 – Nejiko Suwa, violinist (d. 2012)
• January 30 – Machiko Hasegawa, Illustrator (d. 1992)
• February 12 – Yoshiko Yamaguchi, singer, actress, journalist, and politician (d. 2014)
• March 17 – Takeo Doi, academic, psychoanalyst and author (d. 2009)
• March 22 – Katsuko Saruhashi, geochemist (d. 2007)
• April 1 – Toshiro Mifune, actor (d. 1997)
• May 9 – Mitsuko Mori, actress (d. 2012)
• May 30 – Shōtarō Yasuoka, writer (d. 2013)
• June 17 – Setsuko Hara, actress (d. 2015)
• July 15 – Yoshio Inaba, actor (d. 1998)
• October 20 – Masao Sugiuchi, go player (d. 2017)
• December 24 – Hiroyuki Agawa, writer (d. 2015)

Deaths

• January 10 – Yoshikawa Akimasa, politician and cabinet minister (b. 1842)
• January 11 – Kataoka Shichirō, admiral (b. 1854)
• April 12 – Takaki Kanehiro, naval physician (b. 1849)
• April 27 – Tadashi Satō, soldier and politician (b. 1849)^[5]
• September 20 – Shō Ten, last Ryūkyū crown prince, member of the House of Peers (b. 1864)
• October 5 – Suematsu Kenchō, politician and author (b. 1855)
• October 6 – Kuroiwa Shūroku, journalist and writer (b. 1864)