← 1977 1976 1975 1978 in Japan → 1979 1980 1981
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
See also:	Other events of 1978 History of Japan  • Timeline  • Years

Events in the year 1978 in Japan. It corresponds to Shōwa 53 (昭和53年) in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents

• Emperor: Hirohito^[1]
• Prime minister: Takeo Fukuda (Liberal Democratic) until December 7, Masayoshi Ōhira (Liberal Democratic)
• Chief Cabinet Secretary: Shintaro Abe until December 7, Rokusuke Tanaka
• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Masao Okahara
• President of the House of Representatives: Shigeru Hori
• President of the House of Councillors: Ken Yasui
• Diet sessions: 84th (regular session opened in December 19, 1977, to June 16), 85th (extraordinary, September 18 to October 21), 86th (extraordinary, December 6 to December 12), 87th (regular, December 22 to June 14, 1979)

Governors

• Aichi Prefecture: Yoshiaki Nakaya
• 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: Yosuke Uematsu
• Gunma Prefecture: Ichiro Shimizu
• Hiroshima Prefecture: Hiroshi Miyazawa
• Hokkaido: Naohiro Dōgakinai
• Hyogo Prefecture: Tokitada Sakai
• Ibaraki Prefecture: Fujio Takeuchi
• Ishikawa Prefecture: Yōichi Nakanishi
• Iwate Prefecture: Tadashi Chida
• Kagawa Prefecture: Tadao Maekawa
• Kagoshima Prefecture: Kaname Kamada
• Kanagawa Prefecture: Kazuji Nagasu
• Kochi Prefecture: Chikara Nakauchi
• Kumamoto Prefecture: Issei Sawada
• Kyoto Prefecture: Torazō Ninagawa (until 15 April); Yukio Hayashida (starting 15 April)
• Mie Prefecture: Ryōzō Tagawa
• Miyagi Prefecture: Sōichirō Yamamoto
• Miyazaki Prefecture: Hiroshi Kuroki
• Nagano Prefecture: Gon'ichirō Nishizawa
• Nagasaki Prefecture: Kan'ichi Kubo
• Nara Prefecture: Ryozo Okuda
• Niigata Prefecture: Takeo Kimi
• Oita Prefecture: Masaru Taki
• Okayama Prefecture: Shiro Nagano
• Okinawa Prefecture:
  • until 23 November: Koichi Taira
  • 23 November-13 December: Takemori Nijima
  • starting 13 December: Junji Nishime
• Osaka Prefecture: Ryōichi Kuroda
• Saga Prefecture: Sunao Ikeda
• Saitama Prefecture: Yawara Hata
• Shiga Prefecture: Masayoshi Takemura
• Shiname Prefecture: Seiji Tsunematsu
• Shizuoka Prefecture: Keizaburō Yamamoto
• Tochigi Prefecture: Yuzuru Funada
• Tokushima Prefecture: Yasunobu Takeichi
• Tokyo: Ryōkichi Minobe
• 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 14 - According to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency confirmed report, total of 25 people were dead, 211 people were wounded, a Richer Scale 6.7 earthquake and aftershocks damaged in Izu Peninsula, Shizuoka Prefecture.^[2]
• March 26 - Protesters destroy much of equipment in the control tower of Narita Airport with Molotov cocktails, set to open in just four days.
• April 6 – Sunshine 60 has officially open in Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo, the tallest sky craper in Asia (Japan), until 63 Building in Seoul, South Korea on July 27, 1985.^{[citation needed]}
• May 20, 1978 - Narita International Airport opened
• June 12 - A large 7.7 magnitude earthquake hits offshore Miyagi Prefecture and causes 28 deaths and 1,325 injuries.^[3]
• July 30, 1978 - Okinawa Prefecture changed driving on the Right-hand traffic to Left-hand traffic(730)
• August 12 - The Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China is concluded.^[4]
• December 16 - The Mystery of Mamo is released in cinemas.

Births

January–June

• January 2 – Toyoguchi Megumi, voice actress
• January 6 –
  • Reina Miyauchi, J-pop singer
  • Ayano Tsuji, J-pop singer
• January 7 – Asami Imajuku, model, actress, and singer
• January 9 – Hassei Takano, actor
• January 10 – Kanako Mitsuhashi, voice actress
• January 11 – Kyoko Hamaguchi, freestyle wrestler
• January 15 – Vanilla Yamazaki, katsudō-benshi, voice actor, an actress
• January 16 – Hisanori Ōiwa, actor, stunt performer and suit actor
• January 17
  • Takatoshi Kaneko, actor
  • Hiro Suzuhira, manga artist
• January 24 – Tomokazu Myojin, football midfielder
• January 26 – Atsuko Kurusu, actress
• January 27 – Akiko Hinagata, actress and former gravure idol.
• February 4 – Shingo Kawaguchi, actor
• February 20 – Ken Takeuchi, voice actor
• February 21 – Miki Sakai, actress and J-pop idol singer
• February 23 – Yuka Motohashi, actress
• February 25
  • Yuji Nakazawa, football player
  • Shintarō Tokita, musician
• February 28 – Rei Kikukawa, actress, model, and television presenter
• March 1
  • Noriyasu Agematsu, composer
  • Sakura Nogawa, voice actress
• March 8 – Genki Sudo, mixed martial artist and a kickboxer
• March 9 – Ryosuke Sawai, baseball player
• March 12 – Arina Tanemura, manga artist
• March 15 – Takeru Kobayashi, competitive eater
• March 18
  • Shimotori Norio, sumo wrestler
  • Yoshie Takeshita, volleyball player
• March 20 – Hanako Oku, singer
• March 24
  • Takeharu Kato, baseball player
  • Kaori Mochida, singer
• March 29 – Hirotoki Onozawa, rugby union player
• April 5 – Yumie Funayama, curler
• April 8 – Daigo, e singer-songwriter, actor, talent, and voice actor
• April 9
  • Kousei Amano, actor
  • Takashi Ōhara, voice actor
• April 14 – Kaori Muraji, classical guitarist
• April 18 – Ryōta Tsuzuki, football player
• April 24 – Kazunari Okayama, football player
• April 26
  • Hiroshi Asai, musician and composer
  • Shinnosuke Tachibana, voice actor
• April 27 – Takahiro Suzuki, baseball player
• May 1 – Sachie Hara, actress and model
• May 3 – Dai Tamesue, hurdler athlete
• May 4 – Daisuke Ono, voice actor
• May 8 – Atsushi Sato, long-distance runner
• May 10 – Daisuke Yamai, basketball pitcher
• May 11 – Ushiomaru Motoyasu, sumo wrestler (d. 2019)
• October 2 – Ayumi Hamasaki, singer, songwriter, actress and model
• May 12 – Masahiro Abe, baseball player
• May 13 – Junji Majima, voice actor
• May 15
  • Kōsei Inoue, Judoka
  • Hideki Sahara, football player
• May 17 – Norihiro Yamagishi, football player
• May 18 – Toru Yano, wrestler
• May 23 – Hideaki Kitajima, football player
• June 1 – Ayako Ikeda, singer-songwriter
• June 2 – Junko Yaginuma, announcer and model
• June 5
  • Yuka Inokuchi, voice actress
  • Takayuki Kondō, voice actor
  • Taro Suruga, musician
• June 12 – Yumiko Shaku, actress and model
• June 13 – Mikako Ichikawa, actress and model
• June 17 – Kumiko Asō, actress
• June 24 – Shunsuke Nakamura, football player
• June 25 – Miki Nakao, backstroke swimmer

July –December

• July 3 – Mizuki Noguchi, long-distance runner^[5]
• July 4 – Yusuke Murata manga artist
• July 7
  • Kayo Kitada, judoka
  • Misia, singer, songwriter, and record producer
• July 9 – Osamu Hamanaka, baseball player
• July 10 – Kotaro Koizumi, actor
• July 12 – Yoshihito Ishii, baseball player
• July 19 – Atsushi Harada, actor
• July 21 – Kyoko Iwasaki, swimmer
• July 22 – Kyōko Hasegawa, actress and model
• July 23 – Takashi Yamamoto, swimmer
• July 24 – Sayo Aizawa, model
• July 28 – Hitomi Yaida, pop/folk rock singer-songwriter and guitarist
• August 4 – Satoshi Hino, voice actor
• August 8
  • Natsuko Kuwatani, voice actress
  • Miho Shiraishi, actress
• August 12
  • Toru Kurihara, rugby union player
  • Kakizoe Tōru, sumo wrestler
• August 24 – Kentaro Sekimoto, baseball player
• September 6
  • Homare Sawa, football player
  • Keigo Yamashita, Go player
• September 18 – Kaoru Mori, manga artist
• October 2 – Ayumi Hamasaki, recording artist, actress, model, and entrepreneur
• October 18
  • Kotomi Kyono, actress
  • Minoru Shiraishi, voice actor
• October 20 – Nora Hirano, comedian
• October 21 – Mariko Ooe, newsroom announcer
• October 25 – Maria Takagi, actress
• October 25 – An Yong-hak, North Korean, football manager
• October 27 – Manami Konishi, rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actress
• October 31 – Mika Sugisaki, announcer, radio personality, entertainer, and actress
• November 3 – Koshiro Take, jockey
• November 4 – Akiko Abe, announcer and actress
• November 7 – Tomoya Nagase, singer and actor
• November 8 – Kensaku Kishida, actor
• November 10 – Akemi Kanda, voice actress
• November 25
  • Ayumi Ogasawara, curler
  • Ringo Sheena, singer, songwriter and musician
• November 26 – Fukuyama Jun voice actor
• November 28 – Tomohiro Nagatsuka cyclist
• December 5 – Michinao Yamamura, baseball player
• December 7 – Yasue Sato, actress and model
• December 9 – Chihiro Kusaka, voice actress
• December 12 – Hiroki Konno, comedian
• December 23 – Akiko Yada, actress
• December 25 – Miyuki Takahashi, volleyball player
• December 26 – Kaoru Sugayama, volleyball player
• December 29 – Noriko Aoyama, actress and former model

Deaths

• January 5 – Shōji Hamada, potter (b. 1894)
• March 1 – Kiyoshi Oka, mathematician (b. 1901)
• March 5 – Toshiko Higashikuni, daughter of Emperor Meiji (b. 1896)
• April 29 – Yukihiko Yasuda, painter (b. 1884)
• May 15 – Kiku Amino, author and translator (b. 1900)
• May 30 – Tetsu Katayama, politician and 33rd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1887)
• June 6 – Katué Kitasono, poet and photographer (b. 1902)
• July 10 – Takashi Suzuki, politician (b. 1882)
• July 25 – Masao Koga, composer (b. 1904)
• August 1 – Kōgorō Uemura, businessman (b. 1892)
• September 9 – Kaoru Abe, saxophonist (b. 1949)