← 1986 1985 1984 1987 in Japan → 1988 1989 1990
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
See also:	Other events of 1987 History of Japan  • Timeline  • Years

Events in the year 1987 in Japan.

1987 was the second year of the Japanese asset price bubble: land values in Tokyo rose more than 85 percent between July 1986 and July 1987.

Incumbents

• Emperor: Hirohito^[1]
• Prime Minister: Yasuhiro Nakasone (L–Gunma) until November 6, Noboru Takeshita (L–Shimane)
• Chief Cabinet Secretary: Masaharu Gotōda (L–Tokushima) until November 6, Keizō Obuchi (L–Gunma)
• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Kōichi Yaguchi
• President of the House of Representatives: Kenzaburō Hara (L–Hyōgo)
• President of the House of Councillors: Masaaki Fujita (L–Hiroshima)
• Diet sessions: 108th (regular session opened in December 1986, to May 27), 109th (extraordinary, July 6 to September 19), 110th (extraordinary, November 6 to November 11), 111th (extraordinary, November 27 to December 12), 112th (regular, December 28 to 1988, May 25)

Governors

• Aichi Prefecture: Reiji Suzuki
• Akita Prefecture: Kikuji Sasaki
• Aomori Prefecture: Masaya Kitamura
• Chiba Prefecture: Takeshi Numata
• Ehime Prefecture: Haruki Shiraishi (until 27 January); Sadayuki Iga (starting 28 January)
• Fukui Prefecture: Heidayū Nakagawa (until 23 April); Yukio Kurita (starting 23 April)
• Fukuoka Prefecture: Hachiji Okuda
• Fukushima Prefecture: Isao Matsudaira
• Gifu Prefecture: Yosuke Uematsu
• Gunma Prefecture: Ichiro Shimizu
• Hiroshima Prefecture: Toranosuke Takeshita
• Hokkaido: Takahiro Yokomichi
• Hyogo Prefecture: Toshitami Kaihara
• Ibaraki Prefecture: Fujio Takeuchi
• Ishikawa Prefecture: Yōichi Nakanishi
• Iwate Prefecture: Tadashi Nakamura [ja]
• Kagawa Prefecture: Jōichi Hirai
• Kagoshima Prefecture: Kaname Kamada
• Kanagawa Prefecture: Kazuji Nagasu
• Kochi Prefecture: Chikara Nakauchi
• Kumamoto Prefecture: Morihiro Hosokawa
• Kyoto Prefecture: Teiichi Aramaki
• Mie Prefecture: Ryōzō Tagawa
• Miyagi Prefecture: Sōichirō Yamamoto
• Miyazaki Prefecture: Suketaka Matsukata
• Nagano Prefecture: Gorō Yoshimura
• Nagasaki Prefecture: Isamu Takada
• Nara Prefecture: Shigekiyo Ueda
• Niigata Prefecture: Takeo Kimi
• Oita Prefecture: Morihiko Hiramatsu
• Okayama Prefecture: Shiro Nagano
• Okinawa Prefecture: Junji Nishime
• Osaka Prefecture: Sakae Kishi
• Saga Prefecture: Kumao Katsuki
• Saitama Prefecture: Yawara Hata
• Shiga Prefecture: Minoru Inaba
• Shiname Prefecture: Seiji Tsunematsu (until 29 April); Nobuyoshi Sumita (starting 30 April)
• Shizuoka Prefecture: Shigeyoshi Saitō
• Tochigi Prefecture: Fumio Watanabe
• Tokushima Prefecture: Shinzo Miki
• Tokyo: Shun'ichi Suzuki
• Tottori Prefecture: Yuji Nishio
• Toyama Prefecture: Yutaka Nakaoki
• Wakayama Prefecture: Shirō Kariya
• Yamagata Prefecture: Seiichirō Itagaki
• Yamaguchi Prefecture: Toru Hirai
• Yamanashi Prefecture: Kōmei Mochizuki

Events

• January 27: Construction began on Kansai International Airport.
• February 9: First public float of NTT.
• March 17: Asahi beer starts selling Asahi Super Dry.
• April 1: Japanese National Railways is privatized and becomes the seven Japan Railways Group companies.
• April 4: The Ariake Coliseum in Koto Ward, Tokyo, is completed.
• June 1: Asahi TV starts broadcasting the popular short factual television programme See the World by Train (世界の車窓から)
• June 6: A Shojuen elderly nursing home fire in Higashimurayama, Tokyo. according to Japanese Fire and Disaster Management agency confirmed report, 17 person lost to lives.^{[page needed]}
• July 12: Metal Gear is released by Konami.
• July 23: 1987 Tokyo Metropolitan area power outage, where 2.8 million household affected, which restore spent more three and half hours, according to Japanese government confirmed report.^[2]
• October 1: Nippon Gakki Company Ltd. (Japan Musical Instrument Manufacturing Corporation) is renamed to Yamaha Corporation and Konishiroku Honten is renamed to Konica (Konica Minolta).
• October 12: Susumu Tonegawa wins the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.
• November 6: Noboru Takeshita becomes prime minister.
• December 15: Production I.G is founded by Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and Takayuki Goto.
• December 17: Mega Man is released.

During 1987:

• NTT began the first mobile phone service in Japan.
• Shoko Asahara founded Aum Shinrikyo.
• Teikyo University of Technology and Science founded in Chiba City, as predecessor of Teikyo Heisei University.^{[citation needed]}

Births

• January 3: Nana Yanagisawa, actress and fashion model
• January 8: Saori Gotō, voice actress
• January 23: Yuto Nakamura, football player
• February 12: Asami Tano, Japanese voice actress
• February 15: Azumi Yamamoto, voice actress
• March 12: Hiroomi Tosaka , Singer
• March 15: Momoko Shibuya, actress
• March 24: Yuma Asami, adult video actress
• March 25: Nobunari Oda, figure skater
• March 26: YUI, singer-songwriter
• April 17: Nami Sano, manga artist (died 2023)
• April 27: Anne Suzuki, actress
• May 2
  • Miyu Uehara, gravure idol and television personality (died 2011)
  • Nana Kitade, singer
• May 7: Asami Konno, J-pop singer
• May 20: Taku Takeuchi, ski jumper
• May 22
  • Takuya Eguchi, voice actor
  • Tao Okamoto, model
• June 3: Masami Nagasawa, actress
• June 17: Nozomi Tsuji, performer
• June 19: Miho Fukuhara, singer
• June 25: Takahiro Itō, actor and voice actor (died 2009)
• July 3: Mikie Hara, gravure idol and actress
• July 11
  • Shigeaki Kato, singer
  • Shun Yamaguchi, professional baseball player
• July 17: Mio Nishimaki, wrestler
• July 27: Kozue Akimoto, model
• July 28: Sumire, model (died 2009)
• August 11: Kazuki Sorimachi, football player
• August 16: Eri Kitamura, voice actress and singer
• August 24: Daichi Miura, singer and dancer
• September 11: Kaori Matsumoto, judoka
• September 21: Elly, Dancer and Rapper
• September 28: Sho Uchida, freestyle swimmer
• October 1: Hiroki Aiba, actor, dancer, and singer
• October 3: Asami Kitagawa, swimmer
• October 4: Atomu Tanaka, football player
• October 8: Aya Hirano, voice actress and singer
• October 15: Mizuho Sakaguchi, footballer
• October 23: Miyuu Sawai, model, actress, and idol
• October 23: Naomi Watanabe, actress and comedian
• October 27: Thelma Aoyama, J-Pop and R&B singer
• October 29: Makoto Ogawa, pop singer
• November 11: Yuya Tegoshi, singer
• November 12: Kengo Kora, actor
• November 27: Yuria Haga, model and actress
• December 18
  • Miki Ando, figure skater^[3]
  • Ayaka, singer
  • Yuki Furukawa, actor
• December 19: Shuko Aoyama, Japanese tennis player^[4]
• December 20
  • Yutaka Otsuka, baseball player
  • Michihiro Yasuda, football player

Deaths

• January 21: Ikki Kajiwara, author, manga writer, and film producer (b. 1936)
• February 3: Prince Takamatsu (b. 1905)
• March 8: Iwao Yamawaki, photographer (b. 1898)
• April 5: Tsuneko Nakazato, novelist (b. 1909)
• April 15: Masatoshi Nakayama, master of Shotokan karate (b. 1913)
• April 21: Haruyasu Nakajima, baseball player (b. 1909)
• May 10: Sadamichi Hirasawa, tempera painter (b. 1892)
• June 6: Mori Mari, author (b. 1903)
• June 16: Kōji Tsuruta, actor (b. 1924)
• July 17: Yujiro Ishihara, actor (b. 1934)
• July 20: Ichirō Arishima, comedian and actor (b. 1916)
• August 5: Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, novelist, art critic, and translator of French literature (b. 1928)
• August 7: Nobusuke Kishi, former prime minister (b. 1896)^[5]
• August 10: Prince Yamashina Takehiko (b. 1898)
• August 16: Sumiko Kurishima, actress and master of traditional Japanese dance (b. 1902)
• November 11: Hiroshi Kawaguchi, actor (b. 1936)
• December 29: Jun Ishikawa, author (b. 1899)

Statistics

• Yen value: US$1 = ¥122 (low) to ¥152 (high)