Diet sessions: 166th (regular, January 25 to July 5), 167th (extraordinary, August 7 to August 10), 168th (extraordinary, September 10 to 2008, January 15)
January 23 – A rare eel-like creature identified as a frilled shark is discovered in Japan by fishermen.[2]
February
February 20 – A power outage strikes the central area of Nagoya.
February 26 – A 7.0 magnitude earthquake strikes off the southern coast of Japan's Ryukyu Island.[3]
March
March 25 – A tsunami occurs on the northern coast of Japan after an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 in the Sea of Japan. NHK reports that 1 person has died and 40 have been injured.[4]
April 8 – Voters go to the polls in Japan for the first phase of the unified local elections including 13 gubernatorial elections, 44 prefectural assembly elections and 4 mayoral races in major cities.[6]
April 17 – Iccho Ito, the mayor of Nagasaki, Japan, is shot at least twice outside his re-election campaign headquarters. The assassin, Tetsuya Shiroo, is alleged to be a senior member of a local gang affiliated to the Yamaguchi-gumicrime syndicate.[8] Itoh was taken to the Nagasaki University Hospital, where he died early the next morning due to loss of blood.
April 22 – In the second phase of the unified local elections, hundreds of municipal elections and two by-elections for the national Diet are held.
