← 2015 2014 2013 2016 in Japan → 2017 2018 2019
Decades:	1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
See also:	Other events of 2016 History of Japan  • Timeline  • Years

The following lists events that happened during 2016 in Japan.

• Year: Heisei 28

Incumbents

• Emperor: Akihito^[1]
• Prime Minister: Shinzō Abe (L–Yamaguchi)
• Chief Cabinet Secretary: Yoshihide Suga (L–Kanagawa)
• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Itsurō Terada
• President of the House of Representatives: Tadamori Oshima (L–Aomori)
• President of the House of Councillors: Masaaki Yamazaki (L–Fukui) until July 25, Chūichi Date (L-Hokkaidō) from August 1
• National Diets: 190th (regular session, January 4–June 1), 191st (extraordinary session, August 1–3), 192nd (extraordinary session, September 26–November 30 [unless extended or cut short by lower house dissolution])^[2]

Governors

• Aichi Prefecture: Hideaki Omura
• Akita Prefecture: Norihisa Satake
• Aomori Prefecture: Shingo Mimura
• Chiba Prefecture: Kensaku Morita
• Ehime Prefecture: Tokihiro Nakamura
• Fukui Prefecture: Issei Nishikawa
• Fukuoka Prefecture: Hiroshi Ogawa
• Fukushima Prefecture: Masao Uchibori
• Gifu Prefecture: Hajime Furuta
• Gunma Prefecture: Masaaki Osawa
• Hiroshima Prefecture: Hidehiko Yuzaki
• Hokkaido: Harumi Takahashi
• Hyogo Prefecture: Toshizō Ido
• Ibaraki Prefecture: Masaru Hashimoto
• Ishikawa Prefecture: Masanori Tanimoto
• Iwate Prefecture: Takuya Tasso
• Kagawa Prefecture: Keizō Hamada
• Kagoshima Prefecture: Satoshi Mitazono
• Kanagawa Prefecture: Yuji Kuroiwa
• Kochi Prefecture: Masanao Ozaki
• Kumamoto Prefecture: Ikuo Kabashima
• Kyoto Prefecture: Keiji Yamada
• Mie Prefecture: Eikei Suzuki
• Miyagi Prefecture: Yoshihiro Murai
• Miyazaki Prefecture: Shunji Kōno
• Nagano Prefecture: Shuichi Abe
• Nagasaki Prefecture: Hōdō Nakamura
• Nara Prefecture: Shōgo Arai
• Niigata Prefecture: Hirohiko Izumida (until 27 October); Ryūichi Yoneyama (starting 27 October)
• Oita Prefecture: Katsusada Hirose
• Okayama Prefecture: Ryuta Ibaragi
• Okinawa Prefecture: Takeshi Onaga
• Osaka Prefecture: Ichirō Matsui
• Saga Prefecture: Yoshinori Yamaguchi
• Saitama Prefecture: Kiyoshi Ueda
• Shiga Prefecture: Taizō Mikazuki
• Shiname Prefecture: Zenbe Mizoguchi
• Shizuoka Prefecture: Heita Kawakatsu
• Tochigi Prefecture: Tomikazu Fukuda
• Tokushima Prefecture: Kamon Iizumi
• Tokyo:
  • until 21 June: Yōichi Masuzoe
  • 21 June-2 August: Tatsumi Ando
  • starting 2 August: Yuriko Koike
• Tottori Prefecture: Shinji Hirai
• Toyama Prefecture: Takakazu Ishii
• Wakayama Prefecture: Yoshinobu Nisaka
• Yamagata Prefecture: Mieko Yoshimura
• Yamaguchi Prefecture: Tsugumasa Muraoka
• Yamanashi Prefecture: Hitoshi Gotō

Events

January

• Record snowfall and the first Sumo tournament win in a decade for a Japanese rikishi, amid turmoil on the Nikkei 225 and a political scandal involving Abe's cabinet. (See Akira Amari)
• Filmmaker and dolphin activist Ric O'Barry was refused entry to the country and was held prior to deportation.

February

• February 17 - launch of Hitomi (satellite), ChubuSat-2, ChubuSat-3 and Horyu-4 using a H-IIA 202 space launch vehicle

March

• March 11 - Japan commemorates the fifth anniversary of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent of Fukushima nuclear disaster.
• March 25 - Kyoto Tamba Kogen Quasi-National Park is established
• March 25 - Asagishi, Hanasaki (Hokkaido), Higashi-Oiwake, Kami-Shirataki, Kanehana, Kyū-Shirataki, Ōshida, Shimo-Shirataki, Tomisato and Washinosu stations are closed
• March 26 - Higashi-Himeji, Nishi-kumamoto, Ishinomakiayumino, Odasakae and Maya stations opens
• March 26 - Hokkaido Shinkansen starts its service from Shin-Aomori Station to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station
• March 26 - Museum of Natural and Environmental History, Shizuoka opens
• March 27 – Kumamoto gubernatorial election: Incumbent Ikuo Kabashima reelected for a third term^[3]
• March 27 - Democratic Party (Japan) is established

April

• April 2 - Tsuyama Railroad Educational Museum opens
• April 16 – A 7.0 magnitude earthquake strikes Kumamoto prefecture, and kills at least 50 people and 3,129 injured.
• April 24 – National Diet, House of Representatives: By-elections in Hokkaido 5th district and in Kyoto 3rd district

May

• May 1–2 - G7 Kitakyushu Energy Ministerial Meeting
• May 23 - Akatsuki (spacecraft) begins a scientific mission at Venus after a troubled 5-years travel^[4]
• May 26–27 – The 42nd G7 summit was held on Kashiko Island

June

• IUPAC declared the element 113 Ununtrium as Nihonium, first element in the periodic table whose name is derived from Japan.^[5]
• June 5^[6] – Okinawa assembly election: Governor Onaga's anti-base, left-wing supporters expand their majority

July

• July 10 – National Diet, House of Councillors: 24th regular election
• July 10^[7] – Kagoshima gubernatorial election
• July 23 – Tatsuo Hirano, independent member of the House of Councillors from Iwate, joins the Liberal Democratic Party, giving the party the first majority of its own since the 1989 election defeat^[8]
• July 26 - A knife attack in Sagamihara kills 19 people and injures up to 50.
• July 31^[9] – Tokyo gubernatorial, assembly by-elections

August

• Japan at the 2016 Summer Olympics
• August 21: Russell M. Nelson dedicates the Sapporo Japan Temple, the 151st LDS temple and third LDS temple in Japan.^[10]

September

• July to September - According to Japan National Police Agency official confirmed report, 48 hospitalized patients were die, administer disinfectant liquid diamitol giving for hospitalized patients in hospital, Yokohama. On 7 July 2018, a nurse of the main criminal detained and confessed, according to JNPA.^[11]

October

• October 16^[12] – Niigata gubernatorial election
• October 21 - A Richer Scale 6.2 earthquake, with aftershocks in Kurayoshi, Tottori Prefecture, according to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency official confirmed report, 30 persons were wounded.^[13]
• October 23^[14] – Okayama gubernatorial election
• October 23^[15] – Toyama gubernatorial election
• October 23 – National Diet, House of Representatives: By-elections in Fukuoka, 6th district^[16] and in Tokyo, 10th district
• October 25 - Two explosions in a park in the Japanese city of Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, kill at least one person and injure three others. Local media report that a 72-year-old ex-military officer is responsible for the blasts. A fire the same day destroyed the suspect's house. (The Guardian), (BBC)

November

• November 20^[17] – Tochigi gubernatorial election

December

5th: Abe declares his historic plan to visit Pearl Harbor

• December 18 - A bottoming net fishing boat Daifuku Maru capsized off coast Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, according to Japan Coast Guard official confirmed report, nine people lost to lives.^{[page needed]}
• December 22 - A massive fire in Itoigawa, Niigata Prefecture, according to Japanese Fire and Disaster Management Agency confirmed report, 17 person wounded.^[18]

The Nobel Prize

• Yoshinori Ohsumi: 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner.

Culture

Arts and entertainment

• List of 2016 box office number-one films in Japan
• March 4 - 39th Japan Academy Prize
• March 12 - 10th Seiyu Awards

Arts and entertainment

• 2016 in anime
• 2016 in Japanese music
• 2016 in Japanese television
• List of 2016 box office number-one films in Japan
• List of Japanese films of 2016

Sports

• October 9 – 2016 Formula One World Championship is held at 2016 Japanese Grand Prix
• October 16 – 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship is held at 2016 6 Hours of Fuji
• October 16 – 2016 MotoGP World Championship is held at 2016 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix

• 2016 F4 Japanese Championship
• 2016 Japanese Formula 3 Championship
• 2016 Super Formula Championship
• 2016 Super GT Series

• 2016 FIFA Club World Cup
• 2016 in Japanese football
• 2016 J1 League
• 2016 J2 League
• 2016 J3 League
• 2016 Japan Football League
• 2016 Japanese Regional Leagues
• 2016 Japanese Super Cup
• 2016 Emperor's Cup
• 2016 J.League Cup

Deaths

January

February

March

April

• April 3, Kōji Wada, rock singer (b. 1974)

May

• May 5, Isao Tomita, composer (b. 1932)
• May 17, Yūko Mizutani, voice actress (b. 1964)

June

• June 21, Kunio Hatoyama, politician (b. 1948)

July

• July 31, Chiyonofuji Mitsugu, sumo wrestler (b. 1955)

August

September

October

• October 20, Junko Tabei, mountaineer (b. 1939)
• October 23, Mikijirō Hira, actor (b. 1933)

November

• November 3, Jiang Ge, murder victim (b. 1992)
• November 29, Hiroshi Ogawa [ja], announcer (b. 1926)

December

• December 29, Jinpachi Nezu, actor (b. 1947)