Events

1087 - Retired Emperor Shirakawa initiates cloistered rule. (Traditional Japanese Date: Twenty-sixth Day of the Eleventh Month, 1086)
1721 - The Love Suicides at Amijima (Shinjūten no Amijima) is performed for the first time at the Takemoto Theater. (Traditional Japanese Date: Sixth Day of the Twelfth Month, 1720)
1868 - Meiji Restoration: the Chōshū and Satsuma clans proclaim a restoration of ruling power to the emperor and the start of the new Meiji government. (Traditional Japanese Date: Ninth Day of the Twelfth Month, 1867)
1938 - Actress Okada Yoshiko and actor Sugimoto Ryōkichi defect to the Soviet Union.
1944 - World War II: Top Ace Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington is shot down in his Corsair by Captain Masajiro Kawato flying a Zero.
1945 - World War II: Admiral Chester W Nimitz is placed in command of all U.S. Naval forces in preparation for planned assaults against Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Japan.
1951 - First broadcast of the Kōhaku Uta Gassen, a singing competition between female celebrity singers, representing the red team, and male celebrity singers, representing the white team. Although it is now a well known television program that is broadcast every New Year's Eve, it actually began as a 50-minute radio program that was first broadcast on January 3, 1951. The television version began on December 31, 1953.
1972 - Japan and the United States reach a trade agreement on textiles.

Births

1196 - Emperor Tsuchimikado (d. 1231)
1836 - Sakamoto Ryōma (d. 1867), samurai and rebel leader
1873 - Ichizō Kobayashi (d. 1957), businessman, founded the Hankyu Hanshin Holdings
1941 - Shima Iwashita, actress
1950 - Victoria Principal, Japanese-American actress and producer
1959 - Dankan, actor and director
1961 - Toshirō Yanagiba, actor
1967 - Mayumi Wakamura, actress
1969 - Eisaku Yoshida, actor and singer
1975 - Jun Maeda, businessman, co-founded the Key Company
1977 - Mayumi Iizuka, voice actress and singer
1979 - Rie Tanaka, voice actress and singer
1985 - Asa Akira, Japanese-American porn actress and director
1987 - Nana Yanagisawa, model and actress
1989 - Kōhei Uchimura, gymnast
1989 - Ayaka Umeda, singer and actress
1990 - Yoichiro Kakitani, footballer
1995 - Akihisa Shiono, actor and model

Deaths