2024 in Japan

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See also:	Other events of 2024; History of Japan • Timeline • Years

Events in the year 2024 in Japan.

Incumbents

Emperor: Naruhito^[1]
Prime Minister: Fumio Kishida (Liberal Democratic)
Chief Cabinet Secretary: Yoshimasa Hayashi (Liberal Democratic)
Chief Justice of Japan: Saburo Tokura
Speaker of the House of Representatives: Fukushiro Nukaga (Liberal Democratic)
President of the House of Councillors: Hidehisa Otsuji (Liberal Democratic)

Governors

Aichi Prefecture: Hideaki Omura
Akita Prefecture: Norihisa Satake
Aomori Prefecture: Sōichirō Miyashita
Chiba Prefecture: Toshihito Kumagai
Ehime Prefecture: Tokihiro Nakamura
Fukui Prefecture: Tatsuji Sugimoto
Fukuoka Prefecture: Seitaro Hattori
Fukushima Prefecture: Masao Uchibori
Gifu Prefecture: Hajime Furuta
Gunma Prefecture: Ichita Yamamoto
Hiroshima Prefecture: Hidehiko Yuzaki
Hokkaido: Naomichi Suzuki
Hyogo Prefecture: Motohiko Saitō
Ibaraki Prefecture: Kazuhiko Ōigawa
Ishikawa: Masanori Tanimoto
Iwate Prefecture: Takuya Tasso
Kagawa Prefecture: Keizō Hamada
Kagoshima Prefecture: Kōichi Shiota
Kanagawa Prefecture: Yuji Kuroiwa
Kumamoto Prefecture: Ikuo Kabashima
Kochi Prefecture: Seiji Hamada
Kyoto Prefecture: Takatoshi Nishiwaki
Mie Prefecture: Eikei Suzuki
Miyagi Prefecture: Yoshihiro Murai
Miyazaki Prefecture: Shunji Kōno
Nagano Prefecture: Shuichi Abe
Nagasaki Prefecture: Hōdō Nakamura
Nara Prefecture: Makoto Yamashita
Niigata Prefecture: Hideyo Hanazumi
Oita Prefecture: Kiichiro Sato
Okayama Prefecture: Ryuta Ibaragi
Okinawa Prefecture: Denny Tamaki
Osaka Prefecture: Hirofumi Yoshimura
Saga Prefecture: Yoshinori Yamaguchi
Saitama Prefecture: Motohiro Ōno
Shiga Prefecture: Taizō Mikazuki
Shimame Prefecture: Tatsuya Maruyama
Shizuoka Prefecture: Yasutomo Suzuki
Tochigi Prefecture: Tomikazu Fukuda
Tokushima Prefecture: Masazumi Gotoda
Tokyo Prefecture: Yuriko Koike
Tottori Prefecture: Shinji Hirai
Toyama Prefecture: Hachiro Nitta
Wakayama Prefecture: Shūhei Kishimoto
Yamagata Prefecture: Mieko Yoshimura
Yamaguchi Prefecture: Tsugumasa Muraoka
Yamanashi Prefecture: Kotaro Nagasaki

Arts and entertainment

Events

January

January 1 –
- Six wards in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, including Naka-ku, Minami-ku, Higashi-ku, Nishi-ku, and Kita-ku, are disestablished and replaced by two new wards, namely Hamana-ku and Chūō-ku.^[2]
- A 7.5 magnitude earthquake strikes Ishikawa Prefecture,^[3] killing 241 people.^[4]
January 2 – 2024 Haneda Airport runway collision: A Japan Airlines Airbus A350-900 collides with a Japan Coast Guard DHC-8 aircraft and bursts into flames at Tokyo's Haneda Airport. The Coast guard plane was going to deliver aid to those affected by the earthquake in Ishikawa Prefecture the day before. All 379 occupants aboard the Japan Airlines flight are evacuated, while five of the six occupants aboard the Coast Guard aircraft are killed.^[5]
January 3 – Three men are stabbed on a train at Akihabara Station, Tokyo. A woman is arrested by police.^[6]
January 19:
- Japan becomes the fifth country to successfully land on the surface of the moon with the SLIM lunar lander mission.^{[citation needed]}
- 2023–2024 Japanese slush fund scandal: Several Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers are indicted in a scandal involving misuse of campaign funds, including incumbent lawmakers Yasutada Ōno and Yaichi Tanigawa, both of whom resign from the party following their indictments.^[7] The Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai, Kōchikai, and Shisuikai factions of the Liberal Democratic Party all announce their intention to dissolve as a result of the scandal.^[8]
January 23 – Two railway workers are injured after being electrocuted while trying to fix a massive power outage that shuts down the Shinkansen system in a section operated by JR East between Omiya Station in Saitama and Ueno Station in Tokyo. A train is also damaged during the outage.^[9]^[10]
January 24 – Ukrainian-born Karolina Shiino is announced as the winner of the 2024 Miss Nippon Grand Prix beauty pageant.^[11] She is the first naturalised Japanese citizen to win the pageant.^[12] Her win sparks debates over "Japaneseness" and the shifting demographics of Japan.^[13]^[14]^[15]^[16]
January 25 – Kyoto Animation arson attack: A court sentences Shinji Aoba to death for a 2019 arson attack on a Kyoto Animation studio in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, which killed 36 people.^[17]
January 26 – 1974 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries bombing: Police announce they have arrested who they believe to be Satoshi Kirishima, a member of East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front who has been a fugitive from justice for 50 years for his role in a series of bombings of companies.^[18]
January 29 – The man believed to be Satoshi Kirishima dies.^[19] DNA comparison with relatives further confirms his identity as Kirishima.^[20]

February

February 5 – Ukrainian-born Karolina Shiino relinquishes her crown as winner of the 2024 Miss Nippon Grand Prix beauty pageant after news emerges of her having an affair with a married man.^[21]^[22]
February 27 – Sony announces it will cut 900 jobs across its global workforce and proposes the closure of London Studio as part of the restructuring.^[23]

March

March 4 – The Nikkei 225 reaches 40,000 points for the first time.^[24]
March 11 – Two New Zealand skiers are killed and another is injured following an avalanche on Mount Yotei in Hokkaido.^[25]
March 12 – A court in Fukuoka overturns the death sentence of Yakuza Kudo-kai leader Satoru Nomura imposed for a 1998 murder and sentences him to life in prison.^[26]
March 13:
- KAIROS-1, designed by Space One as Japan's first privately-manufactured rocket, explodes seconds after its maiden launch from Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture.^[27]
- The Fuji-Q Highland amusement park announces the removal of the famed high-speed roller coaster Do-Dodonpa,^[28] which had been closed since August 2021 following numerous incidents resulting in injuries within a year.^[29]
- The Tokyo District Court orders the government to return the remains of Aum Shinrikyo leader Shoko Asahara, who was executed in 2018 for the Tokyo subway attack in 1995, to his family.^[30]
March 14:
- In separate lawsuits, the Sapporo High Court and the Tokyo District Court rule that the non-recognition of same-sex marriage in Japan is unconstitutional.^[31]
- The Tokyo District Court convicts former State Minister of Justice Mito Kakizawa of vote-buying worth 2.8 million yen ($19,000) during mayoral elections in the Kōtō ward of Tokyo in April 2023 and sentences him to a two-year suspended sentence.^[32]
- The Tokyo District Court convicts former Member of the House of Councillors and YouTuber GaaSyy of online harassment and sentences him to a three-year suspended sentence.^[33]
March 16: The Hokuriku Shinkansen railway extension from Kanazawa to Tsuruga, Fukui is completed.^[34]
March 20
- The South Korean-flagged tanker Keoyoung Sun capsizes off the coast of Yamaguchi Prefecture during stormy weather. Nine crew members are found dead, while one person remains missing. Two people are rescued.^[35]
- Aiko, Princess Toshi (only child of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako) graduates from Gakushuin University.^[36]
March 26: The Kishida Cabinet allows the sale and export of fighter aircraft to other countries.^[37]
March 29 – North Korean state media cites foreign minister Choe Son Hui as saying that North Korea rejects any talks with Japan on any issue, including Japanese abductees, after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he was willing to meet in person with leader Kim Jong Un.^[38]
March 30 – Authorities raid a facility of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Company in Osaka after five deaths from kidney failure are linked to consumption of its health supplements containing the red mold benikoji.^[39]

April

April 1:
- A magnitude 6.0 earthquake strikes Iwate Prefecture, injuring two people.^[40]
- The Imperial House of Japan opens an account on Instagram for the first time.^[41]
- Aiko, Princess Toshi joins the Japanese Red Cross Society as a full-time contract employee.^[42]
April 2 – The governor of Shizuoka Prefecture, Heita Kawakatsu, announces his resignation following uproar over comments he made the previous day comparing civil servants with other professions.^[43]
April 3 – A magnitude 7.4 earthquake strikes off the coast of Taiwan, prompting tsunami warnings for Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. A 30-cm tsunami is observed at Yonaguni Island and Miyako Island while a 20-cm tsunami reaches Ishigaki Island.^[44]^[45]
April 15 – Nearly 60,000 residents of Naha are ordered evacuated due to risks of landslides caused by heavy rains.^[46]^[47]
April 17 – A magnitude 6.6 earthquake strikes along the Bungo Channel between Shikoku and Kyushu, injuring 12 people.^[48]
April 20 – Two SH-60K helicopters of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces crash into the Pacific Ocean following a possible collision during a training exercise near Torishima Island, killing eight people.^[49]
April 23 – A spring imperial garden party is held at Akasaka Estate, during which Aiko, Princess Toshi makes her debut.^[50]
April 25 – Hiroyuki Miyazawa resigns as a member of the House of Representatives after reports emerge of him having an extra-martial affair.^[51]
April 28 – By-elections are held for three seats in the House of Representatives (Tokyo 15th, Shimane 1st and Nagasaki 3rd districts), which are all won by the Constitutional Democratic Party.^[52]

May

May 14 – Three people are killed and two others are injured in an accident involving seven vehicles along the Metropolitan Expressway in Toda, Saitama Prefecture.^[53]
May 17 –
- The National Diet approves a bill seeking to allow joint child custody for divorced couples.^[54]
- Three members of the Japan Wings Party (Tsubasa no tō), including a candidate of the House of Representatives by-election on April 28 are arrested on suspicion of disrupting other candidates' campaign rallies.^[55]
May 23 – Four people, including three children are found dead in suspicious circumstances following a house fire in Shinagawa, Tokyo.^[56]
May 24 – A probation officer is killed in Otsu, in what is suspected to be the first of its kind by their charge in Japan since 1964.^[57]
May 26 – 2024 Shizuoka Prefecture gubernatorial election: Former Hamamatsu mayor and opposition-backed candidate Yasutomo Suzuki is elected governor.^[58]
May 30 – A member of the Japan Self-Defense Forces is killed by an exploding grenade during a training accident at the Kitafuji training ground in Yamanashi Prefecture.^[59]

June

3 June – A magnitude 5.8 earthquake hits Ishikawa Prefecture, injuring two people^[60] and destroying five houses.^[61]
4 June – Authorities raid the headquarters of Toyota as part of an investigation into data manipulation during safety certification tests.^[62]
6 June – Seven workers are injured following an explosion at a shipyard in Nishinari-ku, Osaka.^[63]
7 June – Four buildings are destroyed in a fire in Yokohama Chinatown.^[64]
8 June – Kadokawa Corporation and the video-streaming platform Niconico suffer a ransomware cyberattack by a hacker group called BlackSuit.^[65]
10 June – The government allows the deportation of asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected multiple times.^[66]
14 June – Yayoi Kimura, the former mayor of Kōtō, Tokyo is given a suspended 1.5 year prison sentence for vote-buying by the Tokyo District Court.^[67]
20 June –
- A no-confidence motion against the Kishida Cabinet filed by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan is defeated in the House of Representatives.^[68]
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces sanctions on firms based in China, India, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, for their alleged support to Russia in the Russo–Ukrainian war.^[69]
28 June:
- Thousands protest at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo over multiple alleged sexual assault cases involving U.S. servicemembers against residents of Okinawa Island.^[70]
- The Japanese government officially ends the usage of floppy disks in its transactions.^[71]

July

2 July – Kobayashi red yeast rice scandal: 76 more deaths and at least 500 hospitalizations in Japan are linked to use of red yeast rice supplements distributed by Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, causing kidney disease and other severe conditions.^[72]
3 July – The Supreme Court of Japan rules that a defunct eugenics law that led to the forced sterilization of 24,500 people from 1948 to 1996 is unconstitutional. The court also invalidates a 20-year statute of limitations for complaints relating to the law.^[73]
7 July – 2024 Tokyo gubernatorial election: Incumbent Yuriko Koike is reelected as Governor of Tokyo.^[74]
8 July – Japan and the Philippines sign a defense pact which allows the deployment of Japanese forces to the Philippines for military exercises.^[75]
12 July – Three people are killed in a landslide in Matsuyama.^[76]
16 July – A man sets himself on fire at the city hall of Takahama, Aichi Prefecture, injuring himself and three city employees.^[77]
17 July – Prime Minister Fumio Kishida formally apologizes to 130 victims of forced sterilization under the Eugenics Protection Law which was declared unconstitutional on July 3, and approves compensation measures for more than 25,000 affected victims and their relatives.^[78]
19 July – Ryo Sakai resigns as Chief of Staff of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force following criticism over a series of scandals in the service. He is replaced in his position by Akira Saito.^[79]

Sports

March 30 – 2023–24 Formula E World Championship is held at 2024 Tokyo ePrix
April 7 – 2024 Formula One World Championship is held at 2024 Japanese Grand Prix
September 15 – 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship is held at 2024 6 Hours of Fuji
October 6 – 2024 MotoGP World Championship is held at 2024 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix