2007 in Japan
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| See also: | Other events of 2007 History of Japan • Timeline • Years | ||||
Events in the year 2007 in Japan.
Incumbents
- Emperor – Akihito
- Prime Minister – Shinzō Abe (Liberal Democratic Party–Yamaguchi) until September 26, Yasuo Fukuda (Liberal Democratic Party–Gunma)
- Chief Cabinet Secretary: Yasuhisa Shiozaki (L–Ehime) to August 27, Kaoru Yosano (L–Tokyo) to September 26, Nobutaka Machimura (L–Hokkaidō)
- Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Nirō Shimada
- President of the House of Representatives: Yōhei Kōno (L–Kanagawa)
- President of the House of Councillors: Chikage Ōgi (L–proportional) until July 28, Satsuki Eda (D–Okayama)
- Diet sessions: 166th (regular, January 25 to July 5), 167th (extraordinary, August 7 to August 10), 168th (extraordinary, September 10 to 2008, January 15)
Events
January
- January 23 - A rare eel-like creature identified as frilled shark is discovered in Japan by fishermen.[1]
- January 29 - Japan’s oldest person, Yone Minagawa, 114, becomes the world’s oldest living person.[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]
- March 26 - Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe apologizes for Japan's use of women as sex slaves in frontline brothels during World War II.[5]
April
- April 1 - Niigata and Hamamatsu become cities designated by government ordinance.
- 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 10 - The government of Japan extends economic sanctions against the North Korean government by an additional six months, citing a lack of progress in resolving kidnapping cases of Japanese citizens.[7]
- April 16 - The United States, Japan and India carry out a joint naval exercise in the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to increase strategic cooperation.
- 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-gumi crime 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.
- April 25 - Japanese police raid the offices of a pro-North Korean group in relation to the alleged kidnapping of two children in the 1970s.[9]
May
- May 14 - The House of Councillors passes rules for revising the pacifist Constitution of Japan.[10]
- May 28
- Riyo Mori becomes Miss Universe 2007 in Mexico City, the second Japanese to do so after Akiko Kojima.[11]
- Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Toshikatsu Matsuoka is found dead at his Tokyo home, hours before he was to face questions in the Diet about his expenses.[12]
June
- June 1 - Archaeologists discover a 2,100-year-old melon in Shiga Prefecture.[13]
- June 21 - Japan changes the name of Iwo Jima to its original name, Iwo To, to reflect the wishes of its original inhabitants.[14]
July
- July 3 - Japan's Minister of Defense Fumio Kyuma resigns over comments he made about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the weekend.[15]
- July 4 - Japan's first female Minister of Defense, Yuriko Koike, is sworn in a day after the resignation of her predecessor, Fumio Kyuma.[16]
- July 16 - 2007 Chūetsu offshore earthquake, eleven deaths and at least 1000 injuries were reported, and 342 buildings destroyed.
- July 29 - House of Councillors election
August
- August 1 - Norihiko Akagi resigns as Japan's agriculture minister after scandals involving him adversely affected the Liberal Democratic Party's performance in the Japanese House of Councillors election, 2007.[17]
- August 24 - Murder of Rie Isogai
- August 25 - The 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics get underway in Osaka, Japan.[18]
September
- September 12 - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announces his resignation.
- September 14 - The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency successfully launches SELENE, the largest lunar mission since the Apollo program, on a mission to explore the moon.[19]
- September 23 - Yasuo Fukuda, a political moderate, is elected by Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party to become the country’s next prime minister.[20]
October
November
- November 18 - Japan resumes whaling of humpbacks for the first time in 40 years. Greenpeace and other environmentalist groups condemn the decision.[22]
- November 28 - The Chinese Type 051B destroyer Shenzhen visits Tokyo in the first visit of a Chinese warship to Japan since World War II.[23]
December
- December 19 - A 32-year-old police sergeant shoots himself inside a kōban in front of Tokyo Station.
Deaths
- January 5 - Momofuku Ando, inventor of Instant noodles and Cup Noodles, founder of Nissin Foods
- January 8 - Iwao Takamoto, animator
- April 18 - Iccho Itoh, mayor of Nagasaki
- May 3 - Knock Yokoyama, comedian and politician
- May 27 - Izumi Sakai, singer
- May 28 - Toshikatsu Matsuoka, politician
- June 28 - Kiichi Miyazawa, 78th Prime Minister
- July 18 - Kenji Miyamoto, politician
- August 13 - Yone Minagawa, world's oldest living person
- August 28 - Miyoshi Umeki, actress
- September 7 - Kenji Nagai, journalist
- October 7 - Norifumi Abe, motorcycle road racer
- October 12 - Kurokawa Kisho, architect
- November 13 - Kazuhisa Inao, baseball player
References
- ^ "Rare shark captured on film". CNN. January 24, 2007. Archived from the original on January 26, 2007.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|dead-url=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Japan's Yone Minagawa Oldest Person". Weird Asia News. January 30, 2007.
- ^ Winter, Michael (February 26, 2010). "7.0 quake hits off Okinawa; tsunami warnings canceled". USA Today. Archived from the original on February 26, 2010.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|dead-url=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "1 dead, 162 injured in Japan quake". China Daily. March 25, 2007.
- ^ Tabuchi, Hiroko (March 26, 2007). "Japan Apologizes to WWII Sex Slaves". The Washington Post.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Tokyo's governor wins third term". BBC. April 9, 2007.
- ^ Ueno, Kiyori; Yamamura, Keiichi. "Japan Extends Sanctions on North Korea for Six Months". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|dead-url=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Nishiyama, George (April 17, 2007). "Mayor of Japanese city dies after being shot". Reuters.
- ^ "Japan raid on pro-Pyongyang group". BBC. April 25, 2007.
- ^ Martin, Craig (May 2, 2007). "The Case Against Revising Interpretations of the Japanese Constitution". The Asia-Pacific Journal. 5 (5). Japan Focus: 1. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
- ^ Medel, Monica (May 29, 2007). "Japan's Mori wins troubled Miss Universe contest". Reuters.
- ^ Kyodo News (May 29, 2007). "Political circles shocked by suicide". The Japan Times. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
- ^ "2,100-year-old melon dug up". The Japan Times. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
- ^ "Japan renames island of Iwo Jima". BBC. June 21, 2007.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ "Japan minister quits over gaffe". BBC. July 3, 2007.
- ^ "Japan swears in new defense minister". Market Watch. July 4, 2007.
- ^ McLeod, Shane (July 31, 2007). "Japan's Agriculture Minister quits". ABC (AU).
- ^ "World Champs day one as it happened". BBC. August 25, 2007.
- ^ "Japan launches first lunar probe". BBC. September 14, 2007.
- ^ Onishi, Norimitsu (September 23, 2007). "Moderate Is Chosen as Japan's Next Prime Minister". The New York Times.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Japanese probe enters lunar orbit". BBC. October 5, 2007.
- ^ "Japanese whalers hunt humpbacks". BBC. November 18, 2007.
- ^ Talmadge, Eric (November 27, 2007). "China Warship Makes 1st Visit to Japan". Associated Press. Archived from the original on December 11, 2007.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help); Unknown parameter|dead-url=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help)
