1939 in Japan
{{short description|none}}
{{one source|date=March 2019}}
{{Cleanup|reason=Needs copyediting and rewording of machine translated sentences|date=May 2024}}
{{Year in Japan|1939}}
Events in the year 1939 in Japan. It corresponds to Shōwa 14 (昭和14年) in the Japanese calendar.
Incumbents
- Emperor: Hirohito{{cite web |title=Hirohito {{!}} Biography, Accomplishments, & Facts |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hirohito |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=27 March 2019 |language=en}}
- Prime Minister:
- Fumimaro Konoe: until January 5
- Kiichirō Hiranuma: 5 January – 30 August
- Nobuyuki Abe: from 30 August
=Governors=
- Aichi Prefecture: Kotaro Tanaka
- Akita Prefecture: Kaoru Sasaki (until 11 January); Yukio Tomeoka (starting 11 January)
- Aomori Prefecture: Masanori Ogawa (until 1 March); Noburo Suzuki (starting 1 March)
- Ehime Prefecture: Shizuo Furukawa (until 15 July); Yoshio Mochinaga (starting 15 July)
- Fukui Prefecture: Nakano Yoshiro (until 14 April); Kiyoshi Kimura (starting 14 April)
- Fukuoka Prefecture: Kyuichi Kodama (starting 1940)
- Fukushima Prefecture: Seikichi Kimishima (until 5 September); Seikichi Hashimoto (starting 5 September)
- Gifu Prefecture: Miyano Shozo
- Gunma Prefecture: Shozo Tsuchiya (until 17 April); Kumano Ei (starting 17 April)
- Hiroshima Prefecture: Ichisho Inuma (until 5 September); Katsuroku Aikawa (starting 5 September)
- Ibaraki Prefecture: Shigeru Hamaza (until 11 January); Tokitsugi Yoshinaga (starting 11 January)
- Ishikawa Prefecture: Masasuke Kodama then Narita Ichiro
- Iwate Prefecture: Chiyoji Yukizawa
- Kagawa Prefecture: Nagatoshi Fujioka
- Kanagawa Prefecture: Seiichi Ōmura then Ichisho Inuma
- Kumamoto Prefecture: Tomoichi Koyama
- Kochi Prefecture: Fujioka Nagawa (until 17 April); Shunsuke Kondo (starting 17 April)
- Kyoto Prefecture: Tota Akamatsuko
- Mie Prefecture: Masatoshi Sato (until 3 January); Masanari Ogawa (starting 1 March)
- Miyagi Prefecture: Ryosaku Shimizu
- Miyazaki Prefecture:
- until 12 April: Jiro Ino
- 12 April-7 September: Kyuichiro Totsuka
- starting 7 September: Ryosaku Shimizu
- Nagano Prefecture: Tomita Kenji
- Nagasaki Prefecture: Jitsuzo Kawanishi
- Niigata Prefecture: Yasujiro Nakamura (until 5 September); Seikichi Kimishima (starting 5 September)
- Okinawa Prefecture: Fusataro Fuchigami
- Saga Prefecture: Tomoichi Koyama (until 17 April); Kato (starting 17 April)
- Saitama Prefecture: Toki Ginjiro
- Shiname Prefecture: Kyuichi Kodama (until 9 April); ... (starting 9 April)
- Tochigi Prefecture: Adachi Shuuritsu
- Tokyo: Okada Shuzo
- Toyama Prefecture: Kenzo Yano
- Yamagata Prefecture: Takei Yoshitsugu (until 17 April); Ishiguro Takeshige (starting 17 April)
Events
- February - Hainan Island Operation
- March - Battle of Xiushui River
- March 1 – According to Japanese government official confirmed report, Japanese Imperial Army ammunition dump explode in Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture, 94 persons were human fatalities, 602 persons were hurt.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}
- March 17-May 9 - Battle of Nanchang
- April 20-May 24 - Battle of Suixian–Zaoyang
- May 11-September 16 - Battles of Khalkhin Gol
- June - Swatow Operation
- June 1 –Nippon Electric Works and Showa Fertilizer were merger, becomes name was Showa Denko.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}
- September 13-October 8 - Battle of Changsha (1939)
- Unknown date – Mukogawa Higher Women's School was founded, as predecessor of Mukogawa Women's University.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}
Births
- February 9 – Tadahiro Matsushita, politician (d. 2012)
- February 17 – Toshihiro Nikai, politician
- March 2 – Takako, Princess Suga, youngest child of Emperor Shōwa
- April 9 – Ikuko Tani, actress, voice actress and narrator
- August 13 – Shijaku Katsura, rakugo performer (d. 1999)
- September 22 – Junko Tabei, mountaineer, first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest (d. 2016)
Deaths
- February 18 – Kanoko Okamoto, author, poet, and Buddhist scholar (b. 1889)
- March 29 – Michizō Tachihara, poet and architect (b. 1914)
- September 7 – Kyōka Izumi, novelist and Kabuki playwright (b. 1873)
- November 11 – Kagaku Murakami, painter and illustrator (b. 1888)
- December 25 – Masao Nakamura, major general (b. 1892)