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2007 in Japan

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{{Year in Japan|2007}}

Events in the year 2007 in Japan.

Incumbents

=Governors=

Events

File:H-IIA F13 launching KAGUYA.jpg, 14 September 2007]]

=January=

  • January 23 – A rare eel-like creature identified as a frilled shark is discovered in Japan by fishermen.{{cite web|title=Rare shark captured on film|url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/01/24/shark.japan.reut/index.html|publisher=CNN|date=January 24, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070126120825/http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/01/24/shark.japan.reut/index.html|archive-date=January 26, 2007|url-status=dead}}

=February=

  • February 20 – A power outage strikes the central area of Nagoya.

=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.{{cite news|title=1 dead, 162 injured in Japan quake|url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2007-03/25/content_835840.htm|newspaper=China Daily|date=March 25, 2007}}
  • 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.{{cite news|last=Tabuchi|first=Hiroko|author-link=Hiroko Tabuchi |title=Japan Apologizes to WWII Sex Slaves|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/26/AR2007032600267.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=March 26, 2007}}

=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.{{cite web|title=Tokyo's governor wins third term|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6536509.stm|publisher=BBC|date=April 9, 2007}}
  • 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.{{cite web|last1=Ueno|first1=Kiyori|last2=Yamamura|first2=Keiichi|title=Japan Extends Sanctions on North Korea for Six Months|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aKJhe2lSOOO8&refer=japan|publisher=Bloomberg|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930044428/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aKJhe2lSOOO8&refer=japan|archive-date=September 30, 2007|url-status=dead}}
  • 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.{{cite news|last=Nishiyama|first=George|title=Mayor of Japanese city dies after being shot|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-shooting-idUST33398520070417|work=Reuters|date=April 17, 2007}} 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.{{cite web|title=Japan raid on pro-Pyongyang group|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6590793.stm|publisher=BBC|date=April 25, 2007}}

=May=

  • May 14 – The House of Councillors passes rules for revising the pacifist Constitution of Japan.{{cite journal |last=Martin |first=Craig |date=May 2, 2007 |title=The Case Against Revising Interpretations of the Japanese Constitution |url=http://apjjf.org/-Craig-Martin/2434/article.html |journal=The Asia-Pacific Journal |publisher=Japan Focus |volume=5 |issue=5 |pages=1 |access-date=May 5, 2016}}
  • May 28
  • Riyo Mori becomes Miss Universe 2007 in Mexico City, the second Japanese to do so after Akiko Kojima.{{cite news|last=Medel|first=Monica|title=Japan's Mori wins troubled Miss Universe contest|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-missuniverse-idUSN2827122620070529|work=Reuters|date=May 29, 2007}}
  • 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.{{cite news|last1=Kyodo News|title=Political circles shocked by suicide|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2007/05/29/national/political-circles-shocked-by-suicide/#.VXwpS_lVikp|access-date=13 June 2015|newspaper=The Japan Times|date=May 29, 2007}}

=June=

  • June 1 – Archaeologists discover a 2,100-year-old melon in Shiga Prefecture.{{cite web|title=2,100-year-old melon dug up|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2007/06/04/national/2100-year-old-melon-dug-up/|website=The Japan Times|date=4 June 2007 |access-date=18 August 2014}}
  • June 21 – Japan changes the name of Iwo Jima to its original name, Iwo To, to reflect the wishes of its original inhabitants.{{cite web|title=Japan renames island of Iwo Jima|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6224870.stm|publisher=BBC|date=June 21, 2007}}

=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.{{cite web|title=Japan minister quits over gaffe|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6263812.stm|publisher=BBC|date=July 3, 2007}}
  • July 4 – Japan's first female Minister of Defense, Yuriko Koike, is sworn in a day after the resignation of her predecessor, Fumio Kyuma.{{cite web|title=Japan swears in new defense minister|url=http://www.marketwatch.com/story/japan-swears-in-new-defense-minister?siteid=rss|publisher=Market Watch|date=July 4, 2007}}
  • 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=

=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.{{cite web|title=Japan launches first lunar probe |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6994272.stm|publisher=BBC|date=September 14, 2007}}
  • September 23 – Yasuo Fukuda, a political moderate, is elected by Japan's governing Liberal Democratic Party to become the country's next prime minister.{{cite news|last=Onishi|first=Norimitsu|title=Moderate Is Chosen as Japan's Next Prime Minister|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/world/asia/23cnd-japan.html?hp|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 23, 2007}}

=November=

  • November 18 – Japan resumes whaling of humpbacks for the first time in 40 years. Greenpeace and other environmentalist groups condemn the decision.{{cite web|title=Japanese whalers hunt humpbacks|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7099720.stm|publisher=BBC|date=November 18, 2007}}
  • November 28 – The Chinese Type 051B destroyer Shenzhen visits Tokyo in the first visit of a Chinese warship to Japan since World War II.{{cite web|last=Talmadge|first=Eric|title=China Warship Makes 1st Visit to Japan|url=http://ap.google.com:80/article/ALeqM5jC1zO3rH6xWRODUovq0ZM151JTXgD8T6CCP00|publisher=Associated Press|date=November 27, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071211143706/http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jC1zO3rH6xWRODUovq0ZM151JTXgD8T6CCP00|archive-date=December 11, 2007|url-status=dead}}

=December=

  • December 19 – A 32-year-old police sergeant shoots himself inside a kōban in front of Tokyo Station.

Births

  • August 30 – Momiji Nishiya, Olympic skateboarder{{cite web |title=Skateboarding NISHIYA Momiji |url=https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/en/results/skateboarding/athlete-profile-n1315689-nishiya-momiji.htm |work=Tokyo 2020 Olympics |access-date=26 July 2021 |language=en-us |archive-date=28 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210728052226/https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/en/results/skateboarding/athlete-profile-n1315689-nishiya-momiji.htm |url-status=dead }}
  • September 18 – Toshiki Kumagai, actor and voice actor

Deaths

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080601225659/http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i9njHm47JNdhFWGOlyGw15TuDTZw |archive-date=June 1, 2008 }}

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

{{Japan year nav}}

{{Asia topic|2007 in}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:2007 In Japan}}

Category:Years of the 21st century in Japan

Category:2000s in Japan

Category:2007 by country

Category:2007 in Asia