2016 in Japan

The following lists events that happened during 2016 in Japan.

Year: Heisei 28

Incumbents

Emperor: Akihito{{cite web |title=Akihito {{!}} Biography, Reign, & Facts |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Akihito |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=27 March 2019 |language=en}}
Prime Minister: Shinzō Abe (L–Yamaguchi)
Chief Cabinet Secretary: Yoshihide Suga (L–Kanagawa)
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Itsurō Terada
President of the House of Representatives: Tadamori Oshima (L–Aomori)
President of the House of Councillors: Masaaki Yamazaki (L–Fukui) until July 25, Chūichi Date (L-Hokkaidō) from August 1
National Diets: 190th (regular session, January 4–June 1), 191st (extraordinary session, August 1–3), 192nd (extraordinary session, September 26–November 30 [unless extended or cut short by lower house dissolution])House of Representatives: [http://www.shugiin.go.jp/internet/itdb_annai.nsf/html/statics/shiryo/kaiki.htm National Diet sessions] {{in lang|ja}}

=Governors=

Aichi Prefecture: Hideaki Omura
Akita Prefecture: Norihisa Satake
Aomori Prefecture: Shingo Mimura
Chiba Prefecture: Kensaku Morita
Ehime Prefecture: Tokihiro Nakamura
Fukui Prefecture: Issei Nishikawa
Fukuoka Prefecture: Hiroshi Ogawa
Fukushima Prefecture: Masao Uchibori
Gifu Prefecture: Hajime Furuta
Gunma Prefecture: Masaaki Osawa
Hiroshima Prefecture: Hidehiko Yuzaki
Hokkaido: Harumi Takahashi
Hyogo Prefecture: Toshizō Ido
Ibaraki Prefecture: Masaru Hashimoto
Ishikawa Prefecture: Masanori Tanimoto
Iwate Prefecture: Takuya Tasso
Kagawa Prefecture: Keizō Hamada
Kagoshima Prefecture: Satoshi Mitazono
Kanagawa Prefecture: Yuji Kuroiwa
Kochi Prefecture: Masanao Ozaki
Kumamoto Prefecture: Ikuo Kabashima
Kyoto Prefecture: Keiji Yamada
Mie Prefecture: Eikei Suzuki
Miyagi Prefecture: Yoshihiro Murai
Miyazaki Prefecture: Shunji Kōno
Nagano Prefecture: Shuichi Abe
Nagasaki Prefecture: Hōdō Nakamura
Nara Prefecture: Shōgo Arai
Niigata Prefecture: Hirohiko Izumida (until 27 October); Ryūichi Yoneyama (starting 27 October)
Oita Prefecture: Katsusada Hirose
Okayama Prefecture: Ryuta Ibaragi
Okinawa Prefecture: Takeshi Onaga
Osaka Prefecture: Ichirō Matsui
Saga Prefecture: Yoshinori Yamaguchi
Saitama Prefecture: Kiyoshi Ueda
Shiga Prefecture: Taizō Mikazuki
Shiname Prefecture: Zenbe Mizoguchi
Shizuoka Prefecture: Heita Kawakatsu
Tochigi Prefecture: Tomikazu Fukuda
Tokushima Prefecture: Kamon Iizumi
Tokyo:
until 21 June: Yōichi Masuzoe
21 June-2 August: Tatsumi Ando
starting 2 August: Yuriko Koike
Tottori Prefecture: Shinji Hirai
Toyama Prefecture: Takakazu Ishii
Wakayama Prefecture: Yoshinobu Nisaka
Yamagata Prefecture: Mieko Yoshimura
Yamaguchi Prefecture: Tsugumasa Muraoka
Yamanashi Prefecture: Hitoshi Gotō

Events

=January=

Record snowfall and the first Sumo tournament win in a decade for a Japanese rikishi, amid turmoil on the Nikkei 225 and a political scandal involving Abe's cabinet. (See Akira Amari)
Filmmaker and dolphin activist Ric O'Barry was refused entry to the country and was held prior to deportation.

=February=

February 17 - launch of Hitomi (satellite), ChubuSat-2, ChubuSat-3 and Horyu-4 using a H-IIA 202 space launch vehicle

=March=

March 11 - Japan commemorates the fifth anniversary of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent of Fukushima nuclear disaster.
March 25 - Kyoto Tamba Kogen Quasi-National Park is established
March 25 - Asagishi, Hanasaki (Hokkaido), Higashi-Oiwake, Kami-Shirataki, Kanehana, Kyū-Shirataki, Ōshida, Shimo-Shirataki, Tomisato and Washinosu stations are closed
March 26 - Higashi-Himeji, Nishi-kumamoto, Ishinomakiayumino, Odasakae and Maya stations opens
March 26 - Hokkaido Shinkansen starts its service from Shin-Aomori Station to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station
March 26 - Museum of Natural and Environmental History, Shizuoka opens
March 27 – Kumamoto gubernatorial election: Incumbent Ikuo Kabashima reelected for a third termAsahi Shimbun, March 27: [http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASJ3W5HQ5J3WTIPE00Y.html 熊本県知事選、蒲島氏が3選新顔2人を大差で破る]
March 27 - Democratic Party (Japan) is established

=April=

April 2 - Tsuyama Railroad Educational Museum opens
April 16 – A 7.0 magnitude earthquake strikes Kumamoto prefecture, and kills at least 50 people and 3,129 injured.
April 24 – National Diet, House of Representatives: By-elections in Hokkaido 5th district and in Kyoto 3rd district

=May=

May 1–2 - G7 Kitakyushu Energy Ministerial Meeting
May 23 - Akatsuki (spacecraft) begins a scientific mission at Venus after a troubled 5-years travel{{Cite web|url=http://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/planet_c/topics.html|title=JAXA {{pipe}} Venus Climate Orbiter "AKATSUKI" (PLANET-C)|website=JAXA {{pipe}} Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency}}
May 26–27 – The 42nd G7 summit was held on Kashiko Island

=June=

IUPAC declared the element 113 Ununtrium as Nihonium, first element in the periodic table whose name is derived from Japan.{{Cite web|url=https://iupac.org/iupac-is-naming-the-four-new-elements-nihonium-moscovium-tennessine-and-oganesson/|title=IUPAC is naming the four new elements nihonium, moscovium, tennessine, and oganesson|date=June 8, 2016|website=IUPAC {{pipe}} International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry}}
June 5Asahi Shimbun, May 27: [http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASJ5W3D1DJ5WTIPE00F.html 71人が届け出、沖縄県議選告示基地問題争点に] – Okinawa assembly election: Governor Onaga's anti-base, left-wing supporters expand their majority

=July=

July 10 – National Diet, House of Councillors: 24th regular election
July 10Kagoshima prefectural government, election commission: [http://www.pref.kagoshima.jp/ka01/kensei/senkyo/nittei/h28senkyo.html national, prefectural and municipal elections due in 2016] – Kagoshima gubernatorial election
July 23 – Tatsuo Hirano, independent member of the House of Councillors from Iwate, joins the Liberal Democratic Party, giving the party the first majority of its own since the 1989 election defeatAsahi Shimbun Digital, July 24, 21016: [http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASJ7R6J6BJ7RUTFK00P.html 自民、27年ぶり参院単独過半数平野・元復興相が入党]
July 26 - A knife attack in Sagamihara kills 19 people and injures up to 50.
July 31Tokyo metropolitan government, election commission: [http://www.senkyo.metro.tokyo.jp/election/schedule/senkyo2016/ National, prefectural and municipal elections in 2016] – Tokyo gubernatorial, assembly by-elections

=August=

Japan at the 2016 Summer Olympics
August 21: Russell M. Nelson dedicates the Sapporo Japan Temple, the 151st LDS temple and third LDS temple in Japan.{{cite web |last=Weaver |first=Sarah Jane |url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865660691/President-Nelson-dedicates-Sapporo-Japan-Temple.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160823175019/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865660691/President-Nelson-dedicates-Sapporo-Japan-Temple.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 23, 2016 |title=President Russell M. Nelson dedicates Sapporo Japan Temple |date=August 21, 2016 |work=Deseret News |access-date=August 23, 2016}}

=September=

July to September - According to Japan National Police Agency official confirmed report, 48 hospitalized patients were die, administer disinfectant liquid {{proper name|diamitol}} giving for hospitalized patients in hospital, Yokohama. On 7 July 2018, a nurse of the main criminal detained and confessed, according to JNPA.:ja:大口病院連続点滴中毒死事件 (Japanese language) Retrieved 12 July 2018.

=October=

October 16Jiji press, May 17: [http://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2016051700763&g=pol 10月16日投開票=新潟知事選] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701042119/http://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2016051700763&g=pol |date=2016-07-01 }} – Niigata gubernatorial election
October 21 - A Richer Scale 6.2 earthquake, with aftershocks in Kurayoshi, Tottori Prefecture, according to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency official confirmed report, 30 persons were wounded.:ja:鳥取県中部地震 (Japanese language) Retrieved date on March 30, 2017
October 23Okayama prefectural government, election commission, May 25: [http://www.pref.okayama.jp/page/473409.html 岡山県知事選挙等の日程を決定しました] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160602071513/http://www.pref.okayama.jp/page/473409.html |date=2016-06-02 }} – Okayama gubernatorial election
October 23Toyama prefectural government, election commission: [http://www.pref.toyama.jp/sections/0500/gs_nittei.html Election schedules] – Toyama gubernatorial election
October 23 – National Diet, House of Representatives: By-elections in Fukuoka, 6th districtNishi-Nippon Shimbun, June 22, 2016 evening edition: [http://www.nishinippon.co.jp/nnp/politics/article/253643 鳩山邦夫元総務相が死去政治家一族、衆院福岡6区] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623145013/http://www.nishinippon.co.jp/nnp/politics/article/253643 |date=2016-06-23 }} and in Tokyo, 10th district
October 25 - Two explosions in a park in the Japanese city of Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, kill at least one person and injure three others. Local media report that a 72-year-old ex-military officer is responsible for the blasts. A fire the same day destroyed the suspect's house. [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/23/japan-park-blasts-kill-one-person-and-injure-two (The Guardian)], [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-37743411 (BBC)]

=November=

November 20Jiji Press, August 26: [http://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2016082600618&g=pol 栃木知事選、11月20日投開票] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012224625/http://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2016082600618&g=pol |date=2016-10-12 }} – Tochigi gubernatorial election

=December=

5th: Abe declares his historic plan to visit Pearl Harbor

December 18 - A bottoming net fishing boat Daifuku Maru capsized off coast Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, according to Japan Coast Guard official confirmed report, nine people lost to lives.{{page needed|date=March 2017}}
December 22 - A massive fire in Itoigawa, Niigata Prefecture, according to Japanese Fire and Disaster Management Agency confirmed report, 17 person wounded.:ja:糸魚川市大規模火災 (Japanese language) Retrieved date on March 21, 2016