Events in the year 1937 in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Incumbents

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Hirohito Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

: **

Kōki Hirota was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1936 to 1937. Originally his name was . He was executed for war crimes committed during the Second Sino-Japanese War at the Tokyo Trials. Early life Hirota was ...

: until February 2 **

Senjūrō Hayashi was a Japanese politician and general. He served as Imperial Japanese Army Commander of the Japanese Korean Army during the Mukden Incident and the invasion of Manchuria. He briefly served as Prime Minister of Japan in 1937. Early life Hayas ...

: from February 2 until June 4 ** Fumimaro Konoe: from June 4

Governors

Aichi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefectur ...

: Eitaro Shinohara (until 10 February); Kotaro Tanaka (starting 10 February) *Akita Prefecture: Kiyoshi Honma (until 24 June); Kaoru Sasaki (starting 24 June) *Aomori Prefecture: Masanori Ogawa *Ehime Prefecture: Shizuo Furukawa *Fukui Prefecture: Masanori Hanyu (until 4 November); Nakano Yoshiro (starting 4 November) *Fukushima Prefecture: Ito Takehiko (until 7 July);

Seikichi Kimishima Seikichi (written: 清吉 or 政吉) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: * Seikichi Odo (1926–2002), Japanese karateka * (1917–1998), Japanese karateka Fictional characters: * character in the stage play ...

(starting 7 July) *Gifu Prefecture: Chiaki Saka (until 20 February);

Miyano Shozo was Governor of Gifu Prefecture (1937–1941) and Saitama Prefecture (1941–1942). {{DEFAULTSORT:Miyano, Shozo 1896 births 1972 deaths Governors of Gifu Prefecture Governors of Saitama Prefecture Japanese Police Bureau government ...

(starting 20 February) *Gunma Prefecture:

(until 7 July); Shozo Tsuchiya (starting 7 July) *

Hiroshima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Hiroshima Prefecture has a population of 2,811,410 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 8,479 km² (3,274 sq mi). Hiroshima Prefecture borders Okayama ...

Saburo Hayakawa Saburo Hayakawa (April 8, 1888 – April 19, 1973) was a Japanese politician who served as governor of Hiroshima Prefecture from April 1936 to January 1937. He was born in Kanagawa Prefecture and graduated from the University of Tokyo. He was als ...

(until 8 January);

Aijiro Tomita was a Japanese politician who served as governor of Hiroshima Prefecture from January 1937 to November 1938. He was governor of Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a populatio ...

(starting 8 January) *

Ibaraki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,871,199 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, ...

: Ando Kyoushirou (until 8 January);

Nobuo Hayashi Nobuo (written: , , , , , in hiragana or in katakana) is a masculine, Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese basketball player * Nobuo Fujita (1911–1997), Warrant Flying Officer of the Imperial Japanese Navy *, ...

(starting 8 January) *

Ishikawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu island. Ishikawa Prefecture has a population of 1,140,573 (31 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,186 km2 (1,616 sq mi). Ishikawa Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to ...

: Masasuke Kodama (until 1938);

Shunsuke Kondo Kondo Shunsuke

was the penultimate Governor of the South Seas Mandate ( ...

(starting 1938) *Iwate Prefecture:

Hidehiko Ishiguro Hidehiko (written: 秀彦 or 英彦) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese musician and songwriter *, Japanese jazz saxophonist and bandleader *, Japanese footballer and manager *, Japanese high jump ...

(until 5 June); Chiyoji Yukizawa (starting 5 June) *Kagawa Prefecture: Nagatoshi Fujioka (until 24 December); Shojiro Tamada (starting 24 December) *

Kumamoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture to ...

: Fujioka Nagawa *Kochi Prefecture: Kobayashi Mitsumasa * Kyoto Prefecture:

Keiichi Suzuki is a Japanese musician, singer, and record producer who co-founded the Moonriders, a group that became one of Japan's most innovative rock bands. He is known to audiences outside Japan for his musical contributions to the video games ''Mother'' ...

*Mie Prefecture: ** until 8 January:

** 8 January-4 November: Ando Kyoushirou ** 4 November-24 December: Hanyu Masaki ** starting 24 December: Masatoshi Sato *

Miyagi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,305,596 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefecture to the nort ...

: Yoshio Kikuyama *Miyazaki Prefecture: Seiya Mishima (until 7 July); Katsuroku Aikawa (starting 7 July) *

Nagano Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the ...

: Shinsuke Kondo *

Niigata Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture in the Chūbu region of Honshu of Japan. Niigata Prefecture has a population of 2,227,496 (1 July 2019) and is the List of Japanese prefectures by area, fifth-largest prefecture of Japan by geographic area ...

: Sekiya Nobuyuki *

Okayama Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,906,464 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 7,114 Square kilometre, km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefectur ...

Hisashi Kurashige Hisashi is a masculine Japanese given name. Its meaning differs depending on the kanji used to write it. Kanji Single kanji used to write the name Hisashi include: *: "long time" *: "eternal" *: "still" *: "standard" *: "complete" *: "long" *: "li ...

Okinawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city o ...

Saga Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu. Saga Prefecture has a population of 809,248 (1 August 2020) and has a geographic area of 2,440 km2 (942 sq mi). Saga Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northeast and Nagasak ...

: Shizuo Furukawa (until 7 July); Tomoichi Koyama (starting 7 July) *

Saitama Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 km2 (1,466 sq mi). Saitama Prefecture borders Tochigi Prefecture ...

: Jitsuzo Kawanishi *Shiname Prefecture: Kyuichi Kodama *Tochigi Prefecture: Hachimintsu Matsumura (until 1 October);

Adachi Shuuritsu Adachi may refer to: People * Adachi (surname) * Adachi clan, a family of samurai * Adachi Ginkō, 19th-century Japanese artist * Tohru Adachi, a fictional character and one of the antagonists of ''Persona 4'' Places * Adachi, Tokyo, a specia ...

(starting 1 October) *

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

: Tetsuji Kan *Toyama Prefecture: Ginjiro Toki *Yamagata Prefecture: Takei Yoshitsugu

Events

*January 4 - Two plates containing 58 scales are stolen off of the kinshachi (a kind of dolphin fish) affixed to the top of the castle tower of

Nagoya Castle is a Japanese castle located in Nagoya, Japan. Nagoya Castle was constructed by the Owari Domain in 1612 during the Edo period on the site of an earlier castle of the Oda clan in the Sengoku period. Nagoya Castle was the heart of one of the ...

. The culprit was apprehended 23 days later. *February 11 – Hasegawa Builder Corporation, as predecessor of Haseko Corporation founded in

Amagasaki file:Amagasaki Castle Tenshu 20181125.jpg, 270px, Amagasaki Castle file:Amagasaki city center area Aerial photograph.1985.jpg, 270px, Aerial view of Amagasaki city center file:Amagasaki st03s3000.jpg, 270px, Amagasaki Station is an industrial Citi ...

, Hyogo Prefecture. *March 15-May 31 - Nagoya Pan-Pacific Peace Exposition (1937) *March 30 –

Marui is a Japanese multinational retail company which operates a chain of department stores in Tokyo as well in other major Japanese cities. They are best known for their women's fashion and accessories, which are aimed at the 25–35 age range. ...

founded as installndnt credit store in

Nakano, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. The English translation of its Japanese self-designation is Nakano City.1937 Japanese general election General elections were held in Japan on 31 March 1937. Rikken Minseitō emerged as the largest in Parliament, with 179 of the 466 seats. The election was a major victory for the Shakai Taishūtō, which became the third-largest party in the Diet. ...

*May – Mitsubishi Real Estate was founded. *July 6 – According to

Japanese government The Government of Japan consists of legislative, executive and judiciary branches and is based on popular sovereignty. The Government runs under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947. It is a unitary state, c ...

official confirmed report, a caught fire in Handa Mental Rescue Hospital in

Hiroshima City is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui ha ...

, kills 23 persons. *July 7–9 - Marco Polo Bridge Incident *early July-early August -

Battle of Beiping-Tianjin A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

*July 26 - Langfang Incident *July 29 - Tungchow Mutiny *August -

Operation Chahar Operation Chahar ( ja, チャハル作戦, Chaharu Sakusen), known in Chinese as the Nankou Campaign (), occurred in August 1937, following the Battle of Beiping-Tianjin at the beginning of Second Sino-Japanese War. This was the second attack b ...

*August–November -

Tianjin–Pukou Railway Operation The Tientsin–Pukow Railway Operation ( ja, 津浦線作戦; early August to mid November, 1937) was a follow up operation to the Battle of Beiping-Tianjin of the Japanese army in North China at the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War, foug ...

*August–December - Beiping-Hankou Railway Operation *August 13-November 26 -

Battle of Shanghai The Battle of Shanghai () was the first of the twenty-two major engagements fought between the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Republic of China (ROC) and the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) of the Empire of Japan The also ...

*September 1-November 9 -

Battle of Taiyuan The Japanese offensive called 太原作戦 or the Battle of Taiyuan was a major battle fought in 1937 between China and Japan named for Taiyuan (the capital of Shanxi province), which lay in the 2nd Military Region. The battle concluded in a v ...

*September 13-November 11 -

Battle of Xinkou The Battle of Xinkou () was a decisive engagement of the Taiyuan Campaign, the second of the 22 major engagements between the National Revolutionary Army and Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Prelude After battles at Na ...

*September 24–25 -

Battle of Pingxingguan The Battle of Pingxingguan (), commonly called the Great Victory of Pingxingguan in Mainland China, was an engagement fought on 25 September 1937, at the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War, between the Eighth Route Army of the Chinese Co ...

*October 26-November 1 -

Defense of Sihang Warehouse The Defense of Sihang Warehouse () took place from October 26 to November 1, 1937, and marked the beginning of the end of the three-month Battle of Shanghai in the opening phase of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Defenders of the warehouse he ...

*December 12 -

USS Panay incident The USS ''Panay'' incident on December 12, 1937, was a Japanese bombing attack on the U.S. Navy river gunboat and three Standard Oil Company tankers on the Yangtze River. They strafed survivors in the water. The boats were rescuing U.S. and Chi ...

*December 20 – According to former Japan Education Ministry official confirmed report, a caught fire in South Tonda Primary School,

Wakayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 944,320 () and has a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture ...

, kills 81 persons, mostly school children.

Births

*February 12 –

Keisuke Sagawa was a Japanese actor and ''tarento'' who was the first Taisō no Onīsan. He was born in Tokyo. His wife was actress and voice actress Nobuyo Ōyama. Biography While attending Seijo High School, he appeared in numerous socialist films such as '' ...

, actor (d.

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

) *March 25 –

Hidekatsu Shibata is a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from Asakusa, Tokyo who is affiliated with Aoni Production. He was a classmate of former prime minister Yasuo Fukuda at Azabu High School. Shibata is married to fellow voice actor Akiko Sekine. He ...

, actor, voice actor and narrator *April 6 –

Minoru Betsuyaku was one of Japan's most prominent postwar playwrights, novelists, and essayists, associated with the Angura ("underground") theater movement in Japan. He won a name for himself as a writer in the "nonsense" genre and helped lay the foundations of ...

, playwright, novelist, and essayist *April 18 –

Keiko Abe is a Japanese composer and marimba player. She has been a primary figure in the development of the marimba, in terms of expanding both technique and repertoire, and through her collaboration with the Yamaha Corporation, developed the modern fiv ...

, marimba player and composer *May 26 –

Monkey Punch , known by the pen name , was a Japanese manga artist, best known for his series ''Lupin III''. Life and career Katō was born in Hamanaka, Hokkaido; he began drawing at a very young age, but did not draw manga until junior high school, when h ...

, manga artist (

Lupin III , also written as ''Lupin the Third'', ''Lupin the 3rd'', or ''Lupin the IIIrd'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Monkey Punch. It follows the endeavors of master thief Arsène Lupin III, the grandson of Arsène ...

) (d.

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

) *May 29 –

Hibari Misora was a Japanese singer, actress and cultural icon. She received a Medal of Honor for her contributions to music and for improving the welfare of the public, and was the first woman to receive the People's Honour Award, which was conferred posth ...

, singer and actress (d. 1989) *June 25 –

Keizō Obuchi was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1998 to 2000. Obuchi was elected to the House of Representatives in Gunma Prefecture in 1963, becoming the youngest legislator in Japanese history, and was re-elected to his ...

, Prime Minister of Japan (d.

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

) *July 14 –

Yoshirō Mori is a former Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan between April 2000 and April 2001. He was unpopular in opinion polls during his time in office, and is known for making controversial statements, both during and after his ...

, Prime Minister of Japan *July 29 –

Ryutaro Hashimoto was a Japanese politician who served as the Prime Minister of Japan from 1996 to 1998. He was the leader of one of the largest factions within the ruling LDP through most of the 1990s and remained a powerful back-room player in Japanese politi ...

, Prime Minister of Japan (d.

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

) *August 26 –

Kenji Utsumi was a Japanese actor and voice actor from Kitakyūshū, affiliated with the self-founded Ken Production. He was best known for his roles in ''Sally the Witch (1966)'' (as Sally's Papa), ''Fist of the North Star'' (as Raoh and Kaioh), ''Dr. Slu ...

, actor and voice actor (d.

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

)

Deaths

*May 2 – Takuji Iwasaki, meteorologist, biologist, ethnologist historian (b. 1869) *July 16 – Kanichiro Tashiro, lieutenant general (b. 1881) *August 19: **

Ikki Kita was a Japanese author, intellectual and political philosopher who was active in early Shōwa period Japan. Drawing from an eclectic range of influences, Kita was a self-described socialist who has also been described as the "ideological father ...

, philosopher and writer (b

1883 Events January–March * January 4 – ''Life'' magazine is founded in Los Angeles, California, United States. * January 10 – A fire at the Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, kills 73 people. * Ja ...

) **

Asaichi Isobe was an Imperial Japanese Army officer who was one of the leaders of the 26 February Incident, a coup d'etat attempt by young officers of the Imperial Way Faction. Career Born in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Isobe graduated from the 38th class of the ...

, army officer (b 1905) **

Takaji Muranaka was an Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were n ...

, Army officer (b 1903) *October 22 – Chūya Nakahara, poet (b 1907) *December 6 – Sone Tatsuzō, architect (b 1853)

References

{{Asia topic, 1937 in 1930s in Japan