Events in the year 2010 in Japan.

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), ...

–

Akihito is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who reigned as the 125th emperor of Japan from 7 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. He presided over the Heisei era, ''Heisei'' being an expression of achieving peace worldwide. B ...

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 i ...

–

Yukio Hatoyama is a former Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 16 September 2009 to 8 June 2010. He was the first Prime Minister from the modern Democratic Party of Japan. First elected to the House of Representatives in 1986, Hatoy ...

(

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

–Hokkaidō) until June 8,

Naoto Kan is a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) from June 2010 to September 2011. Kan was the first Prime Minister since the resignation of Junichiro Koizumi in 2006 to serve for ...

(

–Tokyo) * Chief Cabinet Secretary:

Hirofumi Hirano is a Japanese politician of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and a former member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). He is a native of Katsuragi, Wakayama and he started working for Panasonic Corporatio ...

(D–Ōsaka) until January 7,

Yoshito Sengoku was a Japanese politician serving in the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature) as a member of the Democratic Party of Japan. Overviews He was born in Tokushima, Tokushima prefecture. While studying in the University of ...

(D–Tokushima) * Chief Justice of the Supreme Court:

Hironobu Takesaki is a Japanese lawyer and a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Japan. He is a graduate of the University of Tokyo Faculty of Law and of Columbia Law School. At age 64, Takesaki replaced Niro Shimada as the Chief Justice when November ...

* President of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

Takahiro Yokomichi is a Japanese politician who belongs to the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and was a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Sapporo, Hokkaidō and graduate of the University of Tokyo, he was ele ...

(D–Hokkaidō) * President of the

House of Councillors The is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers. If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget, treaties, or ...

Satsuki Eda was a Japanese politician who was the first opposition member to serve as the President of the House of Councillors in Japan. Eda had served for three terms in the House of Councillors before his election as President on 7 August 2007, after the ...

(D–Okayama) until July 25,

Takeo Nishioka was a Japanese politician of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) who served as a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet. A native of Nagasaki and a graduate of Waseda University , mottoeng = Independence of scholarship , establishe ...

(D–proportional) from July 30 *

Diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

sessions: 174th (regular, January 18 to June 16), 175th (extraordinary, July 30 to August 6), 176th (extraordinary, October 1 to December 3)

Governors

* Aichi Prefecture:

Masaaki Kanda is a Japanese politician who served as governor of Aichi Prefecture in 1999–2011. A graduate of Chuo University, he served as mayor of Ichinomiya is a Japanese historical term referring to the Shinto shrines with the highest rank in a pro ...

*Akita Prefecture:

Norihisa Satake is a Japanese politician. A former two-term mayor of Akita City in Akita Prefecture, first elected in 2001, he is currently the Governor of Akita Prefecture after winning election on April 12, 2009. He is the 21st head of the North Satake bra ...

*Aomori Prefecture:

Shingo Mimura is a Japanese Politician who is currently serving as Governor of Aomori Prefecture since June 29, 2003. He previously served as a member of House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries ...

*Chiba Prefecture:

Kensaku Morita is a Japanese politician, actor and singer. He was elected as the Governor of Chiba Prefecture in March 2009 to April 2021『』からリンクする知事選挙「開票結果」（Excelファイル）千葉県選挙管理委員会による知� ...

*Ehime Prefecture:

Moriyuki Kato was a governor of Ehime Prefecture. He was first elected in 1999 and held the position until he was defeated by Tokihiro Nakamura in 2010. A native of Yawatahama, Ehime and graduate of the University of Tokyo, he joined the Ministry of Educatio ...

(until 30 November);

Tokihiro Nakamura is a Japanese politician and the current governor of Ehime Prefecture, located in the Shikoku region of Japan. He succeeded Moriyuki Kato in the 2010 Ehime gubernatorial election. Nakamura has previously served as the mayor of Matsuyama, the larg ...

(starting 1 December) *Fukui Prefecture:

Issei Nishikawa is a Japanese politician and a former governor of Fukui Prefecture in Japan. He was elected first in 2003. A native of Asahi, Fukui and graduate of Kyoto University with the B.L. degree in 1968, he joined the Ministry of Home Affairs An inter ...

*Fukuoka Prefecture:

Wataru Asō is the former governor of Fukuoka Prefecture in Japan, first elected in 1995. From 2005-11 he was also President of the . A native of Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka and graduate of Kyoto University, he joined the Ministry of International Trade and Indus ...

*Fukushima Prefecture:

Yūhei Satō is a former governor of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. He was first elected in November 2006, after the previous governor, Eisaku Satō, was forced to step down after bribery charges. He chose not to seek a third term in the election held in Octo ...

*Gifu Prefecture:

Hajime Furuta is the governor of Gifu Prefecture in Japan, first elected in 2005 and reelected in 2009. A native of Gifu, Gifu, he was chosen as the final torchbearer for the National Sports Festival when it was held in Gifu while he was a senior at Gifu Pre ...

*Gunma Prefecture:

Masaaki Osawa Masaaki (written: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese politician *, Japanese poet *, Japanese baseball player *, Japanese singer-songwriter * ...

* Hiroshima Prefecture:

Hidehiko Yuzaki is a Japanese politician and the current governor of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. Early life and education Yuzaki was born October 4, 1965 in Saeki-ku, Hiroshima. He received his B.L. degree from the University of Tokyo in 1990 and his M. ...

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The lar ...

Harumi Takahashi is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party and currently a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature). She served as governor of the prefecture of Hokkaido for four terms from 2003 to 2019. She gradu ...

*Hyogo Prefecture:

Toshizō Ido is a Japanese politician and the 48th - 52nd governor of Hyōgo Prefecture in Japan. He became the Governor of Hyōgo Profecture in 2001, a position he held for 5 terms over 20 years. He is a native of Tatsuno, Hyōgo and graduate of the Un ...

Ibaraki Prefecture is a 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, Tochigi Prefecture ...

Masaru Hashimoto is Japanese politician who was the governor of Ibaraki Prefecture from 1993 to 2017. Life Masaru Hashimoto was born on 19 November 1945 in Tōkai, Ibaraki Prefecture. He is a graduate of the University of Tokyo, and joined the Ministry of H ...

* Ishikawa Prefecture:

Masanori Tanimoto is a Japanese politician who was the governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official ...

*Iwate Prefecture:

Takuya Tasso is a Japanese politician and the current governor of Iwate Prefecture. He is a native of Morioka and graduate of the University of Tokyo. Biography Tasso joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1988, receiving a master's degree in intern ...

*Kagawa Prefecture:

Takeki Manabe is a Japanese politician who was the 43rd governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's offi ...

(until 4 September);

Keizō Hamada is a former Japanese politician and finance bureaucrat and a former governor of Kagawa Prefecture in the Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million ( ...

(starting 5 September) *Kagoshima Prefecture:

Satoshi Mitazono is a Japanese politician and journalist who is the former governor of Kagoshima Prefecture. He defeated the incumbent Yūichirō Itō at an election held on 10 July 2016. Early life and education Mitazono was born in Ibusuki, Kagoshima in 1958. ...

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kanag ...

Shigefumi Matsuzawa is a Japanese politician and a current member of the House of Councillors for the Kanagawa at-large district in the Diet of Japan. A native of Kawasaki, Kanagawa and graduate of Keio University with a bachelor's degree in Political Science, h ...

*Kochi Prefecture:

Masanao Ozaki is a Japanese politician. He became governor of Kōchi Prefecture in Japan on December 7, 2007. He is a graduate of the University of Tokyo with the Bachelor of Economics degree in 1991 and a former bureaucrat of the Ministry of the Treasury ( ...

Kumamoto Prefecture is a 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 the northeast, M ...

Ikuo Kabashima is a Japanese politician and the current governor of Kumamoto Prefecture. He has been governor since 2008. Ikuo Kabashima received a bachelor's and master's degrees in Animal Science and Agricultural Economics from the University of Nebraska. ...

* Kyoto Prefecture:

Keiji Yamada is a Japanese politician and former Governor of Kyoto Prefecture. A native of Hyōgo Prefecture and 1977 graduate of the University of Tokyo, he had worked at the Ministry of Home Affairs since 1977 and served as the vice governor of Kyoto Prefec ...

*Mie Prefecture: Akihiko Noro (until 20 April); Eikei Suzuki (starting 21 April) * Miyagi Prefecture:

Yoshihiro Murai is a Japanese politician and current governor of Miyagi Prefecture. A native of Toyonaka, Osaka and former serviceman of Japan Self-Defense Forces, he was first elected governor in 2005 after serving in the assembly of the prefecture since 1995. ...

*Miyazaki Prefecture:

Hideo Higashikokubaru is a Japanese politician. He originally rose to fame as a comedian and actor under the stage name , and was known for his role in the popular game show ''Takeshi's Castle''. He served as the Governor of Miyazaki Prefecture from 2007 to 2011, re ...

* Nagano Prefecture: Jin Murai (until 31 August); Shuichi Abe (starting 1 September) *Nagasaki Prefecture: Genjirō Kaneko (until 1 March); Hōdō Nakamura (starting 2 March) *Nara Prefecture:

Shōgo Arai is a Japanese politician and the current governor of Nara Prefecture in Japan, first elected in 2007. A graduate of the University of Tokyo, he joined the Ministry of Transport, attending Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs Syrac ...

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

: Hirohiko Izumida *Oita Prefecture: Katsusada Hirose * Okayama Prefecture:

Masahiro Ishii was the governor of Okayama Prefecture in Japan from November 1996 until November 2012. A native of Okayama, Okayama and graduate of the University of Tokyo, he had worked at the Ministry of Construction since 1969 before being elected governor. ...

* Okinawa Prefecture:

Hirokazu Nakaima is a Japanese bureaucrat, business leader, and politician. He was elected governor of Okinawa Prefecture in 2006. Biography Nakaima was born on August 19, 1939 in Higashinari Ward of Osaka. He is of Ryukyuan descent. Nakaima is descended from ...

* Osaka Prefecture:

Tōru Hashimoto is a Japanese TV personality, politician and lawyer. He was the mayor of Osaka city and is a member of Nippon Ishin no Kai and the Osaka Restoration Association. He is one of Japan's leading right-wing conservative-populist politicians. Early ...

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 Nagasa ...

: Yasushi Furukawa * Saitama Prefecture:

Kiyoshi Ueda is a Japanese politician currently serving as a member of the House of Councillors for the Saitama at-large district after winning a by-election in 2019. He has signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, signaling his opposition to any and all tax ...

Shiga Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,412,916 (1 October 2015) and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to the north ...

Yukiko Kada is a Japanese politician and member of the National Diet of Japan, serving as member of the House of Councillors from Shiga Prefecture since 2019. She was the prefectural governor of Shiga for two terms from 2006 to 2014. She is from Honjō, Sa ...

*Shiname Prefecture: Zenbe Mizoguchi *Shizuoka Prefecture:

Heita Kawakatsu has been the governor of Shizuoka Prefecture since 2009 and is currently serving his fourth term. He completed his D.Phil at wolfson college, Oxford, under Professor Peter Mathias and was Professor of Economics History at Waseda University, Toky ...

*Tochigi Prefecture:

Tomikazu Fukuda is the governor of Tochigi Prefecture in Japan, first elected in 2004. A native of Imaichi, Tochigi and graduate of Nihon University, he had served in the city assembly of Utsunomiya, Tochigi since 1983 and then in the Tochigi Prefectural Assembl ...

*Tokushima Prefecture:

Kamon Iizumi is a Japanese politician and the current governor of Tokushima Prefecture in Japan, first elected in 2003. A native of Ikeda, Osaka and graduate of the University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university locat ...

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

Shintarō Ishihara was a Japanese politician and writer who was Governor of Tokyo from 1999 to 2012. Being the former leader of the radical right Japan Restoration Party, he was one of the most prominent ultranationalists in modern Japanese politics. An ultra ...

*Tottori Prefecture:

Shinji Hirai is a Japanese politician, the governor of Tottori Prefecture in Japan, first elected in 2007. He graduated from the University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Establ ...

*Toyama Prefecture: Takakazu Ishii *Wakayama Prefecture: Yoshinobu Nisaka *Yamagata Prefecture:

Mieko Yoshimura is governor of Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. She was elected on January 25, 2009. She defeated the sitting governor of Yamagata Prefecture, Hiroshi Saitō in an upset. A native of Ōe, Yamagata, she worked at a help-wanted advertising company bef ...

*Yamaguchi Prefecture: Sekinari Nii *Yamanashi Prefecture: Shōmei Yokouchi

Events

* January 1 – The towns of Nijō and

Shima Shima may refer to: Places , Japan * Shima Province (志摩), one of the old provinces of Japan * Shima, Fukuoka (志摩), a former town in Fukuoka Prefecture * Shima, Mie (志摩), a city in Mie Prefecture ** Shima, Mie (town), a former town ...

merged with the city of Maebaru to form the city of Itoshima. * January 3 – Japan doubles a state-sponsored credit line to troubled airline

Japan Airlines , also known as JAL (''Jaru'') or , is an international airline and Japan's flag carrier and largest airline as of 2021 and 2022, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport, as w ...

to ¥200bn (US$2.2bn). * January 6 – Japanese Finance Minister

Hirohisa Fujii was a Japanese politician who was a member of the House of Councillors from 1977 to 1986, and of the House of Representatives from 1990 to 2012. He served two terms as Minister of Finance, and as Secretary General of the Liberal Party and the D ...

resigns at the age of 77 due to ill health. * January 12 – A gunman kills three people at a bar in

Habikino 270px, Habikino city office is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 109,479 in 50918 households and a population density of 4100 persons per km². The total area of the city is . The city is known ...

, Japan, before turning the gun on himself. * January 19 – Japanese

air carrier An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in which ...

files for bankruptcy protection. * February 1 – The town of Kozakai merged into the city of

Toyokawa is a city in the eastern part of Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 183,930 in 72,949 households, and a population density of 1,141 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Toyokawa, famous for its Toyoka ...

. * May 20 – JAXA successfully launched the venus probe Akatsuki (formerly "Planet-C"). * April 17 – Snowfall in central

matches a record set in April 1967. * April 25 – Nearly 100,000 people rally in

Okinawa 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 ...

, Japan, demanding the removal of an American base from the island. * June – September – According to Japanese government and

Japan Meteorological Agency The , abbreviated JMA, is an agency of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. It is charged with gathering and providing results for the public in Japan that are obtained from data based on daily scientific observation an ...

official confirmed report massive

heat wave A heat wave, or heatwave, is a period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity, especially in oceanic climate countries. While definitions vary, a heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in the ...

and extreme high temperature hit around Japan, total 1,731 person were human fatalities relative

heat stroke Heat stroke or heatstroke, also known as sun stroke, is a severe heat illness that results in a body temperature greater than , along with red skin, headache, dizziness, and confusion. Sweating is generally present in exertional heatstroke, ...

. * June 2 – Prime minister

announced that he would be resigning as Prime Minister. * June 4 –

is elected as the leader of the Democratic Party and therefore as

Prime Minister of Japan The prime minister of Japan (Japanese: 内閣総理大臣, Hepburn: ''Naikaku Sōri-Daijin'') is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its Ministers of Sta ...

, defeating

Shinji Tarutoko is a Japanese politician and former member of the House of Representatives. Early life and education Tarutoko was born in Shimane Prefecture on 6 August 1959. He studied at the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management. Career Tarutok ...

. * June 13 – The first Japanese asteroid probe,

Hayabusa was a robotic spacecraft developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to return a sample of material from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa to Earth for further analysis. ''Hayabusa'', formerly known as MUSES-C fo ...

returned to Earth, after having landed on

25143 Itokawa 25143 Itokawa (provisional designation ) is a sub-kilometer near-Earth object of the Apollo group and a potentially hazardous asteroid. It was discovered by the LINEAR program in 1998 and later named after Japanese rocket engineer Hideo Itokawa ...

in an effort to collect samples. * July 11 – House of Councillors election * August 9 – Japan marks the 65th anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombing of

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole Nanban trade, port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hi ...

. * September 11 –

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

signs a nuclear co-operation treaty with Japan to build a

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced ...

plant within 10 years. * September 14 –

is reelected as the leader of the

Democratic Party of Japan The was a centristThe Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist: * * * * * * * to centre-left liberal or social-liberal political party in Japan from 1998 to 2016. The party's origins lie in the previous Democratic ...

and therefore as

, defeating powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa. * October 20 - Devastating floods and landslide in

Amami Island The The name ''Amami-guntō'' was standardized on February 15, 2010. Prior to that, another name, ''Amami shotō'' (奄美諸島), was also used. is an archipelago in the Satsunan Islands, which is part of the Ryukyu Islands, and is southwest of ...

, 3 people die. * December 7 – The spacecraft Akatsuki reaches

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

but fails to enter orbit around the planet.

Prefectural elections

* February 21 – In the 2010 Nagasaki gubernatorial election former vice governor Hōdō Nakamura is elected as successor of retiring incumbent Genjirō Kaneko. * March 14 – Governor

of Ishikawa is reelected for a fifth term. * April 11 – 2010 Kyōto gubernatorial election: Incumbent

wins a third term with support from both major parties. * July 11 – In the 2010 Shiga gubernatorial election, center-left supported governor

is reelected against LDP supported former national representative Ken'ichirō Ueno and a Communist candidate. * August 8 – 2010 Nagano gubernatorial election: Supported by the center-left parties, Shuichi Abe, formerly vice governor under polarising governor Yasuo Tanaka, narrowly beats LDP supported outgoing vice governor Yoshimasa Koshihara by 5.000 votes to succeed retiring incumbent Jin Murai who had defeated Tanaka in 2006. * August 29 – 2010 Kagawa gubernatorial election: With broad support from the non-Communist parties

is elected to succeed governor

who retired after three terms. * October 31 – Governor

of Fukushima is reelected against only one Communist challenger. * November 28 – 2010 Wakayama gubernatorial election: Incumbent Yoshinobu Nisaka is reelected with centre-right support; 2010 Ehime gubernatorial election:

is elected to succeed retiring governor

;

2010 Okinawan gubernatorial election 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit (measurement), unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment ...

: Governor

defeats anti-USMC-base candidate Yōichi Iha. * December 12 – 2010 Ibaraki prefectural election: With 39 percent of the vote, the LDP wins 33 of 65 seats and defends its majority. * December 26 – In the 2010 Miyazaki gubernatorial election, vice governor

Shunji Kōno (born September 8, 1964) is a Japanese politician and the governor of Miyazaki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Miyazaki Prefecture has a population of 1,073,054 (1 June 2019) and ha ...

wins a clear victory; incumbent comedian and former governor

had retired after only one term in office.

The Nobel Prize

Ei-ichi Negishi was a Japanese chemist who was best known for his discovery of the Negishi coupling. He spent most of his career at Purdue University in the United States, where he was the Herbert C. Brown Distinguished Professor and the director of the Negi ...

, Akira Suzuki: 2010

Nobel Prize in Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

winners.

Deaths

January

* January 1 – Tetsuo Narikawa, Japanese actor and karate instructor. (born 1944) * January 4 –

Tsutomu Yamaguchi (16 March 19164 January 2010) was a Japanese marine engineer and a survivor of both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings during World War II. Although at least 70 people are known to have been affected by both bombings, he is the only per ...

, Japanese survivor of Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings (born 1916) * January 13 –

Isamu Tanonaka was a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from Taitō, Tokyo. He was best known for voicing Medama Oyaji in nearly every adaptation of Shigeru Mizuki's '' GeGeGe no Kitarō'' made during his lifetime. Career During his life he had been atta ...

, Japanese

voice actor Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

(born 1932) * January 16 –

Takumi Shibano was a Japanese science-fiction translator and author. He was a major figure in fandom in Japan and contributed to establishing the Japanese science fiction genre. A native of Kanazawa, Ishikawa, in 1957 Takumi started Japan's first successful s ...

, Japanese novelist (born 1926) * January 17 –

Maki Asakawa was a Japanese jazz and blues singer, lyricist and composer. She was an important voice of the Japanese urban counterculture. It is written in ''The Japan Times'' that she "made her name in 1970" with ''The World of Maki Asakawa'' and is known ...

, Japanese singer (born 1942) * January 17 –

Daisuke Gōri was a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from Kōtō, Tokyo. Throughout his life, he was attached to TV Talent Center Tokyo, Yoshizawa Theatre School and then Mausu Promotion; he was attached to Aoni Production at the time of his death. ...

, Japanese voice actor (born 1952) * January 28 – Keiko Tobe, Japanese manga artist (born 1957)

February

* February 1 – Atsushi Kuroi, Japanese professional drifting driver (born 1969) * February 5 – Hiroyuki Oze, Japanese baseball player (born 1985) * February 8 –

Wahei Tatematsu was a Japanese novelist. He wrote several novels including ''Enrai'' and ''Dogen-Zenji'', about the devout Buddhist who founded the Soto Sect of Zen Buddhism in 1227. He was also known for his environmental work. In 1995 he founded the Ashio Green ...

, Japanese novelist (born 1948) * February 11 –

Umetsugu Inoue was a Japanese film director and scriptwriter. He directed 115 movies, wrote 101 screenplays, and is credited with the original story for five films. In addition, he worked with all six major Japanese film production companies. His film work e ...

, Japanese film director (born 1923) * February 17 –

Makoto Fujita , born Makoto Harada (April 13, 1933 – February 17, 2010), was a Japanese actor. He was born in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, the son of silent-film actor Rintarō Fujima, and started his career as a comedian in 1952. Acting Roles Fujita appeared in b ...

, Japanese actor and comedian (born 1933) * February 26 –

Nujabes , better known by his stage name , was a Japanese record producer, audio engineer, DJ, composer and arranger best known for his atmospheric instrumental mixes sampling from hip hop, soul, and jazz, as well as incorporating elements of trip hop, b ...

, Japanese hip hop composer (born 1974) * February 28 –

Chushiro Hayashi was a Japanese astrophysicist. Hayashi tracks on the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram are named after him. Hayashi was born in Kyoto and enrolled at the Imperial University of Tokyo in 1940, earning his BSc in Physics after 2½ years, in 1942. ...

, Japanese astrophysicist (born 1920)

March

* March 4 – Tetsuo Kondo, Japanese politician, former Minister of Labour (born 1929) * March 16 – Hachiro Maekawa, Japanese baseball player (born 1912) * March 21 –

Takeo Kimura was a Japanese art director, writer and film director. Beginning his career in 1945 he art-directed well over 200 films. He was one of Japan's best known art directors, most famously for his collaborations with cult director Seijun Suzuki thr ...

, Japanese art director (born 1918) * March 23 – Jiro Nagasawa, Japanese

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

swimmer and national

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

(born 1932) * March 26 – Kwon Hyi-ro, Japanese-born

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

murderer (born 1928)

April

* April 3 –

Yasunori Watanabe (2 July 1974 – 3 April 2010) was a Japanese rugby player, who played for Japan in three Rugby World Cups from 1999 to 2007. Career Watanabe was born in Hokkaido, and joined the team Toshiba Brave Lupus in Tokyo in 1997 after graduating from Ni ...

, Japanese rugby player (born 1974) * April 4 –

Shio Satō (6 December 1952 – 4 April 2010) was a Japanese manga artist. Satō was a member of the Post Year 24 Group, a group of female manga artists considered influential in the development of shōjo manga. She also wrote under the pen name . She ...

, Japanese manga artist (born 1952) * April 6 –

Katsumi Nishikawa (1 July 1918 – 6 April 2010) was a Japanese film director most famous for his youth films (seishun eiga). Graduating from Nihon University, he started out at the Shochiku studio in 1939 and directed his first film in 1952. He moved to Nikkats ...

, Japanese film director (born 1918) * April 7 –

Takuya Kimura is a Japanese actor, singer, and radio personality. He is regarded as a Japanese icon after achieving success as an actor. He was also a popular member of SMAP, one of the best-selling boy bands in Asia. A 1996 television drama series, ''Long ...

, Japanese baseball player and coach (born 1972) * April 9 –

Hisashi Inoue was a leading Japanese playwright and writer of comic fiction. From 1961 to 1986, he used the pen name of Uchiyama Hisashi. Early life Inoue was born in what is now part of Kawanishi in Yamagata Prefecture, where his father was a pharmacis ...

, Japanese pacifist playwright (born 1934) * April 10 –

Hiro Muramoto was a Japanese TV cameraman and journalist, who worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Tokyo in the 1990s, and who reported for Reuters television for more than 15 years. Muramoto was based in Reuters' Tokyo bureau. Muramoto w ...

, Japanese news cameraman and journalist (born 1966) * April 20 – Mr. Hito, Japanese

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

(born 1942) * April 27 –

Tanie Kitabayashi was a Japanese actress and voice actress. Born Reiko Ando in Tokyo, she began as a stage actress. Kitabayashi was a founding member of the famed Mingei Theatre Company, founded in 1950. Early in her career, she became well known for portraying o ...

, Japanese actress (born 1911) * April 30 –

Tadahiro Ando was the Governor of Miyazaki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Miyazaki Prefecture has a population of 1,073,054 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 7,735 Square kilometre, km2 ( ...

, Japanese

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

, former

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Miyazaki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Miyazaki Prefecture has a population of 1,073,054 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 7,735 Square kilometre, km2 (2,986 sq mi). Miyazaki Prefecture borders ...

(born 1895)

May

* May 2 – Kama Chinen, Japanese supercentenarian, verified oldest living person (born 1895) * May 9 – Teruji Kogake, Japanese

athlete (born 1932) * May 18 –

Shusaku Arakawa was a Japanese conceptual artist and architect. He had a personal and artistic partnership with the writer and artist Madeline Gins that spanned more than four decades in which they collaborated on a diverse range of visual mediums, including: ...

, Japanese artist and

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

(born 1936) * May 30 –

Hanji Aoki was a Japanese sports official. He hailed from Chiba Prefecture. He was an active shot putter in his younger days, and became Japanese champion in 1938. He was president of the Japanese Olympic Committee from 1969 to 1973 and the Japan Associat ...

, Japanese sports official (born 1915)

June

* June 1 –

Kazuo Ohno was a Japanese dancer who became a guru and inspirational figure in the dance form known as Butoh. He is the author of several books on Butoh, including ''The Palace Soars through the Sky'', ''Dessin'', ''Words of Workshop'', and ''Food for the ...

, Japanese dancer (born 1906) * June 11 –

Shunsuke Ikeda was a Japanese actor and model. Acting career Born , he was best known to ''tokusatsu'' fans as the android Ichiro in the ''Kikaider 01'' series (1973–74). Ikeda's interest in acting came at an early age from his father, respected sword figh ...

, Japanese actor (born 1941) * June 15 – Tadashi Kawashima, Japanese manga artist (born 1969) * June 23 –

Hiromu Naruse (1942 – 23 June 2010) was the Japanese chief test driver and chief test engineer of Toyota Motor Corporation and chief of the Gazoo Racing team. Naruse had been a test driver for the Toyota team for 47 years (1963–2010). He was also noted as ...

, Japanese chief

test driver In motorsport it is common to have one or more test drivers who work with the mechanics to help develop the vehicle by testing new systems on the track. In specific motorsports Formula One In Formula One, the term third driver is used to designa ...

for

Toyota Motor Company is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

(born 1944) * June 26 – Akira Nakamura, Japanese historian (born 1934)

July

* July 9 –

Nobuyoshi Tamura was a prominent aikidoka and a direct student of Morihei Ueshiba. The son of a kendo teacher, Tamura entered the Aikikai Hombu Dojo in 1953 as an uchi-deshi (live-in student) of aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba. He was one of Ueshiba's favorite ...

, Japanese aikidoka (born 1933) * July 14 –

Tetsuo Mizutori was a Japanese voice actor from Tokyo who was attached to Arts Vision at the time of his death. His family name and his first name are often misprinted as "Mizushima" (水島) and "Tetsuya" (鉄矢) by numerous journals. He was a lecturer in the ...

, Japanese voice actor (born 1938) * July 15 – Daisuke Ochida, Japanese vocalist (born 1978) * July 19 – Daiki Sato, Japanese

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

. (born 1988)

August

* August 4 – Daikirin Takayoshi, Japanese sumo wrestler (born 1942) * August 21 – Masaru Nashimoto, Japanese reporter (born 1944) * August 23 –

Kihachirō Kawamoto was a Japanese puppet designer and maker, Independent film, independent film director, screenwriter and animator and president (corporate title), president of the Japan Animation Association from 1989, succeeding founder Osamu Tezuka, until his ...

, Japanese puppet designer and animator. (born 1925) * August 24 –

Satoshi Kon was a Japanese film director, animator, screenwriter and manga artist from Sapporo, Hokkaido and a member of the Japanese Animation Creators Association (JAniCA). He was a graduate of the Graphic Design department of the Musashino Art Univer ...

, Japanese anime film director (born 1963)

September

* September 1 –

Wakanohana Kanji I was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler. He was the sport's 45th ''yokozuna''. He was a popular wrestler and was nicknamed the due to his great fighting spirit and endurance. Wakanohana's younger brother (by twenty-two years) was the late f ...

, Japanese sumo wrestler (born 1928) * September 5 –

Shoya Tomizawa (10 December 1990 – 5 September 2010) was a Japanese motorcycle racer. After a successful career in the All Japan Road Race Championship, he switched to MotoGP and competed in the 250cc class during 2009. In the 2010 season he rode in the newly ...

, Japanese motorcycle rider (born 1990) * September 11 – Kei Tani, Japanese comedian (born 1932) * September 16 –

Keiju Kobayashi was a Japanese actor who appeared in 253 films in a career spanning 67 years. Born in Gunma Prefecture, he began acting at the Nikkatsu studio after dropping out of Nihon University and made his film debut in 1942. In 1956 he moved to Toho film ...

, Japanese actor (born 1923)

October

* October 7 - Keiji Ohsawa, Japanese baseball player (born 1932) * October 8 -

Ryō Ikebe was a Japanese actor. He graduated from Rikkyō University and originally wanted to be a director, but ended up debuting as an actor at Tōhō in 1941. He did not achieve popularity until starring in a series of youth films in the late 1940s. H ...

, Japanese actor (born 1918) * October 29 -

Takeshi Shudo was a Japanese scriptwriter and novelist. His major works include anime ''Space Warrior Baldios'', the ''Magical Princess Minky Momo'' series, and ''Pokémon'', of which he created the Pokémon Lugia. He had a reputation for his witty dialogue a ...

, Japanese scriptwriter (born 1949)

December

* December 28 -

Hideko Takamine was a Japanese actress who began as a child actress and maintained her fame in a career that spanned 50 years. She is particularly known for her collaborations with directors Mikio Naruse and Keisuke Kinoshita, with '' Twenty-Four Eyes'' (195 ...

, actress (born 1924)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2010 In Japan Years of the 21st century in Japan