1930 in Japan

Incumbents

• Emperor: Hirohito
• Prime Minister: Osachi Hamaguchi

  Events

• January 1 - The Ministry of Rail adopts the metric system for all of Japan's railways.
• February 4 - Prince Takamatsu marries Kikuko Tokugawa.
• February 20 - 1930 Japanese general election: The Rikken Minseitō party, led by Prime Minister Osachi Hamaguchi, won an overall majority in the House of Representatives. Voter turnout was 83.34%.
• May 5 - Iwatani Industry has founded in Osaka.
• May 24-27 - 1930 Far Eastern Games held in Tokyo.
• October 27-December - Wushe Incident
• November 14 - Prime Minister Osachi Hamaguchi is shot inside Tokyo Station by Tomeo Sagoya in a failed assassination attempt. The wounds kept Hamaguchi hospitalized for several months.
• November 18 - the Buddhist religious movement Soka Gakkai is formed by educator Tsunesaburō Makiguchi.
• Unknown date - According to All Japan Pachinko Association confirmed report, first standards pachinko parlor open in Nagoya.

  Births

• January 15 - Michiyo Aratama, actress
• January 16 - Shōmei Tōmatsu, photographer
• January 18 - Shōgorō Nishimura, film director
• January 20 - Sadateru Arikawa, aikido teacher
• January 29 - Norio Ohga, businessman and CEO of Sony
• April 23 - Shun Akiyama, literary critic
• April 29 - Kyōko Kishida, actress
• May 20 - Yasushi Nagao, Pulitzer Prize-winning press photographer
• June 3 - Ben Wada, television director
• June 29 - Sachiko Hidari, actress
• July 3 - Kinji Fukasaku, film director
• August 1 - Satoru Kobayashi, film director
• October 8 - Tōru Takemitsu, composer
• October 10 - Akiyuki Nosaka, novelist, singer and politician
• November 10 - Michiya Mihashi, enka singer
• November 11 - Minako Oba, enka author and social critic
• December 10 - Yukio Koshimori, politician
• December 17 - Makoto Moroi, composer
• December 30 - Takeshi Kaikō, author

  Deaths

• January 27 - Dewa Shigetō, admiral
• March 2 - Katsusaburō Yamagiwa, pathologist and physician
• March 28 - Uchimura Kanzō, author and pacifist
• May 10 - Kanzan Shimomura, nihonga painter
• May 13 - Katai Tayama, novelist
• June 30 - Yashiro Rokurō, admiral
• July 19 - Oku Yasukata, Field Marshall
• October 30 - Sakichi Toyoda, inventor and industrialist
• November 4 - Akiyama Yoshifuru, general
• November 9 - Asano Sōichirō, businessman
• November 16 - Den Kenjirō, politician and Governor-General of Taiwan