1976 in Japan

Incumbents

• Emperor: Hirohito
• Prime minister: Takeo Miki until December 24, Takeo Fukuda
• Chief Cabinet Secretary: Ichitaro Ide until December 24, Sunao Sonoda
• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Tomokazu Murakami until May 24, Ekizo Fujibayashi from May 25
• President of the House of Representatives: Shigesaburō Maeo until December 9, Shigeru Hori from December 24
• President of the House of Councillors: Kenzō Kōno
• Diet sessions: 77th, 78th, 79th, 80th

  Events

• March 2 - A time bomb goes off in the lobby of the Hokkaido Government Main Building in Sapporo, killing 2 and injuring 95.
• June 26 - Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki was a controversial spectacle fight, held in Tokyo, between the boxing heavyweight champion, Ali, and Japanese professional wrestling champion, Inoki.
• September 6 - Soviet Air Force pilot Lt. Viktor Belenko lands a MiG-25 jet fighter at Hakodate, Hokkaido, requests political asylum in the United States.
• September 12 - Typhoon Fran, according to Fire and Management Disaster Agency of Japan confirmed report, 171 person were lost to lives, 537 were injures.
• October 29 - A massive fire in Sakata, Yamagata Prefecture, according to Fire and Management Disaster Agency confirmed report, a person lives, 1,003 person injures, 1,774 house and building with 22.5 hectare were lost.
• December 5 - General election of 1976 - The Liberal Democratic Party win 249 out of 511 seats but lose 22 seats, majority control over the House of Representatives owing to the Lockheed scandal.
• December 24 - Prime Minister Takeo Miki resigns following poor results in the 1976 General election and is succeeded by Takeo Fukuda.

  Births

• January 4 - Shiro Amano, manga artist/writer
• January 5 - Shintarō Asanuma, voice actor
• January 12 - Miki Nakatani, actress
• January 28 - Emiko Kado, professional wrestler
• February 14 - Juju, jazz singer
• February 16 - Kyo, rock musician
• February 27 - Yukari Tamura, voice actress and songwriter
• March 22 - Asako Toki, singer and songwriter
• March 29 - Daisuke Namikawa, voice actor
• March 30 - Ayako Kawasumi, voice actress
• April 10 - Yoshino Kimura, actress
• April 17 - Taishi Mori, manga artist
• May 4 - Anza, singer and actress
• June 11 - Gran Naniwa, professional wrestler
• June 29 - Haruka Igawa, actress
• July 4 - Daijiro Kato, motorcycle racer
• August 29 - Mieko Kawakami, singer and writer
• September 20 - Yui Horie, voice actress
• October 19 - Ryuji Imada, golfer
• November 19 - Jun Shibata, singer and songwriter
• December 18 - Koyuki, actress

  Deaths

• January 2 - Kazuo Dan, novelist and poet
• January 19 - Hidetsugu Yagi, electrical engineer
• January 27 - Kaneko Daiei, Buddhist philosopher
• May 30 - Mitsuo Fuchida, aviator, naval officer and Christian evangelist
• June 7 - Shigetarō Shimada, Imperial Japanese Navy admiral during World War II