1979 in Japan


Events in the year 1979 in Japan. It corresponds to Shōwa 54 in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents

Arts and entertainment

In film, Vengeance Is Mine by Shōhei Imamura won the Best film award at the Japan Academy Prize, at the Blue Ribbon Awards and at the Mainichi Film Award, Taiyō o Nusunda Otoko by Kazuhiko Hasegawa won Best film at the Yokohama Film Festival and at the Hochi Film Awards. For a list of Japanese films released in 1979 see Japanese films of 1979.
In manga, the winners of the Shogakukan Manga Award were Doza no Ippon Tsuri by Yusuke Aoyagi and Toward the Terra and Kaze to Ki no Uta by Keiko Takemiya. Tonda Couple by Kimio Yanagisawa and The Star of Cottonland by Yumiko Ōshima won the Kodansha Manga Award. For a list of manga released in 1979 see :Category:1979 manga.
In music, the 30th Kōhaku Uta Gassen was won by the Red Team. Hideki Saijo won the FNS Music Festival and Judy Ongg won the 21st Japan Record Award.
In television, see: 1979 in Japanese television.
Japan hosted the Miss International 1979 beauty pageant, won by Filipina Melanie Marquez.

Sports

In athletics Japan hosted the Asian Championships and was first in the medal table with 20 gold medals and a total of 59 medals.
In baseball Hiroshima Carp won the Japan Series.
In basketball Japan hosted the ABC Championship and won the second place behind China.
In football Japan hosted the FIFA World Youth Championship, won by Argentina. Fujita Engineering won the Japan Soccer League. For the champions of the regional leagues see: 1979 Japanese Regional Leagues. For more see: 1979 in Japanese football.

Births