2014 in Japan

Incumbents

• Emperor: Akihito
• Prime Minister: Shinzō Abe
• Chief Cabinet Secretary: Yoshihide Suga
• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Hironobu Takesaki until March 31, Itsurō Terada from April 1
• President of the House of Representatives: Bunmei Ibuki until November 21, Nobutaka Machimura from December 24
• President of the House of Councillors: Masaaki Yamazaki
• Diet sessions: 186th, 187th, 188th

  Events

Electoral calendar

• National elections
• * April and October: By-elections to both houses of the National Diet
• * 2014 Japanese general election
• Prefectural elections
• * February 2: Nagasaki gubernatorial
• * February 9: Tokyo gubernatorial
• * February 23: Yamaguchi gubernatorial
• * March 16: Ishikawa gubernatorial
• * April 6: Kyoto gubernatorial
• * in or before July : Shiga gubernatorial
• * in or before August : Nagano gubernatorial
• * in or before September : Kagawa gubernatorial
• * in or before November : Fukushima gubernatorial
• * in or before November : Ehime gubernatorial
• * in or before December : Okinawa gubernatorial
• * in or before December : Wakayama gubernatorial
• * in or before January 2015 : Ibaraki assembly
• * in or before January 2015 : Miyazaki gubernatorial
• Municipal elections in designated major cities and special wards
• * June 8: Nakano City mayoral
• * in or before July : Suginami City mayoral
• * in or before October : Shinagawa City mayoral
• * in or before November : Shinjuku City mayoral
• * in or before November : Niigata City mayoral
• * in or before November : Kumamoto City mayoral
• * in or before December : Fukuoka City mayoral

Other Events

• * January 9 - Mitsubishi Materials Yokkaichi plant explosion, kills five persons, with injures 12 in Mie Prefecture.
• * January 25 - 2013 frozen food pesticide contamination incident, in Gunma Prefecture, arrested on suspicion of fraudulent means obstruction of business man of contract employees was mixed the pesticide malathion by Japanese authority.
• * February - 2014 Japan heavy snowfall, according to Fire and Disaster Management Agency in Japan confirmed report, 95 persons fatalities, with 1,770 are injures, most of the victims is the snow removal work during the snow removal of the roof.
• * February 15 - 2014 Motosumiyoshi commuter trains accident, injures 19 people in Tokyu Toyoko Line, Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture.
• * March 5 - 2012-2013 PC remote control incident in Japan, a suspect man of 31-year-old bail for the first time in almost a year from the Tokyo Detention Center of the receiving destination, however, the prosecution claimed the bail revocation on 19 May, suspects the Tokyo District Court, a suspect man imprisoned in the Tokyo Detention Center on May 20.
• * March 8 - Abeno Harukas open in Abeno-ku, Osaka, the tallest structure in Japan.
• * March 31 - In court that the International Court of Justice, the world complained as the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling violation research whaling in the Antarctic Ocean in Japan, research whaling in Japan said, "not for research purposes", and certification treaty violation, ruling order so that it is not carried out in future.
• * April 1 - Consumption tax is up to 8% from 5% since 1997.
• * August 20 - 2014 Hiroshima landslides, according to official confirmed report, 74 people fatalities in Asakita-ku, Hiroshima.
• * August 27 - According to Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare official confirmed report, a first dengue fever patient cases in the country since 1945, or later, 153 people are same symptoms by October, mainly, Tokyo metropolitan area.
• * September 27 - 2014 Mount Ontake eruption, according to official confirmed report, 63 people fatalities and worst eruption disaster since 1991.
• * November 22 - A magnitude 6.2 earthquake injured 46 people in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture, according to a Fire and Disaster Management Agency official.
• * December 3 - A asteroid sample return mission Hayabusa2 launched from Tanegashima Space Center, Kagoshima prefecture.

  Popular culture

Arts and entertainment

Sports

Deaths

• January 1 - Tokuo Yamashita, 94, politician, Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, natural causes.
• January 2
• * Higashifushimi Kunihide, 103, Buddhist monk.
• * Yōko Mitsui, 78, poet, liver failure.
• January 3
• * Yashiki Takajin, 64, singer-songwriter and television presenter, esophageal cancer.
• * Yasuki Hamano, 62, anime media expert and university professor, stroke.
• January 4 - Shigeyuki Imai, 81, composer, esophageal cancer.
• January 6 - Tesshin Okada, 21, boxer, subdural hematoma.
• January 11 - Keiko Awaji, 80, actress, esophageal cancer.
• January 12 - Tsunetoshi Tanaka, 88, politician, member of the House of Representatives.
• January 15 - Hiroshi Yoshino, 87, poet, pneumonia.
• January 16
• * Masahide Sakuma, 61, musician and music producer, stomach cancer.
• * Masaya Takahashi, 83, actor, respiratory failure.
• * Hiroo Onoda, 91, Imperial Army World War II intelligence officer, did not surrender until 1974, heart failure due to complications of pneumonia.
• January 17
• * Saizo Kishimoto, 85, yakuza.
• * Seizō Katō, 86, voice actor, bladder cancer.
• January 18 - Takao Iwami, 78, Japanese political pundit, pneumonia.
• January 19
• * Yukio Funai, 81, management consultant, pneumonia.
• * Tsutomu Kawabuchi, 88, ice hockey player and coach, IIHF Hall of Fame.
• January 20
• * Kiyoharu Ishiwata, 73, politician, member of the House of Councilors, heart failure.
• * Tsuyoshi Nara, 81, linguist, lung cancer.
• January 23
• * Umon Sanyūtei, 65, rakugo comedian, stomach cancer.
• * Katsuyo Kobayashi, 76, food critic, multiple organ failure.
• January 27
• * Masaaki Tsukada, 74, voice actor.
• * Ichirō Nagai, 82, voice actor, heart attack due to coronary artery disease.
• * Masako Bandō, 55, novelist, winner of the Naoki Prize.
• January 28
• * Kazuhiko Sakazaki, 76, baseball player, stomach cancer.
• * Gudo Wafu Nishijima, 94, Zen Buddhist priest and teacher.
• February 3 - Hiroyuki Suzuki, 68, architectural historian, pneumonia.
• February 6 - Tōru Mori, 78, baseball player, hepatocellular carcinoma.
• February 10 - Hōzan Yamamoto, 76, musician.
• February 13 - Ken'ichi Yamamoto, 57, novelist, lung cancer.
• February 17 - Kokichi Shimoinaba, 87, politician, sepsis.
• February 19 - Toshiko D'Elia, 84, Japanese-born American long-distance runner, brain cancer.
• February 26 - Fumio Yamamoto, 79, news presenter, alveolar hemorrhage.
• February 28 - Michio Mado, 104, poet.
• March 8 - Runa Akiyama, 59, voice actress, heart failure.
• March 12 - Kyojin Ōnishi, 97, writer.
• March 14 - Ken Utsui, 82, actor.
• March 16 - Yukio Fujimaki, 54, politician, member of the House of Councillors, hemorrhagic shock.
• March 29 - Masato Masuda, 49, video game designer.
• April 11 - Minoru Sano, 63, chef, multiple organ failure.
• April 20 - Yoshio Shinozuka, 90, Imperial Army soldier.
• May 1 - Kōji Yada, 81, voice actor, kidney failure.
• May 11 - Yuji Kodama, 82, leprosy and human rights activist, lung cancer.
• May 15 - Noribumi Suzuki, 80, film director.
• May 18 - Kaiketsu Masateru, 66, sumo wrestler and executive, Chairman of the Japan Sumo Association, ischemic heart disease.
• May 25 - Kōichi Ōtani, 90, writer.
• May 27 - Kōji Kojima, 83, Olympic volleyball coach, pneumonia.
• May 29 - Mitsugu Hara, 79, baseball manager, managed two National Championships, heart failure.
• June 1
• * Tarō Naka, 92, poet, pneumonia.
• *Yuri Kochiyama, 93, Japanese American internment camp detainee and civil rights activist, natural causes.
• June 2 - Gorō Nishida, 70, mathematician, septic shock.
• June 3
• * Itsuko Ueda, 85, fashion designer, heart failure.
• * Kaneyasu Marutani, 94, politician, member of the House of Councillors.
• June 4
• * Yasuo Masumoto, 67, industrial and farm machinery executive, chairman and president of Kubota.
• * Ryūzō Hayashi, 70, actor, kidney failure.
• June 8
• * Yoshihito, Prince Katsura, 66, royal, acute heart failure.
• * Taruhi Furuta, 86, writer and critic, heart failure.
• June 10 - Sōhei Kondō, 92, genetician, multiple organ failure
• June 11
• * Kunie Iwahashi, 74, writer, peritonitis.
• * Kōbun Kurata, 74, poet, colorectal cancer.
• * Hiroyuki Nakagawa, 77, composer, lung cancer.
• * Fujio Morita, 86, cinematographer, glioblastoma.
• June 13 - Tadahiko Hirano, 76, baritone, heart attack.
• June 20 - Akio Yokoyama, 83, actor, pneumonia.
• June 21
• * Hiroaki Fujii, 88, producer, heart failure.
• * Yukio Fukamachi, 83, producer and director.
• * Chūzō Ichiko, 101, historian.
• * Yozo Ishikawa, 88, politician, Director General of the Defense Agency, member of the House of Representatives for Tokyo, acute respiratory failure.
• June 23 - Ichirō Komatsu, 63, Japanese civil servant and diplomat, Director-General of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau, Ambassador to Switzerland and France.
• June 27 - Haruhiko Saitō, 73, actor.
• July 3
• * Haruichiban, 47, entertainer, cirrhosis.
• * Mazakazu Koayashi, 44, hang-glider, flight collision during competition.
• July 5 - Masamitsu Iwamoto, 85, politician, stroke.
• July 9 - Yuzuru Ninagawa, 89, scholar of French literature, pneumonia.
• July 10 - On Kawara, 81, conceptual artist.
• July 14 - Yūsuke Fukada, 82, writer, pneumonia.
• July 18
• * Gankurō Ōtaya, 60, entertainer, intracranial hemorrhage.
• * Makoto Sakuma, 79, Self-Defense Forces official, heart attack.
• July 20 - Kazuo Ichiriki, 88, sumo executive, Chairman of Yokozuna Deliberation Council.
• July 25 - Fusao Ōkubo, 92, writer and editor, duodenal papilla cancer.
• July 27 - Kyozan Joshu Sasaki, 107, Japanese-born American Rinzai Zen teacher.
• July 31 - Shigefumi Fukatsu, 46, playwright and theater producer, lung cancer.
• August 3 - Hiroshi Obi, 54, manga artist, brain stem hemorrhage.
• August 5 - Yoshiki Sasai, 52, biologist, apparent suicide by hanging.
• August 7 - Mitsuo Higashinaka, 90, politician, member of the House of Representatives for Osaka's 2nd District, lung cancer.
• August 9 - Yasuyuki Nakai, 60, baseball player, esophageal cancer.
• August 12 - Futatsuryū Jun'ichi, 64, sumo wrestler, lung cancer.
• August 15 - Harutoshi Funabashi, 66, anti-nuclear activist, subarachnoid hemorrhage.
• August 16 - Gen Kida, philosopher, pneumonia.
• August 17 - Toshio Mishima, 87, singer, hypoxia.
• August 18 - Nobuyuki Sekiyama, 80, politician, member of the House of Representatives for Niigata's 1st district, stomach cancer.
• August 20 - Aiko Miyawaki, 84, sculptor, pancreatic cancer.
• August 26
• * Chūsei Sone 76, film director, pneumonia.
• * Masakane Yonekura, 80, actor and stage director, abdominal aortic aneurysm rupture.
• September 4 - Ichirō Satsuki, 95, rōkyoku performer.
• September 6 - Yoko Yamaguchi, 77, songwriter and novelist, winner of the 1985 Naoki Prize, respiratory failure.
• September 7 - Yoshiko Ōtaka, 94, Chinese-born Japanese actress and singer, member of the House of Councillors, heart failure.
• September 10 - Yoshinori Sakai, 69, athlete, lit cauldron at the 1964 Summer Olympics, cerebral hemorrhage.
• September 14 - Takatada Ihara, 85, television producer and director, heart disease.
• September 15 - Iwao Akiyama, 93, printmaker.
• September 17 - Wakachichibu Komei, 75, sumo wrestler.
• September 20 - Kazusuke Ogawa, 84, literary critic, stomach cancer.
• October 2 - Yoshikazu Sakamoto, 87, political scientist, heart failure.
• October 5 - Katsumi Ōyama, 82, stage and television producer, multiple organ failure.
• October 10 - Ichirō Satake, 86, mathematician, respiratory failure.
• October 17
• * Daisuke Oku, 38, footballer, traffic collision.
• * Anna Nakagawa, 49, actress, uterine cancer.
• * Masaru Emoto, 71, author.
• October 21 - Yasumasa Narasaki, 86, politician, member of the House of Councilors, pneumonia.
• October 25 - Peter Baptist Tadamaro Ishigami, 93, Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Naha.
• October 26
• * Genpei Akasegawa, 77, author and artist, sepsis.
• * Hisahiko Okazaki, 84, diplomat and political commentator.
• October 28 - Koichiro Kimura, 44, mixed martial artist and professional wrestler, pneumonia.
• October 30 - Mitsuyo Miura, 90, writer, sepsis.
• October 31 - Hitoshi Motoshima, 92, politician, Mayor of Nagasaki.
• November 1 - Kazuko Yanaga, 67, voice actress, sepsis.
• November 4 - Admire Rakti, 6, Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse, won Caulfield Cup, cardiac arrest.
• November 6 - Naoki Tanemura, 78, railway writer.
• November 10 - Ken Takakura, 83, actor, malignant lymphoma.
• November 17 - Rokurō Naya, 82, voice actor.
• November 28 - Bunta Sugawara, 81, actor, liver cancer.
• November 30 - Go Seigen, 100, Chinese-born Japanese Go player.
• December 5 - Koichi Kawakita, 72, special effects director.
• December 13 - Taitetsu Unno, 85, Shin Buddhist scholar and author.