1920 in Japan

Events in the year 1920 in Japan. It corresponds to Taishō 9 (大正9年) in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents

 * Emperor: Taishō
 * Prime Minister: Hara Takashi

Governors

 * Aichi Prefecture: Shunji Miyao
 * Akita Prefecture: Ryoshin Nao
 * Aomori Prefecture: Hidehiko Michioka
 * Ehime Prefecture: Toshio Mawatari
 * Fukui Prefecture: Kohei Yuji
 * Fukuoka Prefecture: Yasukouchi Asakichi
 * Fukushima Prefecture: Miyata Mitsuo
 * Gifu Prefecture: Kanokogi Kogoro
 * Gunma Prefecture: Muneyoshi Oshiba
 * Hiroshima Prefecture: Raizo Wakabayashi
 * Ibaraki Prefecture: Yuichiro Chikaraishi
 * Iwate Prefecture: Takeo Kakinuma
 * Kagawa Prefecture: Yoshibumi Satake
 * Kochi Prefecture: Abe Yoshihiko
 * Kumamoto Prefecture: Hikoji Kawaguchi
 * Kyoto Prefecture: Eitaro Mabuchi
 * Mie Prefecture: Haruki Yamawaki
 * Miyagi Prefecture: Mori Masataka
 * Miyazaki Prefecture: Naomiki Hirose
 * Nagano Prefecture: Tenta Akaboshi
 * Niigata Prefecture: Ota Masahiro
 * Okayama Prefecture: Masao Kishimoto
 * Okinawa Prefecture: Sōsuke Kawagoe
 * Saga Prefecture: Sawada Ushimaro
 * Saitama Prefecture: Horiuchi Hidetaro
 * Shiname Prefecture: Sanehide Takarabe
 * Tochigi Prefecture: Hiroyoshi Hiratsuka
 * Tokushima Prefecture: Rinpei Otsu
 * Tokyo: Hiroshi Abe
 * Toyama Prefecture: Higashizono Motomitsu
 * Yamagata Prefecture: Ichiro Yoda
 * Yamanashi Prefecture: Miki Nagano

Events

 * January 10 – Japan is a founding member of the League of Nations.
 * January 30 – Mazda founded, as predecessor name was Toyo Cork Industry.
 * February Unknown date – Kawanishi Engineering Works, as predecessor of ShinMaywa, is founded in Hyogo-ku, Kobe.
 * February 1 – Japanese sugar plantation workers in Hawaii officially join a strike led by Filipinos and Hispanic workers.
 * February 24 – Nikolayevsk Incident: Realizing that he is outnumbered and far from reinforcement, the commander of the Japanese garrison allowed Yakov Triapitsyn's troops to enter the town of Nikolayevsk-on-Amur under a flag of truce.
 * May 10 – In the general election, the Rikken Seiyūkai, led by Prime Minister Hara Takashi, increases on its majority of seats in the lower house of the Diet.
 * May 31, the Rome–Tokyo Raid, a cross-Eurasian flight from Rome to Tokyo organized by Harukichi Shimoi and Gabrielle D'Annunzio ends with Arturo Ferrarin arriving in Tokyo.
 * June - About 450 Japanese civilians and 350 Japanese soldiers, along with Russian White Army supporters, are massacred by partisan forces associated with the Red Army at Nikolayevsk on the Amur River.
 * June Unknown date – Shikishima Bakery was founded in Nagoya, as predecessor of Pasco Shikishima.
 * September 1 – Rinnai was founded in Nagoya.
 * September 17 – The Victory Medal, a commemorative military medal of Japan awarded to mark service during the First World War, is established by Imperial Edict.
 * October 21 – The Battle of Qingshanli begins between the Imperial Japanese Army and Korean armed groups in a densely wooded region of eastern Manchuria called Qīngshānlǐ.
 * December 16 – Bank of Yokohama was founded, as predecessor name was Yokohama Kōshō Bank (横浜興商銀行) in Kanagawa Prefecture.
 * date unknown
 * The literary magazine Teikoku Bungaku is published for the last time.
 * The Guards Cavalry Regiment, Guards Field Artillery Regiment, Guards Engineer Battalion, Guards Transport Battalion, plus other Guards service units are added to the Japanese Imperial Guard.

Births

 * January 23 – Nejiko Suwa, violinist (d. 2012)
 * January 30 – Machiko Hasegawa, Illustrator (d. 1992)
 * February 12 – Yoshiko Yamaguchi, singer, actress, journalist, and politician (d. 2014)
 * March 17 – Takeo Doi, academic, psychoanalyst and author (d. 2009)
 * March 22 – Katsuko Saruhashi, geochemist (d. 2007)
 * April 1 – Toshiro Mifune, actor (d. 1997)
 * May 9 – Mitsuko Mori, actress (d. 2012)
 * May 30 – Shōtarō Yasuoka, writer (d. 2013)
 * June 17 – Setsuko Hara, actress (d. 2015)
 * July 15 – Yoshio Inaba, actor (d. 1998)
 * October 20 – Masao Sugiuchi, go player (d. 2017)
 * December 24 – Hiroyuki Agawa, writer (d. 2015)

Deaths

 * January 10 – Yoshikawa Akimasa, politician and cabinet minister (b. 1842)
 * January 11 – Kataoka Shichirō, admiral (b. 1854)
 * April 12 – Takaki Kanehiro, naval physician (b. 1849)
 * April 27 – Tadashi Satō, soldier and politician (b. 1849)
 * September 20 – Shō Ten, last Ryūkyū crown prince, member of the House of Peers (b. 1864)
 * October 5 – Suematsu Kenchō, politician and author (b. 1855)
 * October 6 – Kuroiwa Shūroku, journalist and writer (b. 1864)