1940 in Japan

Events in the year 1940 in Japan. It corresponds to Shōwa 15 (昭和15年) in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents

 * Emperor: Hirohito
 * Prime Minister:
 * Nobuyuki Abe, until January 16,
 * Mitsumasa Yonai, until July 22,
 * Fumimaro Konoe, from July 22

Governors

 * Aichi Prefecture: Kotaro Tanaka (until 9 April); Kodama Kyuichi (starting 9 April)
 * Akita Prefecture: Yukio Tomeoka (until 24 July); Fumi (starting 24 July)
 * Aomori Prefecture: Noburo Suzuki (until 24 July); Seiichi Ueda (starting 24 July)
 * Ehime Prefecture: Yoshio Mochinaga (until 24 July); Susumu Nakamura Noriyuki (starting 24 July)
 * Fukui Prefecture: Kiyoshi Kimura (until 14 April); Kubota (starting 14 April)
 * Fukuoka Prefecture: Kyuichi Kodama
 * Fukushima Prefecture: Seikichi Hashimoto (until 24 December); Sumio Hisakawa (starting 24 December)
 * Gifu Prefecture: Miyano Shozo
 * Gunma Prefecture: Kumano Ei (until 20 October); Susukida Yoshitomo (starting 20 October)
 * Hiroshima Prefecture: Katsuroku Aikawa
 * Ibaraki Prefecture: Tokitsugi Yoshinaga
 * Ishikawa Prefecture: Narita Ichiro (until month unknown)
 * Iwate Prefecture: Chiyoji Yukizawa (until 10 April); Yoshifumi Yamauchi (starting 10 April)
 * Kagawa Prefecture: Nagatoshi Fujioka (until 9 April); Osamu Eianhyaku (starting 9 April)
 * Kanagawa Prefecture: Ichisho Inuma then Mitsuma Matsumura
 * Kumamoto Prefecture: Tomoichi Koyama
 * Kochi Prefecture: Kondo Shunsuke (until 9 April); Chioji Yukisawa (starting 9 April)
 * Kyoto Prefecture: Tota Akamatsuko (until April); Jitsuzo Kawanishi (starting April)
 * Mie Prefecture: Masatoshi Sato (until 4 April); Yoshiro Nakano (starting 4 April)
 * Miyagi Prefecture: Ryosaku Shimizu (until 4 April); Nobuo Hayashin (starting 4 April)
 * Miyazaki Prefecture: Jitsuzo Kawanishi (until month unknown)
 * Nagano Prefecture: Tomita Kenji (until 22 July); Nagoya Osamu (starting 22 July)
 * Nagasaki Prefecture: Jitsuzo Kawanishi
 * Niigata Prefecture: Seikichi Kimishima (until 9 April); Yasui Seiichiro (starting 9 April)
 * Okinawa Prefecture: Fusataro Fuchigami
 * Saga Prefecture: Kato (until 9 April); Masaki (starting 9 April)
 * Saitama Prefecture: Toki Ginjiro
 * Shiname Prefecture: Kiyoo Ebe (until 23 December); Yasuo Otsubo (starting 23 December)
 * Tochigi Prefecture: Adachi Shuuritsu (until 8 April); Saburo Yamagata (starting 8 April)
 * Tokyo: Okada Shuzo
 * Toyama Prefecture: Kenzo Yano
 * Yamagata Prefecture: Ishiguro Takeshige (until 24 August); Hee Yamauchi (starting 24 August)

Films

 * Kaze no Matasaburo
 * Totsugu hi made

Events

 * Throughout the entire year - Celebration of year 2600 in Japanese imperial year
 * January 15 – A large fire destroys much of Shizuoka city center.
 * January 29 – According to Japanese government official confirmed report, a three-passenger locomotive commuter train derail and caught fire nearby Ajikawaguchi Station, Osaka, resulting to 189 person (181 were instantly, 8 were hospital) were death and 69 persons injures.
 * March 16–April 3 – Battle of Wuyuan
 * May 1–June 18 – Battle of Zaoyang-Yichang
 * September 22–26 – Japanese invasion of French Indochina
 * November 25–30 – Central Hubei Operation

Births

 * January 1 – Ippei Kuri, manga artist and entrepreneur (d. 2023)
 * January 2 – Masahiko Tsugawa, actor (d. 2018)
 * February 11 – Kinryuu Arimoto, voice actor (d. 2019)
 * May 13 – Kōkichi Tsuburaya, marathoner (d. 1968)
 * May 25 – Nobuyoshi Araki, photographer and artist
 * June 3 – Koichi Kishi, politician (d. 2017)
 * July 2 – Ruriko Asaoka, actress
 * July 19 – Hanako, Princess Hitachi, wife of Masahito, Prince Hitachi
 * August 20 – Gisaburō Sugii, anime director and Nihonga artist
 * September 20 – Tarō Asō, 59th Prime Minister of Japan
 * October 30 – Hidetoshi Nagasawa, sculptor and architect (d. 2018)
 * December 4 – Fumio Kyūma, politician

Deaths

 * January 1 – Fusajiro Yamauchi, entrepreneur (b. 1859)
 * March 8 – Princess Masako Takeda, sixth daughter of Emperor Meiji (b. 1888)
 * May 11 – Chujiro Hayashi, Reiki practitioner (b. 1880)
 * June 5 – Tokugawa Iesato, politician (b. 1863)
 * September 4 – Prince Nagahisa Kitashirakawa, career army officer (b. 1910)
 * October 6 – Michitarō Komatsubara, general (b. 1885)
 * November 20 – Hideo Oguma, poet (b. 1901)
 * November 24 – Saionji Kinmochi, politician, statesman and Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1849)