1942 in Japan

Events in the year 1942 in Japan.

Incumbents

 * Emperor: Hirohito
 * Prime Minister: Hideki Tōjō

Governors

 * Aichi Prefecture: Yukisawa Chiyoji
 * Akita Prefecture: Fumi
 * Aomori Prefecture: Seiichi Ueda (until 9 June); Shunsuke Yamada (starting 9 June)
 * Ehime Prefecture: Masatomi Hatakeda (until 7 July); Ryuichi Fukumoto (starting 7 July)
 * Fukui Prefecture:
 * until 9 January: Kubota
 * 9 January-15 June: Shigeo Miyoshi
 * starting 15 June: Nagano Wakamatsu
 * Fukushima Prefecture: Sumio Hisakawa (until 7 July); Yoshio Araki (starting 7 July)
 * Gifu Prefecture: Tetsushin Sudo (until 23 May); Miyoshi Shigeo (starting 23 May)
 * Gunma Prefecture: Goro Murata
 * Hiroshima Prefecture: Tokiji Yoshinaga (until 15 June); Saiichiro Miyamura (starting 15 June)
 * Ibaraki Prefecture: Kanichi Naito (until 7 October); Tsujiyama (starting 7 October)
 * Iwate Prefecture: Yoshifumi Yamauchi (until 15 June); Osamuzo Suzuki (starting 15 June)
 * Kagawa Prefecture: Osamu Eianhyaku (until 9 January); Yoshiji Kosuga (starting 9 January)
 * Kanagawa Prefecture: Mitsuma Matsumura (until month unknown)
 * Kochi Prefecture: Naoaki Hattori (until 7 July); Satoru Okino (starting 7 July)
 * Kumamoto Prefecture: Chioji Yukisawa (until 10 June); Hikari Akira (starting 10 June)
 * Kyoto Prefecture: Ando Kyoushirou
 * Mie Prefecture: Yoshiro Nakano (until 7 October); Koji Soga (starting 7 October)
 * Miyagi Prefecture: Nobuo Hayashin (until 7 October); Otomaru Kato (starting 7 October)
 * Miyazaki Prefecture: Osafume Katsumi
 * Nagano Prefecture: Noburo Suzuki (until 9 January); Nagoya Osamu (starting 9 January)
 * Niigata Prefecture: Doi Shohei
 * Oita Prefecture: Ito Hisamatsu (starting 6 May)
 * Okinawa Prefecture: Hajime Hayakawa
 * Saga Prefecture: Yue Yue (civil servant) (until 23 May); Shogo Tanaka (starting 23 May)
 * Saitama Prefecture: Miyano Shozo (until 9 January); Toshio Otsu (starting 9 January)
 * Shiname Prefecture: Yasuo Otsubo (until 9 January); Goro Koizumi (starting 9 January)
 * Tochigi Prefecture: Saburo Yamagata (until 9 January); Sakurai Yasuemon (starting 9 January)
 * Tokyo: Jitsuzo Kawanishi (until 9 January); Matsumura Miro (starting 9 January)
 * Toyama Prefecture: Kingo Machimura
 * Yamagata Prefecture: Hee Yamauchi (until 7 July); Akira Saito (starting 7 July)

Events
Below, events of World War II have the "WWII" preface


 * 11 January – Japanese paratroopers land on Sulawesi.
 * 12 January – Japan declares war on the Dutch.
 * 22 January – Hideki Tōjō warns Australia that "if you continue resistance, we Japanese will destroy you."
 * 4 February – Japan demands the surrender of Singapore.
 * 17 February – Singapore is renamed Shōnan ("Light of the South").
 * 20 March – The navy minister, Admiral Shigetarō Shimada says that in view of the Allies' "Retaliation and hatred", Japan would no longer follow recognized rules of sea warfare.
 * 18 April – Doolittle Raid, the first bombing raid on the Japanese home islands
 * 25 May – Four ships leave Hokkaido to stage a diversionary raid on the Aleutian Islands.
 * 4–7 June – Battle of Midway
 * 21 August – Battle of the Tenaru
 * 11–12 October – Battle of Cape Esperance
 * 12–15 November – Naval Battle of Guadalcanal

Births

 * January 8 – Junichiro Koizumi, 56th Prime Minister of Japan
 * January 27 – Tasuku Honjo, immunologist
 * February 1 – Masa Saito, professional wrestler (d. 2018)
 * March 17 – Yoko Yamamoto, actress (d. 2024)
 * March 29 – Kenichi Ogata, actor
 * April 2 – Hiroyuki Sakai, chef
 * April 25 – Katsuji Adachi, professional wrestler (d. 2010)
 * May 24 – Ichirō Ozawa, politician
 * July 3 – Mitsuhiro Kitta, golfer
 * July 5 – Motoaki Inukai, footballer
 * July 22 – Toyohiro Akiyama, astronaut
 * August 31 – Isao Aoki, golfer
 * September 16 – Tadamasa Goto, yakuza boss
 * September 19 – Nobuo Sekine, sculptor (d. 2019)

Deaths

 * May 11 – Sakutarō Hagiwara, writer, poet and critic (b. 1886)
 * May 29 – Akiko Yosano, author and poet (b. 1878)
 * June 4
 * Jisaku Okada, Naval officer, killed in action at the Battle of Midway (b. 1897)
 * Tamon Yamaguchi, admiral (b. 1892)
 * June 5 – Ryusaku Yanagimoto, captain (b. 1894)
 * August 21 – Kiyonao Ichiki (b. 1892)
 * August 26 – Junichi Sasai, aviator (b. 1918)
 * September 5 – Toshinari Maeda, general (b. 1885)
 * October 12 – Aritomo Gotō, admiral (b. 1888)
 * October 21 – Toshio Ōta, aviator (b. 1919)
 * October 26 – Yumio Nasu, major general (b. 1892)
 * November 5 – Kiyoura Keigo, politician and Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1850)
 * November 23 – Tomitarō Horii, lieutenant general (b. 1890)
 * December 4 – Atsushi Nakajima, author (b. 1909)