1959 in Japan

Events in the year 1959 in Japan.

Incumbents

 * Emperor: Hirohito
 * Prime minister: Nobusuke Kishi

Governors

 * Aichi Prefecture: Mikine Kuwahara
 * Akita Prefecture: Yūjirō Obata
 * Aomori Prefecture: Iwao Yamazaki
 * Chiba Prefecture: Hitoshi Shibata
 * Ehime Prefecture: Sadatake Hisamatsu
 * Fukui Prefecture: Seiichi Hane (until 22 April); Eizō Kita (starting 23 April)
 * Fukuoka Prefecture: Taichi Uzaki
 * Fukushima Prefecture: Zenichiro Satō
 * Gifu Prefecture: Yukiyasu Matsuno
 * Gunma Prefecture: Toshizo Takekoshi
 * Hiroshima Prefecture: Hiroo Ōhara
 * Hokkaido: Toshifumi Tanaka (until 22 April); Kingo Machimura (starting 23 April)
 * Hyogo Prefecture: Masaru Sakamoto
 * Ibaraki Prefecture: Yoji Tomosue (until 29 March); Nirō Iwakami (starting 23 April)
 * Ishikawa Prefecture: Jūjitsu Taya
 * Iwate Prefecture: Senichi Abe
 * Kagawa Prefecture: Masanori Kaneko
 * Kagoshima Prefecture: Katsushi Terazono
 * Kanagawa Prefecture: Iwataro Uchiyama
 * Kochi Prefecture: Masumi Mizobuchi
 * Kumamoto Prefecture: Saburō Sakurai (until 10 February); Kōsaku Teramoto (starting 11 February)
 * Kyoto Prefecture: Torazō Ninagawa
 * Mie Prefecture: Satoru Tanaka
 * Miyagi Prefecture: Yasushi Onuma (until 12 January); Yoshio Miura (starting 4 March)
 * Miyazaki Prefecture: Jingo Futami (until 22 April); Hiroshi Kuroki (starting 23 April)
 * Nagano Prefecture: Torao Hayashi (until 22 April); Gon'ichirō Nishizawa (starting 26 April)
 * Nagasaki Prefecture: Katsuya Sato
 * Nara Prefecture: Ryozo Okuda
 * Niigata Prefecture: Kazuo Kitamura
 * Oita Prefecture: Kaoru Kinoshita
 * Okayama Prefecture: Yukiharu Miki
 * Osaka Prefecture: Bunzō Akama (until 22 April); Gisen Satō (starting 23 April)
 * Saga Prefecture: Naotsugu Nabeshima (until 16 April); Sunao Ikeda (starting 23 April)
 * Saitama Prefecture: Hiroshi Kurihara
 * Shiga Prefecture: Kyujiro Taniguchi
 * Shiname Prefecture: Yasuo Tsunematsu (until 29 April); Choemon Tanabe (starting 30 April)
 * Shizuoka Prefecture: Toshio Saitō
 * Tochigi Prefecture: Kiichi Ogawa (until 4 February); Nobuo Yokokawa (starting 5 February)
 * Tokushima Prefecture: Kikutaro Hara
 * Tokyo: Seiichirō Yasui (until 18 April); Ryōtarō Azuma (starting 22 April)
 * Tottori Prefecture: Jirō Ishiba
 * Toyama Prefecture: Minoru Yoshida
 * Wakayama Prefecture: Shinji Ono
 * Yamagata Prefecture: Tōkichi Abiko
 * Yamaguchi Prefecture: Taro Ozawa
 * Yamanashi Prefecture: Hisashi Amano

Events

 * April 1 – Kyoto Ceramic (now Kyocera) has founded.
 * April 10 – The Crown Prince Akihito, the future Emperor of Japan, weds Michiko Shōda, the first commoner to marry into the Japanese Imperial Family.
 * June 2 – Mori Building was founded.
 * June 30 – Twenty-one students are killed and more than a hundred injured when an American North American F-100 Super Sabre jet crashes into Miamori Elementary School on the island of Okinawa. The pilot ejected before the plane struck the school.
 * July 22 – A Kumamoto University medical research group studying Minamata disease concludes that it is caused by mercury.
 * September 26 – According to Japanese government official confirmed report, Typhoon Vera with tidal wave hit around Ise Bay, total 5,098 person were lives, 38,921 person were hurt.

Births

 * January 3 – Dankan, actor and director
 * January 16 – Kimiko Ikegami, actress
 * January 17 – Momoe Yamaguchi, actress
 * February 8 – Amy Yamada, writer
 * February 20 – Tomomi Inada, politician
 * March 23 – Kazue Ikura, actress, voice actress and narrator
 * May 19 – Michiru Shimada, screenwriter (d. 2017)
 * May 23 – Ryuta Kawashima, neuroscientist
 * June 17 – Kazuki Yao, voice actor and actor
 * July 17 – Kiyotaka Sugiyama, singer-songwriter
 * August 11 – Yoshiaki Murakami, investor
 * August 17 – Chika Sakamoto, voice actress
 * September 8 – Saeko Shimazu, voice actress
 * October 13 – Denny Tamaki, governor of Okinawa Prefecture
 * October 21 – Ken Watanabe, actor
 * November 21 – Naoko Watanabe, voice actress
 * November 24 – Akio Ōtsuka, actor and voice actress
 * December 5 – Yoshitomo Nara, artist
 * December 6 – Satoru Iwata, video game designer, businessman (d. 2015)

Deaths

 * March 7 – Ichirō Hatoyama, politician and 35th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1883)
 * April 30 – Kafū Nagai, author, playwright, essayist, and diarist (b. 1879)
 * June 20 – Hitoshi Ashida, politician and 35th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1887)
 * August 9 – Noboru Ishizaki, admiral (b. 1893)