1962 in Japan

Events in the year 1962 in Japan.

Incumbents

 * Emperor: Hirohito
 * Prime minister: Hayato Ikeda (Liberal Democratic)
 * Chief Cabinet Secretary: Masayoshi Ōhira until July 18, Yasumi Kurogane
 * Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Kisaburo Yokota
 * President of the House of Representatives: Ichirō Kiyose
 * President of the House of Councillors: Tsuruhei Matsuno until August 6, Yūzō Shigemune

Governors

 * Aichi Prefecture: Mikine Kuwahara
 * Akita Prefecture: Yūjirō Obata
 * Aomori Prefecture: Iwao Yamazaki
 * Chiba Prefecture: Hitoshi Shibata (until 2 November); Hisaaki Kano (starting 2 November)
 * Ehime Prefecture: Sadatake Hisamatsu
 * Fukui Prefecture: Eizō Kita
 * Fukuoka Prefecture: Taichi Uzaki
 * Fukushima Prefecture: Zenichiro Satō
 * Gifu Prefecture: Yukiyasu Matsuno
 * Gunma Prefecture: Konroku Kanda
 * Hiroshima Prefecture: Hiroo Ōhara (until 13 April); Iduo Nagano (starting 29 May)
 * Hokkaido: Kingo Machimura
 * Hyogo Prefecture: Masaru Sakamoto (until 6 October); Motohiko Kanai (starting 24 November)
 * Ibaraki Prefecture: Nirō Iwakami
 * 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: Kōsaku Teramoto
 * Kyoto Prefecture: Torazō Ninagawa
 * Mie Prefecture: Satoru Tanaka
 * Miyagi Prefecture: Yoshio Miura
 * Miyazaki Prefecture: Hiroshi Kuroki
 * Nagano Prefecture: Gon'ichirō Nishizawa
 * Nagasaki Prefecture: Katsuya Sato
 * Nara Prefecture: Ryozo Okuda
 * Niigata Prefecture: Juichiro Tsukada
 * Oita Prefecture: Kaoru Kinoshita
 * Okayama Prefecture: Yukiharu Miki
 * Osaka Prefecture: Gisen Satō
 * Saga Prefecture: Sunao Ikeda
 * Saitama Prefecture: Hiroshi Kurihara
 * Shiga Prefecture: Kyujiro Taniguchi
 * Shiname Prefecture: Choemon Tanabe
 * Shizuoka Prefecture: Toshio Saitō
 * Tochigi Prefecture: Nobuo Yokokawa
 * Tokushima Prefecture: Kikutaro Hara
 * Tokyo: Ryōtarō Azuma
 * Tottori Prefecture: Jirō Ishiba
 * Toyama Prefecture: Minoru Yoshida
 * Wakayama Prefecture: Shinji Ono
 * Yamagata Prefecture: Tōkichi Abiko
 * Yamaguchi Prefecture: Masayuki Hashimoto
 * Yamanashi Prefecture: Hisashi Amano

Events

 * May 3 - Mikawashima train crash - A freight train and two passenger trains collide near Mikawashima Station in Arakawa, Tokyo, resulting in 160 deaths.
 * May 17 - Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma halts the sale of the drug Thalidomide.
 * May 29 – Tobu Department Store in Tokyo-Ikebukuro was open.
 * November 9 - An All Nippon Airways Vickers Viscount plane crashes in Aichi Prefecture while en route to Nagoya Airport, killing all 4 occupants of the aircraft.
 * November 18 - Two tankers, the smaller Munakata Maru 1 owned by Idemitsu Kosan and the larger Thrard Brovig, collide in the Keihin canal in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, causing the deaths of 40 crew members from both ships.
 * Unknown Date – Kotobuki Foods, as predecessor of Skylark (すかいらーく) Restaurant founded in Nishitokyo, Tokyo.

Births

 * January 20
 * IKKO, make-up artist
 * Sakiko Tamagawa, voice actress
 * February 1 – Takashi Murakami, pop artist
 * February 25 – Junko Ogata, serial killer
 * March 10 – Seiko Matsuda, pop singer/songwriter
 * March 13 – Shoko Sawada, singer-songwriter
 * March 18 – Kazuhiro Mizoguchi, javelin thrower
 * March 30 – Yōko Ogawa, writer
 * April 12 – Nobuhiko Takada, mixed martial arts fighter and professional wrestler
 * April 30 – Seiji Maehara, politician
 * May 5 – Kaoru Wada, composer
 * May 31 – Noriko Hidaka, voice actress
 * June 10 – Akie Abe, radio DJ
 * June 11 – Toshihiko Seki, voice actor
 * June 18 – Mitsuharu Misawa, professional wrestler
 * July 19 – Aya Kitō, writer (d. 1988)
 * August 8 – Yūji Machi, voice actor
 * August 21 – Tsutomu Miyazaki, serial killer (d. 2008)
 * September 4 – Shinya Yamanaka, physician and researcher
 * September 13 – Hisao Egawa, voice actor
 * October 12 – Ko Matsushita, conductor
 * October 15 – Yasutoshi Nishimura, politician
 * October 21 – Miki Itō, voice actress
 * October 27 – Jun'ichi Kanemaru, voice actor
 * November 14 – Atsuko Tanaka, voice actress
 * November 27 – Marumi Shiraishi, actress
 * December 1 – Shozo Hayashiya IX, rakugoka, tarento and voice actor
 * December 23 – Keiji Mutoh, professional wrestler

Deaths

 * January 20 – Shizue Tatsuta, film actor (b. 1903).
 * September 7 – Eiji Yoshikawa, writer and novelist (b. 1892)
 * October 21 – Kinnosuke Ogura, mathematician, historian of mathematics (b. 1885)