1965 in Japan

Events from the year 1965 in Japan.

Incumbents

 * Emperor: Hirohito
 * Prime Minister: Eisaku Satō (Liberal Democratic)
 * Chief Cabinet Secretary: Tomisaburo Hashimoto
 * Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Kisaburo Yokota
 * President of the House of Representatives: Naka Funada until December 20, Kikuchirō Yamaguchi
 * President of the House of Councillors: Yūzō Shigemune

Governors

 * Aichi Prefecture: Mikine Kuwahara
 * Akita Prefecture: Yūjirō Obata
 * Aomori Prefecture: Shunkichi Takeuchi
 * Chiba Prefecture: Taketo Tomonō
 * Ehime Prefecture: Sadatake Hisamatsu
 * Fukui Prefecture: Eizō Kita
 * Fukuoka Prefecture: Taichi Uzaki
 * Fukushima Prefecture: Morie Kimura
 * Gifu Prefecture: Yukiyasu Matsuno
 * Gunma Prefecture: Konroku Kanda
 * Hiroshima Prefecture: Iduo Nagano
 * Hokkaido: Kingo Machimura
 * Hyogo Prefecture: Motohiko Kanai
 * Ibaraki Prefecture: Nirō Iwakami
 * Ishikawa Prefecture: Yōichi Nakanishi
 * Iwate Prefecture: Tadashi Chida
 * 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 (until 8 February); Shintaro Takahashi (starting 31 March)
 * 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: Takenori Kato
 * 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 (until 15 September); Yasunobu Takeichi (starting 9 October)
 * 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

 * February 14 - An All Nippon Airways Douglas DC-3 aircraft crashes into Mount Nakanoone in Shizuoka Prefecture, killing both occupants of the plane.
 * February 22 - A gas explosion at a coal mine in Hokkaido kills 61.
 * June 1 - Coal mine explosion in Fukuoka Prefecture kills 237.
 * June 22 - Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea signed in Tokyo.
 * August 1 - According to an official confirmed report from the Japan Coast Guard, the cruise ship Yasoshima Maru collided with a runaway tugboat and capsized in Osaka Bay, total 20 passenger and crew were lost to lives.
 * September 18 - Comet Ikeya–Seki first sighted by Japanese astronomers.
 * October 7 - Seven Japanese fishing boat capsized near Agrihan Island by Typhoon Carmen, According to an official confirmed report from the JCG, total 209 crew were fatalities.
 * October 15 - Meijō Line begins operations.
 * Unknown date – Kyoto Sangyo University was founded.

Births

 * January 5 - Rei Sakuma, voice actress
 * January 14 - Shouhei Kusaka (Born Hiroshi Tokoro), actor of 1989 Metal Hero Series Kidou Keiji Jiban.
 * February 18 – Masaki Saito, former professional baseball pitcher
 * March 20 - Taeko Kawata, voice actress
 * March 21 - Wakana Yamazaki, voice actress
 * April 15 - Sōichi Noguchi, astronaut
 * April 22 - Arihiro Hase, actor and voice actor (d. 1996)
 * May 2 - Aohisa Takayasu, actor of 1992 Super Sentai Series Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger.
 * May 8 - Momoko Sakura, Japanese manga artist (Chibi Maruko-chan) (d. 2018)
 * May 10 - Kiyoyuki Yanada, voice actor
 * May 13 - Hikari Ōta, comedian
 * May 23 - Kappei Yamaguchi, voice actor
 * May 24 - Shinichiro Watanabe, anime director
 * May 31 - Yōko Sōmi, voice actress
 * June 6 - Megumi Ogata, voice actress and singer
 * June 11 - Yasuko Sawaguchi, actress
 * July 3 - Shinya Hashimoto, professional wrestler (d. 2005)
 * July 13 - Akina Nakamori, pop singer and actress.
 * August 2 - Hisanobu Watanabe, baseball player and coach
 * August 18
 * Kōji Kikkawa, singer
 * Ikue Ōtani, voice actress
 * August 28 - Satoshi Tajiri, video game designer, creator of Pokémon
 * September 27 - Robert Baldwin, actor
 * October 4 - Michiko Neya, voice actress
 * October 7 - Kumiko Watanabe, voice actress
 * November 20
 * Yoshiki Hayashi, rock composer, pianist and drummer (X Japan)
 * Takeshi Kusao, voice actor
 * November 21 - Yuriko Yamaguchi, voice actress
 * November 29 - Yutaka Ozaki, songwriter and rock star (d. 1992)
 * November 30 - Fumihito, Crown Prince of Japan
 * December 7 - Teruyuki Kagawa, actor
 * December 8 - Kotono Mitsuishi, voice actress
 * December 26 - Toshihide Wakamatsu, actor of 1991 Super Sentai Series Chojin Sentai Jetman.

Deaths

 * March 4 – Hachirō Arita, politician (b. 1884)
 * July 19 – Haruo Umezaki, writer (b. 1915)
 * July 28 – Rampo Edogawa, author and critic (b. 1894)
 * July 30 – Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, writer, novelist (b. 1886)
 * August 13 – Hayato Ikeda, Prime Minister (b. 1899)
 * December 27 – Morita Fukui, lawyer, prosecutor, politician and first Commissioner of baseball in Japan (b. 1885)
 * December 29 – Kosaku Yamada, composer and conductor (b. 1886)