1966 in Japan

Events from the year 1966 in Japan. Under the Japanese calendar, this year is known as Shōwa 41.

Incumbents

 * Emperor: Hirohito
 * Prime Minister: Eisaku Satō (Liberal Democratic)
 * Chief Cabinet Secretary: Tomisaburo Hashimoto until August 1, Kiichi Aichi until December 3, Kenji Fukunaga
 * Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Kisaburo Yokota until August 5, Masatoshi Yokota from August 6
 * President of the House of Representatives: Kikuchirō Yamaguchi until December 3, Kentarō Ayabe until December 26
 * 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 (until 16 October); Saburō Hirano (starting 17 October)
 * 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: Shintaro Takahashi
 * Miyazaki Prefecture: Hiroshi Kuroki
 * Nagano Prefecture: Gon'ichirō Nishizawa
 * Nagasaki Prefecture: Katsuya Sato
 * Nara Prefecture: Ryozo Okuda
 * Niigata Prefecture: Juichiro Tsukada (until 28 March); Shiro Watari (starting 8 May)
 * Oita Prefecture: Kaoru Kinoshita
 * Okayama Prefecture: Takenori Kato
 * Osaka Prefecture: Gisen Satō
 * Saga Prefecture: Sunao Ikeda
 * Saitama Prefecture: Hiroshi Kurihara
 * Shiga Prefecture: Kyujiro Taniguchi (until 6 December); Kinichiro Nozaki (starting 7 December)
 * Shiname Prefecture: Choemon Tanabe
 * Shizuoka Prefecture: Toshio Saitō
 * Tochigi Prefecture: Nobuo Yokokawa
 * Tokushima Prefecture: Yasunobu Takeichi
 * 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

 * January 9 - The Kanai Building fire in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture leaves 12 dead, 14 injured.
 * February 4 -All Nippon Airways Flight 60 crashes into Tokyo Bay, killing all 133 people on board.
 * March 4 - Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 402 crashes while landing at night with poor visibility at Tokyo International Airport, with 64 out of 72 on board killed.
 * March 5 - BOAC Flight 911 crashes while encountering severe Clear-air turbulence over Mount Fuji shortly after taking off from Tokyo International Airport, killing all 124 on board.
 * March 11 – A spa hotel caught fire in Minakami, Gunma Prefecture, causing 30 deaths, 29 injuries, according to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency official confirmed report.
 * March 25 – Hachinohe Rinkai Line was opened.
 * April 1 - Japan switches to the Metric system.
 * April 26 - Japan's biggest postwar public transportation strike.
 * August 22 – Frontier Tea Product Manufacturing, as predecessor of Ito En founded in Shizuoka City.
 * September 25 – Two typhoons Helen and Ida landed in Japan on same days, according to Japanese government official confirmed report, total 317 persons were human fatalities with 824 persons were hurt.
 * November 11 - All Nippon Airways Flight 533 crashes into the Seto Inland Sea, killing all 50 on board.
 * Undated
 * Yamanashi Women's Junior College is founded.
 * Japanese birth rates plummeted due to the superstition that girls born in the year of the Fire Horse will grow up to kill their husbands.

Births

 * January 5 - Yuri Amano, voice actress
 * January 17 - Jyoji Morikawa, author and illustrator
 * January 17 - Hiroko Mita, actress
 * January 28 - Seiji Mizushima, anime director
 * January 31 - Nobuyuki Hoshino, former professional baseball pitcher
 * February 4 - Kyōko Koizumi, actress and singer
 * February 5 - Maiko Kawakami, actress
 * March 7 - Atsushi Sakurai, singer (Buck-Tick) (died 2023)
 * April 3 - Mina Tominaga, voice actress
 * April 19 - El Samurai, professional wrestler
 * April 27 - Yoshihiro Togashi, author and illustrator
 * June 26 - Yūko Minaguchi, voice actress
 * July 11 - Kentaro Miura, manga artist (died 2021)
 * July 15 - Masatoshi Nagase, actress
 * July 25 - Wataru Takagi, voice actor
 * July 28 - Shikao Suga, singer
 * August 4 - Kensuke Sasaki, professional wrestler
 * August 14 - Honami Suzuki, actress
 * August 30 - Mikako Kotani, former synchronised swimming athlete
 * September 2 - Yu Hayami, singer and actress
 * September 11 - Kiko, Crown Princess of Japan, wife of Fumihito, Crown Prince of Japan
 * October 8 - Toshiro Yufune, former professional baseball pitcher
 * October 27 - Masanobu Takashima, actor
 * October 31 - Koji Kanemoto, professional wrestler
 * November 2 - Yoshinari Ogawa, professional wrestler
 * November 6 - Kae Araki, voice actress
 * November 13 - Mieharu, actor
 * November 28 - Narumi Yasuda, actress
 * December 12 - Último Dragón, professional wrestler
 * December 17 - Yuko Arimori, former marathon runner
 * December 22 - Sayuri Kokusho, actress
 * December 27 - Masahiro Fukuda, former footballer

Deaths

 * January 10 - Nishizō Tsukahara, admiral (b. 1887)
 * March 6 - Michitaro Totsuka, admiral (b. 1890)
 * April 23 - George Ohsawa, dietist, founder of Macrobiotics (b. 1893)
 * June 7 - Yoshishige Abe, philosopher and politician (b. 1883)
 * June 15 – Sankichi Takahashi, admiral (b. 1882)
 * July 12 - D.T. Suzuki, philosopher (b. 1870)
 * September 12 - Aketo Nakamura, general (b. 1889)
 * September 13 - Tomoshige Samejima, admiral (b. 1889)
 * November 9 - Jisaburō Ozawa, admiral (b. 1886)
 * November 14 - Zengo Yoshida, admiral (b. 1885)