1991 in Japan

Events in the year 1991 in Japan. It corresponds to Heisei 3 (平成3年) in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents

 * Emperor: Akihito
 * Prime Minister: Toshiki Kaifu (L–Aichi) until November 5, Kiichi Miyazawa
 * Chief Cabinet Secretary: Misoji Sakamoto (L–Ishikawa) until November 5, Kōichi Katō (L–Yamagata)
 * Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Ryōhachi Kusaba
 * President of the House of Representatives: Yoshio Sakurauchi (L–Shimane)
 * President of the House of Councillors: Yoshihiko Tsuchiya (L–Saitama) until October 4, Yūji Osada (L–proportional)
 * Diet sessions: 120th (regular session opened in December 1990, to May 8), 121st (extraordinary, August 5 to October 4), 122nd (extraordinary, November 5 to December 21)

Governors

 * Aichi Prefecture: Reiji Suzuki
 * Akita Prefecture: Kikuji Sasaki
 * Aomori Prefecture: Masaya Kitamura
 * Chiba Prefecture: Takeshi Numata
 * Ehime Prefecture: Sadayuki Iga
 * Fukui Prefecture: Yukio Kurita
 * Fukuoka Prefecture: Hachiji Okuda
 * Fukushima Prefecture: Eisaku Satō
 * Gifu Prefecture: Taku Kajiwara
 * Gunma Prefecture: Ichiro Shimizu (until 12 June); Hiroyuki Kodera (starting 28 July)
 * Hiroshima Prefecture: Toranosuke Takeshita
 * Hokkaido: Takahiro Yokomichi
 * Hyogo Prefecture: Toshitami Kaihara
 * Ibaraki Prefecture: Fujio Takeuchi
 * Ishikawa Prefecture: Yōichi Nakanishi
 * Iwate Prefecture:  (until 29 April); Iwao Kudō (starting 29 April)
 * Kagawa Prefecture: Jōichi Hirai
 * Kagoshima Prefecture: Yoshiteru Tsuchiya
 * Kanagawa Prefecture: Kazuji Nagasu
 * Kochi Prefecture: Chikara Nakauchi (until 6 December); Daijiro Hashimoto (starting 7 December)
 * Kumamoto Prefecture: Morihiro Hosokawa (until 10 February); Joji Fukushima (starting 11 February)
 * Kyoto Prefecture: Teiichi Aramaki
 * Mie Prefecture: Ryōzō Tagawa
 * Miyagi Prefecture: Shuntarō Honma
 * Miyazaki Prefecture: Suketaka Matsukata
 * Nagano Prefecture: Gorō Yoshimura
 * Nagasaki Prefecture: Isamu Takada
 * Nara Prefecture: Shigekiyo Ueda (until 27 November); Yoshiya Kakimoto (starting 28 November)
 * Niigata Prefecture: Kiyoshi Kaneko
 * Oita Prefecture: Morihiko Hiramatsu
 * Okayama Prefecture: Shiro Nagano
 * Okinawa Prefecture: Masahide Ōta
 * Osaka Prefecture: Sakae Kishi (until 22 April); Kazuo Nakagawa (starting 23 April)
 * Saga Prefecture: Kumao Katsuki (until 22 April); Isamu Imoto (starting 23 April)
 * Saitama Prefecture: Yawara Hata
 * Shiga Prefecture: Minoru Inaba
 * Shiname Prefecture: Nobuyoshi Sumita
 * Shizuoka Prefecture: Shigeyoshi Saitō
 * Tochigi Prefecture: Fumio Watanabe
 * Tokushima Prefecture: Shinzo Miki
 * Tokyo: Shun'ichi Suzuki
 * Tottori Prefecture: Yuji Nishio
 * Toyama Prefecture: Yutaka Nakaoki
 * Wakayama Prefecture: Shirō Kariya
 * Yamagata Prefecture: Seiichirō Itagaki
 * Yamaguchi Prefecture: Toru Hirai
 * Yamanashi Prefecture: Kōmei Mochizuki (until 16 February); Ken Amano (starting 17 February)

Events

 * January 1: Telephone numbers in Tokyo are expanded from 7 digits to 8 digits
 * March 14: A under constructing to Hiroshima Astram Line bridge girder falling accident, kills 14, injures 9.
 * April 1: Tokyo Metropolitan Government moved its offices from Marunouchi to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku.
 * April 26: Self-Defense Forces dispatched to assist in the Gulf War.
 * May 14: Shigaraki train disaster – 42 fatalities, 614 injures in Shiga Prefecture.
 * June 3: Mount Unzen in Nagasaki Prefecture saw a pyroclastic flow, resulting in 43 deaths.
 * June 15: The International Olympic Committee awards the 1998 Winter Olympics to Nagano, Japan.
 * June 20: Tohoku Shinkansen line is extended from Ueno Station to Tokyo Station.
 * July 13: 1991 Itoman special breach of trust case, six arrested by Japanese authorities.
 * July 31: Lotte Orions baseball team announces it will move to Chiba and become the Chiba Lotte Marines.
 * August 5: Aerospatiale SA365N helicopter crash in Muraoka, Mikata District, Hyōgo Prefecture, 8 fatalities.
 * August 14 – NTT Docomo was founded.
 * September 11: USS Independence (CV-62) is based at Yokosuka, becoming the United States Navy's only forward-deployed aircraft carrier.
 * September 27: Typhoon Mireille kills 45 people in Japan.
 * October 3: Kaifu resigns as prime minister.
 * November 5: Miyazawa announces his first cabinet.

January

 * January 8: Asuka Hinoi, singer
 * January 14: Kana Ichikawa, sprinter
 * January 19: Yu Takahashi, model and actress

February

 * February 4: Aya Ōmasa, fashion model and actress

March

 * March 4: Aoi Nakamura, actor
 * March 10: Kenshi Yonezu, singer-songwriter
 * March 14: Michiko Kashiwabara, cross country skier
 * March 14: Miu Nakamura, tarento and gravure idol
 * March 15: Kii Kitano, gravure idol and actress
 * March 28: Rin Asuka, actress

April

 * April 8: Minami Takahashi, singer
 * April 11: Erina Mano, J-pop singer
 * April 11: Kenta Matsudaira, table tennis player
 * April 12: Daisuke Kikuchi, footballer
 * April 15: Daiki Arioka, singer
 * April 16: Misato Ugaki, announcer
 * April 17: Shinsaku Uesugi, FIDE master
 * April 20: Yuko Shintake, artistic gymnast
 * April 29: Misaki Doi, tennis player
 * May 3: Narita Brian, racehorse (died 1998)

May

 * May 24: Erika Umeda, singer
 * May 26: Takumi Abe, football player
 * May 29: Saori Hayami, voice actress and singer

June

 * June 15: Rina Takeda, actress and martial artist
 * June 17: Yusei Kikuchi, baseball pitcher
 * June 25: Kyousuke Hamao, actor and model
 * June 27: Haruka Yamazaki, voice actress and singer
 * June 30: Kaho, actress

July

 * July 3: Tomomi Itano, singer, actress and idol
 * July 10: Atsuko Maeda, singer
 * July 11: Kentaro Sakaguchi, model and actor
 * July 12: Tomoki Kameda, boxer
 * July 15: Yuki Kashiwagi, singer, actress and idol
 * July 18: Mizuki Yamamoto, model and actress
 * July 25: Miyu Nagaoka, volleyball player
 * July 27: Rena Matsui, singer and idol
 * July 28: Rina Aizawa, actress

August

 * August 3: Kaori Kawanaka, archer
 * August 16: Yūki Tokiwa, voice actor

September

 * September 17: Ryo Ishikawa, golfer

October

 * October 15: Sayaka Nakaya, idol
 * October 16: Miori Takimoto, actress
 * October 23: Princess Mako
 * October 26: Riho Iida, actress and child model
 * October 27: Sōta Murakami, actor and voice actor

November

 * November 12: Takatoshi Abe, track and field athlete
 * November 16: Tomomi Kasai, singer
 * November 19: Genki Yamamoto, cyclist
 * November 22: Saki Shimizu, singer
 * November 26: Yoshi Tsutsugo, professional baseball player
 * November 28: Mayuko Kawakita, actress and model

December

 * December 3: Masahiro Usui, actor
 * December 7: Dori Sakurada, actor and singer
 * December 14: Mitsuki Takahata, actress and singer
 * December 19: Sumire Uesaka, voice actress and singer
 * December 24: Shion Kokubun, figure skater
 * December 30: Kurumi Nara, tennis player

Deaths

 * January 2: Hiroshi Noma, author (b. 1915)
 * January 29: Yasushi Inoue, author (b. 1907)
 * February 24: Shingo Kanemoto, voice actor (b. 1932)
 * May 15: Shintaro Abe, politician (b. 1924)
 * May 26: Kisaburo Osawa, aikido teacher (b. 1910)
 * June 3: Takeshi Nagata, earth scientist (b. 1913)
 * July 5: Nobuo Nakamura, actor (b. 1908)
 * July 11: Hitoshi Igarashi, scholar (b. 1947)
 * August 5: Soichiro Honda, founder of Honda Motor Company (b. 1906)
 * August 8: Mitsuko Yoshikawa, actress (b. 1901)
 * September 3: Susumu Ishii, second kaicho (Godfather) of Inagawa-kai (b. 1924)
 * October 22: Hachiro Kasuga, enka singer (b. 1924)
 * November 12: Keizō Hayashi, civil servant and military general (b. 1907)
 * November 14: Yoshikata Yoda, screenwriter (b. 1909)
 * November 23: Ken Uehara, film actor (b. 1909)
 * November 27: Yō Yoshimura, voice actor (b. 1909)

Statistics

 * Yen value: US$1 = ¥124.85 (December 31)