2007 in Japan

Events in the year 2007 in Japan.

Incumbents

 * Emperor – Akihito
 * Prime Minister – Shinzō Abe (Liberal Democratic Party–Yamaguchi) until September 26, Yasuo Fukuda (Liberal Democratic Party–Gunma)
 * Chief Cabinet Secretary: Yasuhisa Shiozaki (L–Ehime) to August 27, Kaoru Yosano (L–Tokyo) to September 26, Nobutaka Machimura (L–Hokkaidō)
 * Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Nirō Shimada
 * President of the House of Representatives: Yōhei Kōno (L–Kanagawa)
 * President of the House of Councillors: Chikage Ōgi (L–proportional) until July 28, Satsuki Eda (D–Okayama)
 * Diet sessions: 166th (regular, January 25 to July 5), 167th (extraordinary, August 7 to August 10), 168th (extraordinary, September 10 to 2008, January 15)

Governors

 * Aichi Prefecture: Masaaki Kanda
 * Akita Prefecture: Sukeshiro Terata
 * Aomori Prefecture: Shingo Mimura
 * Chiba Prefecture: Akiko Dōmoto
 * Ehime Prefecture: Moriyuki Kato
 * Fukui Prefecture: Issei Nishikawa
 * Fukuoka Prefecture: Wataru Asō
 * Fukushima Prefecture: Yūhei Satō
 * Gifu Prefecture: Hajime Furuta
 * Gunma Prefecture: Hiroyuki Kodera (until 27 July); Masaaki Osawa (starting 28 July)
 * Hiroshima Prefecture: Yūzan Fujita
 * Hokkaido: Harumi Takahashi
 * Hyogo Prefecture: Toshizō Ido
 * Ibaraki Prefecture: Masaru Hashimoto
 * Ishikawa Prefecture: Masanori Tanimoto
 * Iwate Prefecture: Hiroya Masuda (until 29 April); Takuya Tasso (starting 30 April)
 * Kagawa Prefecture: Takeki Manabe
 * Kagoshima Prefecture: Satoshi Mitazono
 * Kanagawa Prefecture: Shigefumi Matsuzawa
 * Kochi Prefecture: Daijiro Hashimoto (until 6 December); Masanao Ozaki (starting 7 December)
 * Kumamoto Prefecture: Yoshiko Shiotani
 * Kyoto Prefecture: Keiji Yamada
 * Mie Prefecture: Akihiko Noro
 * Miyagi Prefecture: Yoshihiro Murai
 * Miyazaki Prefecture: Kayoko Saka (until 22 January); Hideo Higashikokubaru (starting 23 January)
 * Nagano Prefecture: Jin Murai
 * Nagasaki Prefecture: Genjirō Kaneko
 * Nara Prefecture: Yoshiya Kakimoto (until 2 May); Shōgo Arai (starting 2 May)
 * Niigata Prefecture: Hirohiko Izumida
 * Oita Prefecture: Katsusada Hirose
 * Okayama Prefecture: Masahiro Ishii
 * Okinawa Prefecture: Hirokazu Nakaima
 * Osaka Prefecture: Fusae Ōta
 * Saga Prefecture: Yasushi Furukawa
 * Saitama Prefecture: Kiyoshi Ueda
 * Shiga Prefecture: Yukiko Kada
 * Shiname Prefecture: Nobuyoshi Sumita (until 29 April); Zenbe Mizoguchi (starting 30 April)
 * Shizuoka Prefecture: Yoshinobu Ishikawa
 * Tochigi Prefecture: Tomikazu Fukuda
 * Tokushima Prefecture: Kamon Iizumi
 * Tokyo: Shintarō Ishihara
 * Tottori Prefecture: Yoshihiro Katayama (until 13 April); Shinji Hirai (starting 13 April)
 * Toyama Prefecture: Takakazu Ishii
 * Wakayama Prefecture: Yoshinobu Nisaka
 * Yamagata Prefecture: Hiroshi Saitō
 * Yamaguchi Prefecture: Sekinari Nii
 * Yamanashi Prefecture: Takahiko Yamamoto (until 16 February); Shōmei Yokouchi (starting 17 February)

January

 * January 23 – A rare eel-like creature identified as a frilled shark is discovered in Japan by fishermen.

February

 * February 20 – A power outage strikes the central area of Nagoya.
 * February 26 – A 7.0 magnitude earthquake strikes off the southern coast of Japan's Ryukyu Island.

March

 * March 25 – A tsunami occurs on the northern coast of Japan after an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 in the Sea of Japan. NHK reports that 1 person has died and 40 have been injured.
 * March 26 – Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe apologizes for Japan's use of women as sex slaves in frontline brothels during World War II.

April

 * April 1 – Niigata and Hamamatsu become cities designated by government ordinance.
 * April 8 – Voters go to the polls in Japan for the first phase of the unified local elections including 13 gubernatorial elections, 44 prefectural assembly elections and 4 mayoral races in major cities.
 * April 10 – The government of Japan extends economic sanctions against the North Korean government by an additional six months, citing a lack of progress in resolving kidnapping cases of Japanese citizens.
 * April 16 – The United States, Japan and India carry out a joint naval exercise in the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to increase strategic cooperation.
 * April 17 – Iccho Ito, the mayor of Nagasaki, Japan, is shot at least twice outside his re-election campaign headquarters. The assassin, Tetsuya Shiroo, is alleged to be a senior member of a local gang affiliated to the Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate. Itoh was taken to the Nagasaki University Hospital, where he died early the next morning due to loss of blood.
 * April 22 – In the second phase of the unified local elections, hundreds of municipal elections and two by-elections for the national Diet are held.
 * April 25 – Japanese police raid the offices of a pro-North Korean group in relation to the alleged kidnapping of two children in the 1970s.

May

 * May 14 – The House of Councillors passes rules for revising the pacifist Constitution of Japan.
 * May 28
 * Riyo Mori becomes Miss Universe 2007 in Mexico City, the second Japanese to do so after Akiko Kojima.
 * Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Toshikatsu Matsuoka is found dead at his Tokyo home, hours before he was to face questions in the Diet about his expenses.

June

 * June 1 – Archaeologists discover a 2,100-year-old melon in Shiga Prefecture.
 * June 21 – Japan changes the name of Iwo Jima to its original name, Iwo To, to reflect the wishes of its original inhabitants.

July

 * July 3 – Japan's Minister of Defense Fumio Kyuma resigns over comments he made about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the weekend.
 * July 4 – Japan's first female Minister of Defense, Yuriko Koike, is sworn in a day after the resignation of her predecessor, Fumio Kyuma.
 * July 16 – 2007 Chūetsu offshore earthquake, eleven deaths and at least 1000 injuries were reported, and 342 buildings destroyed.
 * July 29 – House of Councillors election

August

 * August 1 – Norihiko Akagi resigns as Japan's agriculture minister after scandals involving him adversely affected the Liberal Democratic Party's performance in the 2007 Japanese House of Councillors election.
 * August 24 – Murder of Rie Isogai
 * August 25 – The 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics get underway in Osaka, Japan.
 * August 31 – Crypton Future Media's first Vocaloid on their Character Vocal Series, Hatsune Miku, is released for Vocaloid 2 software.

September

 * September 12 – Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announces his resignation.
 * September 14 – The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency successfully launches SELENE, the largest lunar mission since the Apollo program, on a mission to explore the Moon.
 * September 23 – Yasuo Fukuda, a political moderate, is elected by Japan's governing Liberal Democratic Party to become the country's next prime minister.

November

 * November 18 – Japan resumes whaling of humpbacks for the first time in 40 years. Greenpeace and other environmentalist groups condemn the decision.
 * November 28 – The Chinese Type 051B destroyer Shenzhen visits Tokyo in the first visit of a Chinese warship to Japan since World War II.

December

 * December 19 – A 32-year-old police sergeant shoots himself inside a kōban in front of Tokyo Station.

Births

 * August 30 – Momiji Nishiya, Olympic skateboarder

Deaths

 * January 5 – Momofuku Ando, inventor of Instant noodles and Cup Noodles, founder of Nissin Foods
 * January 8 – Iwao Takamoto, animator
 * April 18 – Iccho Itoh, mayor of Nagasaki
 * May 3 – Knock Yokoyama, comedian and politician
 * May 27 – Izumi Sakai, singer
 * May 28 – Toshikatsu Matsuoka, politician
 * June 28 – Kiichi Miyazawa, 78th Prime Minister
 * July 18 – Kenji Miyamoto, politician
 * August 28 – Miyoshi Umeki, actress
 * September 7 – Kenji Nagai, journalist (b. 1957)
 * October 7 – Norifumi Abe, motorcycle road racer
 * October 12 – Kurokawa Kisho, architect
 * November 13 – Kazuhisa Inao, baseball player