2013 in Japan

Events in the year 2013 in Japan.

Incumbents

 * Emperor: Akihito
 * Prime Minister: Shinzō Abe (L–Yamaguchi)
 * Chief Cabinet Secretary: Yoshihide Suga (L–Kanagawa)
 * Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Hironobu Takesaki
 * President of the House of Representatives: Bunmei Ibuki (L–Kyoto)
 * President of the House of Councillors: Kenji Hirata (D–Gifu) until July 28, Masaaki Yamazaki from August 2
 * Diet sessions: 183rd (regular, January 28 to June 26), 184th (extraordinary, August 2 to August 7), 185th (extraordinary, October 15 to December 8)

Governors

 * Aichi Prefecture: Hideaki Omura
 * Akita Prefecture: Norihisa Satake
 * Aomori Prefecture: Shingo Mimura
 * Chiba Prefecture: Kensaku Morita
 * Ehime Prefecture: Tokihiro Nakamura
 * Fukui Prefecture: Issei Nishikawa
 * Fukuoka Prefecture: Hiroshi Ogawa
 * Fukushima Prefecture: Yūhei Satō
 * Gifu Prefecture: Hajime Furuta
 * Gunma Prefecture: Masaaki Osawa
 * Hiroshima Prefecture: Hidehiko Yuzaki
 * Hokkaido: Harumi Takahashi
 * Hyogo Prefecture: Toshizō Ido
 * Ibaraki Prefecture: Masaru Hashimoto
 * Ishikawa Prefecture: Masanori Tanimoto
 * Iwate Prefecture: Takuya Tasso
 * Kagawa Prefecture: Keizō Hamada
 * Kagoshima Prefecture: Satoshi Mitazono
 * Kanagawa Prefecture: Yuji Kuroiwa
 * Kochi Prefecture: Masanao Ozaki
 * Kumamoto Prefecture: Ikuo Kabashima
 * Kyoto Prefecture: Keiji Yamada
 * Mie Prefecture: Eikei Suzuki
 * Miyagi Prefecture: Yoshihiro Murai
 * Miyazaki Prefecture: Shunji Kōno
 * Nagano Prefecture: Shuichi Abe
 * Nagasaki Prefecture: Hōdō Nakamura
 * Nara Prefecture: Shōgo Arai
 * Niigata Prefecture: Hirohiko Izumida
 * Oita Prefecture: Katsusada Hirose
 * Okayama Prefecture: Ryuta Ibaragi
 * Okinawa Prefecture: Hirokazu Nakaima
 * Osaka Prefecture: Ichirō Matsui
 * Saga Prefecture: Yasushi Furukawa
 * Saitama Prefecture: Kiyoshi Ueda
 * Shiga Prefecture: Yukiko Kada
 * Shiname Prefecture: Zenbe Mizoguchi
 * Shizuoka Prefecture: Heita Kawakatsu
 * Tochigi Prefecture: Tomikazu Fukuda
 * Tokushima Prefecture: Kamon Iizumi
 * Tokyo: Naoki Inose (until 24 December); Tatsumi Ando (starting 24 December)
 * Tottori Prefecture: Shinji Hirai
 * Toyama Prefecture: Takakazu Ishii
 * Wakayama Prefecture: Yoshinobu Nisaka
 * Yamagata Prefecture: Mieko Yoshimura
 * Yamaguchi Prefecture: Tsugumasa Muraoka
 * Yamanashi Prefecture: Shōmei Yokouchi

Events

 * January – January 2013 Northwest Pacific bomb cyclone causes 1,600 injuries across Japan.
 * March 17 – Chiba gubernatorial election – Kensaku Morita retains governorship of prefecture.
 * April 28 – By-election for House of Councillors in Yamaguchi – Kiyoshi Ejima is elected to the House.
 * June to October – 2013 Japanese heatwave, according to Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare official confirmed report, 1,077 person lost to lives, caused by heat stroke, second worst heatwave disaster in Japan.
 * June 16 – Shizuoka gubernatorial election – Heita Kawakatsu re-elected.
 * June 23 – Tokyo legislative election – The Democratic Party of Japan loses control of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly to the Liberal Democratic Party.
 * July 21 – 2013 Japanese House of Councillors election, Hyōgo gubernatorial election
 * August 15 – An explosion at the 2013 Fukuchiyama Firework Festival event kills 3, injures 59.
 * September 7 – The 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina award the rights to host the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo over Istanbul and Madrid.
 * September 8 – Ibaraki gubernatorial election – Masaru Hashimoto enters his sixth term as governor.
 * October 11 – A fire at the Abe Orthopaedic Surgery Hospital in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka kills 10 and injures 5.
 * October – Typhoon Wipha kills at least 17 people in Ōshima, Tokyo; at the request of governor Naoki Inose, GSDF troops are dispatched. On the mainland, the storm causes major traffic disruptions and kills one woman in Machida, Tokyo.
 * October 27 – Miyagi gubernatorial election: Incumbent governor Yoshihiro Murai's only challenger is JCP-supported lawyer Masaaki Satō.
 * November 10 – Hiroshima gubernatorial election – Hidehiko Yuzaki re-elected.
 * December 6 – Special Secrecy Law passes the National Diet
 * December 19 – Naoki Inose announces his resignation as Governor of Tokyo following allegations of dubious loans from the Tokushukai medical group

Economy

 * January 1, 2013 – Japan Exchange Group (JPX), the resulting entity of the merger between the holding companies of the Tokyo and Osaka bourses, was launched.
 * January 4, 2013 – JPX was listed on the first section of the Tokyo bourse.

Arts and entertainment
For an overview of anime, see 2013 in anime. For Japanese films first released this year, see the list of Japanese films of 2013. For an overview of manga, see 2013 in manga. For an overview of music, see 2013 in Japanese music. For an overview of television, see 2013 in Japanese television. For the Japanese television dramas that debuted this year, see 2013 Japanese television dramas

Sports
In athletics, the 2013 Tokyo Marathon was won by Dennis Kimetto (men) and Aberu Kebede (women).

For an overview of association football, see 2013 in Japanese football. For the national team, see Japan national football team in 2013.

In curling, Japan hosted the 2013 Pacific-Asia Junior Curling Championships, won by China (men) and Japan (women).

In figure skating, Japan hosted the 2013 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, won by Kevin Reynolds (men's singles), Mao Asada (ladies' singles), Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford (pair skating) and Meryl Davis and Charlie White (ice dancing). It will also host the 2013 ISU World Team Trophy in Figure Skating.

In motorsport, see 2013 All-Japan Formula Three season, 2013 Super Formula season and 2013 Super GT season.

In rugby union, the 2012–13 Top League was won by Suntory Sungoliath. In the 2013 Japan Sevens, South Africa won the Cup. See also the 49th Japan National University Rugby Championship

In tennis, the 2013 All Japan Indoor Tennis Championships was won by John Millman (singles) and Purav Raja and Divij Sharan (doubles).

Deaths

 * January 15 – Nagisa Oshima, director
 * February 18 – Chieko Honda, voice actress (b. 1963)
 * April 4 – Noboru Yamaguchi, writer
 * April 29 – Shinji Maki, comedian
 * June 12 – Jiroemon Kimura, supercentenarian, oldest man ever, world's oldest living person (b. 1897)
 * September 2 – Makoto Moroi, composer
 * September 19 – Hiroshi Yamauchi, businessman (b. 1927)
 * October 28 – Tetsuharu Kawakami, baseball player (b. 1920)
 * November 13 – Chieko Aioi, actress