2016 in Japan

The following lists events that happened during 2016 in Japan.
 * Year: Heisei 28

Incumbents

 * Emperor: Akihito
 * Prime Minister: Shinzō Abe (L–Yamaguchi)
 * Chief Cabinet Secretary: Yoshihide Suga (L–Kanagawa)
 * Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Itsurō Terada
 * President of the House of Representatives: Tadamori Oshima (L–Aomori)
 * President of the House of Councillors: Masaaki Yamazaki (L–Fukui) until July 25, Chūichi Date (L-Hokkaidō) from August 1
 * National Diets: 190th (regular session, January 4–June 1), 191st (extraordinary session, August 1–3), 192nd (extraordinary session, September 26–November 30 [unless extended or cut short by lower house dissolution])

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: Masao Uchibori
 * 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 (until 27 October); Ryūichi Yoneyama (starting 27 October)
 * Oita Prefecture: Katsusada Hirose
 * Okayama Prefecture: Ryuta Ibaragi
 * Okinawa Prefecture: Takeshi Onaga
 * Osaka Prefecture: Ichirō Matsui
 * Saga Prefecture: Yoshinori Yamaguchi
 * Saitama Prefecture: Kiyoshi Ueda
 * Shiga Prefecture: Taizō Mikazuki
 * Shiname Prefecture: Zenbe Mizoguchi
 * Shizuoka Prefecture: Heita Kawakatsu
 * Tochigi Prefecture: Tomikazu Fukuda
 * Tokushima Prefecture: Kamon Iizumi
 * Tokyo:
 * until 21 June: Yōichi Masuzoe
 * 21 June-2 August: Tatsumi Ando
 * starting 2 August: Yuriko Koike
 * Tottori Prefecture: Shinji Hirai
 * Toyama Prefecture: Takakazu Ishii
 * Wakayama Prefecture: Yoshinobu Nisaka
 * Yamagata Prefecture: Mieko Yoshimura
 * Yamaguchi Prefecture: Tsugumasa Muraoka
 * Yamanashi Prefecture: Hitoshi Gotō

January

 * Record snowfall and the first Sumo tournament win in a decade for a Japanese rikishi, amid turmoil on the Nikkei 225 and a political scandal involving Abe's cabinet. (See Akira Amari)
 * Filmmaker and dolphin activist Ric O'Barry was refused entry to the country and was held prior to deportation.

February

 * February 17 - launch of Hitomi (satellite), ChubuSat-2, ChubuSat-3 and Horyu-4 using a H-IIA 202 space launch vehicle

March

 * March 11 - Japan commemorates the fifth anniversary of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent of Fukushima nuclear disaster.
 * March 25 - Kyoto Tamba Kogen Quasi-National Park is established
 * March 25 - Asagishi, Hanasaki (Hokkaido), Higashi-Oiwake, Kami-Shirataki, Kanehana, Kyū-Shirataki, Ōshida, Shimo-Shirataki, Tomisato and Washinosu stations are closed
 * March 26 - Higashi-Himeji, Nishi-kumamoto, Ishinomakiayumino, Odasakae and Maya stations opens
 * March 26 - Hokkaido Shinkansen starts its service from Shin-Aomori Station to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station
 * March 26 - Museum of Natural and Environmental History, Shizuoka opens
 * March 27 – Kumamoto gubernatorial election: Incumbent Ikuo Kabashima reelected for a third term
 * March 27 - Democratic Party (Japan) is established

April

 * April 2 - Tsuyama Railroad Educational Museum opens
 * April 16 – A 7.0 magnitude earthquake strikes Kumamoto prefecture, and kills at least 50 people and 3,129 injured.
 * April 24 – National Diet, House of Representatives: By-elections in Hokkaido 5th district and in Kyoto 3rd district

May

 * May 1–2 - G7 Kitakyushu Energy Ministerial Meeting
 * May 23 - Akatsuki (spacecraft) begins a scientific mission at Venus after a troubled 5-years travel
 * May 26–27 – The 42nd G7 summit was held on Kashiko Island

June

 * IUPAC declared the element 113 Ununtrium as Nihonium, first element in the periodic table whose name is derived from Japan.
 * June 5 – Okinawa assembly election: Governor Onaga's anti-base, left-wing supporters expand their majority

July

 * July 10 – National Diet, House of Councillors: 24th regular election
 * July 10 – Kagoshima gubernatorial election
 * July 23 – Tatsuo Hirano, independent member of the House of Councillors from Iwate, joins the Liberal Democratic Party, giving the party the first majority of its own since the 1989 election defeat
 * July 26 - A knife attack in Sagamihara kills 19 people and injures up to 50.
 * July 31 – Tokyo gubernatorial, assembly by-elections

August

 * Japan at the 2016 Summer Olympics
 * August 21: Russell M. Nelson dedicates the Sapporo Japan Temple, the 151st LDS temple and third LDS temple in Japan.

September

 * July to September - According to Japan National Police Agency official confirmed report, 48 hospitalized patients were die, administer disinfectant liquid giving for hospitalized patients in hospital, Yokohama. On 7 July 2018, a nurse of the main criminal detained and confessed, according to JNPA.

October

 * October 16 – Niigata gubernatorial election
 * October 21 - A Richer Scale 6.2 earthquake, with aftershocks in Kurayoshi, Tottori Prefecture, according to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency official confirmed report, 30 persons were wounded.
 * October 23 – Okayama gubernatorial election
 * October 23 – Toyama gubernatorial election
 * October 23 – National Diet, House of Representatives: By-elections in Fukuoka, 6th district and in Tokyo, 10th district
 * October 25 - Two explosions in a park in the Japanese city of Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, kill at least one person and injure three others. Local media report that a 72-year-old ex-military officer is responsible for the blasts. A fire the same day destroyed the suspect's house. (The Guardian), (BBC)

November

 * November 20 – Tochigi gubernatorial election

December
5th: Abe declares his historic plan to visit Pearl Harbor
 * December 18 - A bottoming net fishing boat Daifuku Maru capsized off coast Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, according to Japan Coast Guard official confirmed report, nine people lost to lives.
 * December 22 - A massive fire in Itoigawa, Niigata Prefecture, according to Japanese Fire and Disaster Management Agency confirmed report, 17 person wounded.

The Nobel Prize

 * Yoshinori Ohsumi: 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner.

Arts and entertainment

 * List of 2016 box office number-one films in Japan
 * March 4 - 39th Japan Academy Prize
 * March 12 - 10th Seiyu Awards

Arts and entertainment

 * 2016 in anime
 * 2016 in Japanese music
 * 2016 in Japanese television
 * List of 2016 box office number-one films in Japan
 * List of Japanese films of 2016

Sports

 * October 9 – 2016 Formula One World Championship is held at 2016 Japanese Grand Prix
 * October 16 – 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship is held at 2016 6 Hours of Fuji
 * October 16 – 2016 MotoGP World Championship is held at 2016 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix


 * 2016 F4 Japanese Championship
 * 2016 Japanese Formula 3 Championship
 * 2016 Super Formula Championship
 * 2016 Super GT Series


 * 2016 FIFA Club World Cup (Japan)
 * 2016 in Japanese football
 * 2016 J1 League
 * 2016 J2 League
 * 2016 J3 League
 * 2016 Japan Football League
 * 2016 Japanese Regional Leagues
 * 2016 Japanese Super Cup
 * 2016 Emperor's Cup
 * 2016 J.League Cup

April

 * April 3, Kōji Wada, rock singer (b. 1974)

May

 * May 5, Isao Tomita, composer (b. 1932)
 * May 17, Yūko Mizutani, voice actress (b. 1964)

June

 * June 21, Kunio Hatoyama, politician (b. 1948)

July

 * July 31, Chiyonofuji Mitsugu, sumo wrestler (b. 1955)

October

 * October 20, Junko Tabei, mountaineer (b. 1939)
 * October 23, Mikijirō Hira, actor (b. 1933)

November

 * November 3, Jiang Ge, murder victim (b. 1992)
 * November 29, Hiroshi Ogawa (announcer), announcer (b. 1926)

December

 * December 29, Jinpachi Nezu, actor (b. 1947)