Portal:Japan/Anniversaries/February/February 27

February 27:

Events
 * 1870 - The rising sun design of Japan's national flag, initially established for use on merchant ships, is announced. (Traditional Japanese Date: Twenty-seventh Day of the First Month, 1870)
 * 1933 - British playwright Bernard Shaw visits Japan.
 * 1936 - Tokyo establishes martial law.
 * 1942 – World War II: During the Battle of the Java Sea, an allied strike force is defeated by a Japanese task force in the Java Sea in the Dutch East Indies
 * 1949 - Arsonists set fire to Matsuyama Castle.
 * 1950 - The authority to grant the Sumō title of Yokozuna, or Grand Master, is transferred from the Yoshida family to the newly established Yokozuna Promotion Council.
 * 1955 - NHK begins same-day election coverage with coverage of the Lower House elections.
 * 1966 - The first "Consumer Price Mayday" is held with women holding placards saying things like "prices are so high I can't get married." According to 1965 statistics, the average salary of businessmen was 23,200 yen per month, the average total savings was 138,000 yen and leisure expenses cost an average of 3,000 yen per month.
 * 1985 - Former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka is hospitalized for a stroke.

Births
 * 1895 - Miyagiyama Fukumatsu (d. 1943), sumo wrestler
 * 1976 - Yukari Tamura, voice actress and singer
 * 1989 - Shota Shimizu, singer-songwriter
 * 1991 - Misako Renbutsu, actress

Deaths
 * 1992 - S. I. Hayakawa (b. 1906), Japanese-Canadian-American linguist and politician
 * 2004 - Yoshihiko Amino (b. 1928), historian and academic