Portal:Japan/Anniversaries/March/March 4

March 4:

Events
 * 1845 - Japan's first match factory begins operation
 * 1899 - As part of its effort to modernize, Japan passes its first copyright law
 * 1904 - Russo-Japanese War: Russian troops in Korea retreat toward Manchuria followed by 100,000 Japanese troops
 * 1951 - Japan participates in the First Asian Games, held in New Delhi
 * 1952 - A strong earthquake from Southern Hokkaidō to Northeast Honshū (the Tokachi Earthquake) kills 307 people and destroys 3,353 homes
 * 1966 - A Canadian Pacific Airlines DC-8 crashes at Haneda Airport, killing 64
 * 1967 - Hawaiian sumō wrestler Takamiyama becomes the first non-Japanese wrestler to be elevated to the rank of sekitori
 * 1974 - The ban on aluminum bats in high school baseball is lifted
 * 1979 - Tsuneo Hasegawa conquers the northern face of Grandes Jorasses, on the border between France and Italy, during a winter solo climb

Births
 * 1602 - Kanō Tan'yū (d. 1674), painter
 * 1878 - Takeo Arishima (d. 1923), author and critic
 * 1944 - Anthony Ichiro Sanda, Japanese-American physicist and academic
 * 1951 - Linda Yamamoto, singer and actress
 * 1961 - Atsuko Asano, actress
 * 1961  - Mahito Ōba, voice actor
 * 1971 - Satoshi Motoyama, race car driver
 * 1972 - Kataoka Ainosuke VI, actor
 * 1984 - Ai Iwamura, actress
 * 1988 - Mikuru Uchino, model and actress
 * 1991 - Aoi Nakamura, actor

Deaths
 * 2002 - Ryō Hanmura (b. 1933), author