Portal:Japan/Anniversaries/May/May 16

May 16:

Events
 * 1689 - Matsuo Bashō's journey of "The Narrow Road to the Deep North". He went out to Michinoku with his disciples. (Japanese Date: Twenty-seventh Day of the Third Month, 1689)
 * 1889 - The Imperial Museum opened in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Nara.
 * 1949 - Japan joins the World Health Organization.
 * 1958 - Television reception contracts exceeded one million.
 * 1968 - The Tokachi-oki earthquake occurred, 52 people are either dead or missing.
 * 1975 - The Japan Women's expedition succeeded in the first Mount Everest ascent as a woman.
 * 1995 - Chizuo Matsumoto of Aum Shinrikyo is arrested.

Births
 * 1898 - Kenji Mizoguchi (d. 1956), director and screenwriter
 * 1910 - Higashifushimi Kunihide (d. 2014), monk and educator
 * 1942 - Isao Sasaki, voice actor, actor, and singer
 * 1951 - Unshō Ishizuka, voice actor
 * 1953 - Kitanoumi Toshimitsu (d. 2015), sumo wrestler, the 55th Yokozuna
 * 1972 - Hideki Naganuma, composer
 * 1973 - Kōsuke Toriumi, voice actor
 * 1977 - Asami Imai, voice actress and singer
 * 1985 - Tadayoshi Okura, singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
 * 1985  - Kazuhito Tanaka, gymnast

Film and television
 * 2015 - Kakekomi, a jidaigeki drama film starring Yo Oizumi and Erika Toda
 * 2015  - Z Island, an action comedy horror zombie film starring Show Aikawa, Sawa Suzuki, and Yūichi Kimura