1989 in Japan

← 1988 1987 1986 1989 in Japan → 1990 1991 1992
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
See also:	Other events of 1989 List of years in Japan

Events in the year 1989 in Japan.

1989 was the first year of Heisei in Japan as well as the all-time peak of the Nikkei 225 stock market average.

Incumbents

• Emperor: Hirohito, Akihito
• Prime Minister: Noboru Takeshita (L–Shimane) until June 3, Sōsuke Uno (L–Shiga) until August 10, Toshiki Kaifu (L–Aichi)
• Chief Cabinet Secretary: Keizo Obuchi (L–Gunma) until June 3, Tokuo Yamashita (L–Saga) until August 25, Mayumi Moriyama (Councillor, L–Tochigi)
• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Kōichi Yaguchi
• President of the House of Representatives: Kenzaburō Hara (L–Hyōgo) until June 2, Hajime Tamura (L–Mie)
• President of the House of Councillors: Yoshihiko Tsuchiya (L–Saitama) until July 9 and again from August 7
• Diet sessions: 114th (regular session opened in December 1988, to June 22), 115th (extraordinary, August 7 to August 12), 116th (extraordinary, September 28 to December 16), 117th (regular, December 25 to 1990, January 24)

Events

January

• January 7: Emperor Hirohito dies; Prince Akihito becomes Emperor.
• January 8: Heisei era officially begins.

February

• February 7: Last public performance by singer Misora Hibari held in Kitakyushu.
• February 13: The Recruit scandal breaks, and the company's former president is arrested.

April

• April 1
  • Japan introduces its first national consumption tax of three percent.
  • Sendai becomes a city designated by government ordinance.
• April 25: Noboru Takeshita resigns as Prime Minister following a stock-trading scandal.
• April 26: The Dragon Ball Z anime series starts on Fuji TV.

June

• June 1: 100th anniversary of the foundation of Fukuoka City.
• June 2: Takeshita cabinet resigns, Sōsuke Uno becomes Prime Minister.

July

• July 1: 100th anniversary of the foundations of Kōfu and Gifu City.
• July 12: 100th anniversary of the foundation of Akita City.
• July 16: A large-scale landslides occurred, following to a microbus crushed by rockfall prevention in Echizen, Fukui Prefecture, according to official confirmed report, 15 people fatalities.
• July 23
  • Tsutomu Miyazaki is arrested.
  • In the 15th regular election for the House of Councillors, Liberal Democrats lose their majority for the first time in party history. In the ensuing "twisted Diet" (nejire kokkai), it must cooperate with the Socialist-led opposition as it does not hold a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives. The Uno cabinet resigns.

August

• August 8: Reformist Toshiki Kaifu from the small Kōmoto faction is elected LDP president with 279 votes against Yoshirō Hayashi (Nikaidō group, a breakaway group from the Takeshita faction, 120 votes) and Shintarō Ishihara (formerly with his own faction that merged into the Abe faction in 1984, 48 votes)^[1]
• August 9: First Kaifu cabinet formed and formally appointed one day later.

September

• September 27: Yokohama Bay Bridge opens.

October

• October 1: 100th anniversary of the foundations of Nagoya City, Tottori City and Tokushima City.
• October 8: Eight climbers died of hypothermia on Mount Tate, Toyama Prefecture.

November

• November 4: Sakamoto family murder - Aum Shinrikyo murders a lawyer, Tsutsumi Sakamoto, as well as his wife, Satoko, and infant son, Tatsuhiko, who had been working on a lawsuit against the religious group.
• November 22: The Japan Trade Union Confederation, or "RENGO", is founded with the merger of the Japan Confederation of Labor (Dōmei) and the Federation of Independent Labor Unions (Chūritsu Rōren).

December

• December 15: 100th anniversary of the foundation of Matsuyama City.
• December 29: The Nikkei 225 index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange reaches its all-time record high of 38,915.87.

Births

• January 3: Kōhei Uchimura, gymnast
• January 25: Mikako Tabe, stage and film actress
• March 17: Shinji Kagawa, football player
• March 18: Kana Nishino, singer-songwriter
• March 23: Natsuna Watanabe, actress and model
• April 8: Hitomi Takahashi, singer
• July 13: Sayumi Michishige, singer
• November 11
  • Reina Tanaka, singer
  • Chiaki Omigawa, voice actress and actress
• December 29: Kei Nishikori, tennis player

Deaths

• January 4: Junko Furuta, murder victim
• January 7: Emperor Hirohito
• February 9: Osamu Tezuka, manga artist
• April 27: Konosuke Matsushita, founder of Matsushita Electric
• May 15: Noriko Tsukase, voice actress
• May 15: Yae Ibuka, nurse
• June 2: Takeo Watanabe, musician and composer
• June 24: Hibari Misora, singer and actress
• August 15: Minoru Genda, military aviator and politician
• August 18: Yuji Koseki, composer
• November 6: Yusaku Matsuda, actor
• December 12: Suiho Tagawa, manga artist
• December 30: Yasuji Miyazaki, Olympic swimmer

Statistics

• Yen value: US$1 = ¥127 (low) to ¥144 (high)

See also

• 1989 in Japanese television
• List of Japanese films of 1989

References

External links

• Anatomy of Gray, Google Books