Events in the year 1928 in Japan. It corresponds to ShÃ
Âwa 3 (æÂÂÃ¥ÂÂ3å¹´) in the Japanese calendar.
Incumbents
Governors
Events
- February 11–19 – Japan competes in the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, the first true Winter Olympics held on its own and not in conjunction with a Summer Olympics.
- February 20 – 1928 Japanese general election: The first general election after the introduction of universal male suffrage was passed in 1925. The ruling Rikken SeiyÃ
«kai led by Prime Minister Tanaka Giichi won one more seat than the opposition Rikken MinseitÃ
 led by Hamaguchi Osachi, although Rikken MinseitÃ
 had received slightly more votes. The hung parliament led to the Tanaka government continuing in office.
- March 15 – March 15 incident: Alarmed by gains made by socialists and communists in the 1928 general election, the conservative government of Prime Minister Giichi Tanaka ordered the mass arrest of known communists and socialists and suspected communist and socialist sympathizers. The arrests occurred throughout Japan, and a total of 1652 people were apprehended.
- May 3 – Jinan Incident: an armed conflict between the Japanese Imperial Army allied with Northern Chinese warlords against the Kuomintang's southern army, occurs in Jinan, eastern China.
- June 4 – Huanggutun Incident: Chinese warlord Zhang Zuolin is killed by low-ranking officer in the Japanese Kwantung Army when a bomb his personal train is travelling over explodes. Emperor Hirohito harshly criticized the event and eventually dismissed Prime Minister Tanaka Giichi for his inability to arrest and prosecute the plotters of the incident.
- July 28–August 12 – Japan competes in the ninth Summer Olympics held in Amsterdam, Netherlands. For the 1928 Olympics, Japan won 2 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze.
- September 28 – Prince Chichibu marries Matsudaira Setsuko.
- November 10 – Enthronement of Hirohito as Emperor of Japan in the Imperial Palace in Kyoto.
- December 21 – Fujikoshi Steel Industry, later Nachi-Fujikoshi founded in Toyama City.
- Unknown date – A food processing Ito Meat Packer was founded, as predecessor of Itoham-Yonekyu in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture.
Births
JanuaryâÂÂMarch
- January 1
- , actor and voice actor
- Masatoshi Yoshino, geographer, climatologist (d. 2017)
- January 2
- Daisaku Ikeda, religious leader
- Tamio Oki, voice actor (d. 2017)
- January 3
- , actor
- Toshiko Okanoue, artist
- January 14 – , actor (d. 2015)
- January 22 – Yoshihiko Amino, historian (d. 2004)
- January 29 – Akira Miyawaki, botanist (d. 2021)
- February 1 – Susumu Ohno, Japanese-American geneticist and evolutionary biologist, and seminal researcher (d. 2000)
- February 4 – Yugo Sako, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
- February 20 – , actress (d. 2020)
- February 22 – Tatsuo Miyao, cross-country skier (d. 2015)
- March 5 – Katsuaki Matsumoto, professional track racing cyclist (d. 2021)
- March 9 – Tatsumi Hijikata, choreographer, (d. 1986)
- March 10 – Kiyoshi Atsumi, actor (d. 1996)
- March 11 – Nakamura Shikan VII, kabuki performer (d. 2011)
- March 16 – Wakanohana Kanji I, sumo wrestler (d. 2010)
- March 27
- Ryuji Saikachi, actor and voice actor (d. 2017)
- Seiko Tanabe, author (d. 2019)
- March 31 – Morihiro Saito, martial art of aikido teacher (d. 2002)
AprilâÂÂJune
- April 1 – Yoshihide Kozai, astronomer (d. 2018)
- April 13 – Toshiyuki Tanaka, artist (d. 2006)
- April 18 – Mikio Sato, mathematician (d. 2023)
- April 22 – Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, artist (d. 2018)
- May 6 – Shizuka Narahara, former table tennis player
- May 8 – Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, writer, art critic, and translator (d. 1987)
- May 16 – Hiroshi Nakajima, physician and former director-general of World Health Organization (d. 2013)
- May 22 – Kimiko Nishimoto, Brazilian-born Japanese photographer (b. 2025)
- June 5 – Setsuko Tsumura, writer
- June 14 – YÃ
Âko Abe, mother of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (d. 2024)
- June 23 – Hayao Kawai, psychologist (d. 2007)
- June 26 – Yoshiro Nakamatsu, inventor
JulyâÂÂSeptember
- July 10 – Kiyotaka Takabayashi, former speed skater
- July 11 – Harue Kitamura, politician, lawyer, and feminist (d. 2022)
- July 12 – Shimako Murai, playwright and Hiroshima bombing survivor (d. 2018)
- July 21 – Hirofumi Uzawa, economist (d. 2014)
- July 30 – , actor and comedian (d. 2000)
- August 2 – Yoko Tani, French-born Japanese actress (d. 1999)
- August 15 – Suzushi Hanayagi, dancer and choreographer (d. 2010)
- August 16 – ShÃ
Âji Yasui, actor (d. 2014)
- August 27 – Osamu Shimomura, Nobel Prize-winning chemist and marine biologist (d. 2018)
- August 31 – Takahiro Tamura, film actor (d. 2006)
- September 6 – Fumihiko Maki, architect
- September 12 – Mizuki Yamada, Olympic sailor (d. 2008)
- September 16 – Hironoshin Furuhashi, former swimmer and chairman of Japan Olympic Committee (d. 2009)
- September 20 – Shiro Hashizume, Olympic swimmer (d. 2023)
- September 30 – Takeshi Inoue, footballer (d. 1992)
OctoberâÂÂDecember
- October 1 – , actor and director (d. 1995)
- October 10
- Hidetaka Nishiyama, karateka (d. 2008)
- Susumu Hani, film director
- October 28 – YÃ
Âko Sugi, actress (d. 2019)
- November 3
- Goseki Kojima, manga artist (d. 2000)
- Osamu Tezuka, manga artist, cartoonist, animator, director, and producer (d. 1989)
- November 23 – Hikaru Matsunaga, politician (d. 2022)
- November 27 – Bernard Ryosuke Inagaki, philosopher (d. 2022)
- November 30 – Takako Doi, politician (Speakers of the House) (d. 2014)
- December 4 – Renji Suzuki, politician and former Governor of Aichi Prefecture (d. 2022)
- December 7 – Hiroshi Fujita, mathematician
- December 8 – KiyozÃ
 Kazama, professor of comparative linguistics
- December 11 – Noriaki Tsuchimoto, documentary film director (d. 2008)
- December 27 – KÃ
Âji Taki, critic, photographer and philosopher (d. 2011)
Deaths
- February 17 – Ã
Âtsuki Fumihiko, lexicographer, linguist, and historian (b. 1847)
- March 8 – Sachiko, Princess Hisa, second child of Emperor ShÃ
Âwa (b. 1927)
- April 5 – Okura Kihachiro, entrepreneur (b. 1837)
- May 4 – JinzÃ
 Matsumura, botanist (b. 1856)
- May 21 – Hideyo Noguchi, bacteriologist (b. 1876)
- July 23 – ZenzÃ
 Kasai, novelist (b. 1887)
- October 25 – Hirotsu RyurÃ
Â, novelist (b. 1861)
- November 3 – UryÃ
« Shigeko, educator (b. 1862)
- December 25 – Kaoru Osanai, theater director, playwright, and actor (b. 1881)
See also
References