Events in the year 1972 in Japan. It corresponds to ShÃ
Âwa 47 (æÂÂÃ¥ÂÂ47å¹´) in the Japanese calendar.
Incumbents
Governors
Events
- January 24 - Two hunters discover Yokoi ShÃ
Âichi, a former lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army who lived in a cave in Guam for 28 years after the end of World War II. Upon his return to Japan on February 2, he proclaimed, "it is with much shame that I return."
- February 3âÂÂ13 - The 1972 Winter Olympics are held in Sapporo, Hokkaido.
- February 19-28 â Asama-Sanso incident occurs in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture.
- May 12 â Industrial robot brand, Fanuc was founded in Yamanashi Prefecture.
- May 13 - A fire at the Sennichi Department Store in Osaka kills 118, injures 78.
- May 15 - Okinawa returned to Japan after being occupied by the United States military for 27 years.
- July 3 to 13 - A heavy torrential rain with debris flow hit Kyushu and Shikoku area, according to Fire and Disaster Management official confirmed report, 447 people were killed, while another 1056 person were injured.
- July 5 - Kakuei Tanaka replaces Eisaku SatÃ
 as Prime Minister.
- July 21 â MOS Burger was founded.
- November 6 - An express passenger train caught fire in Hokuriku Rail Tunnel in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, according to Japan Transport Ministry official confirmed report, 31 people died, and 714 people were injured.
- December 10 - General election of 1972 - Liberal Democratic Party win 271 out of 491 seats.
Births
- January 7 â Tamakasuga RyÃ
Âji, sumo wrestler
- January 8 â RyÃ
 Tamura, comedian
- January 10 â Shuntaro Furukawa, businessman
- January 13
- Yukiko Iwai, voice actress
- Akinori Otsuka, baseball pitcher
- January 17 â Ken Hirai, singer-songwriter
- January 22 - Romi Park, voice actress
- January 24 â Junko Kubo, announcer and presenter
- January 28 â Tsuyoshi Shinjo, baseball player
- January 29 â Masaru Hamaguchi, comedian
- February 2 â Hisashi Tonomura, musician
- February 5 â Koriki ChÃ
ÂshÃ
«, comedian
- February 7 â Akiko Suwanai, violinist
- February 8 â Hiroshi Tsuchida, actor and voice actor
- February 17 - Yuki Isoya, singer
- March 10 - Takashi Fujii (Matthew Minami), television performer
- March 29 - Junichi Suwabe, voice actor
- April 5 - Junko Takeuchi, voice actress
- April 30 - Takako Tokiwa, voice actress
- May 6 - Naoko Takahashi, long-distance runner
- May 16 - Hideki Naganuma, DJ and composer
- May 21 - Kaoru Fujino, voice actress
- May 30 - SÃ
ÂichirÃ
 Hoshi, voice actor
- July 1 â Tetsu Inada, voice actor
- July 5 - Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Zainichi-Korean wrestler
- July 8 - ShÃ
Âsuke Tanihara, actor
- July 14 - Masami Suzuki, voice actress
- July 19 â Naohito Fujiki, actor and singer
- July 27
- Takako Fuji, actress
- Takashi Shimizu, director
- August 3 - Atsunori Inaba, baseball coach and former player
- August 14 - Takako Honda, voice actress
- August 20 - Anna Umemiya, model
- September 8 - Tomokazu Seki, voice actor
- September 10 - Rio Tahara, snowboarder
- September 20 â Sawa Suzuki, actress
- September 29 â Taizo Son, entrepreneur and investor
- October 7 â Masanari Mochida, slalom canoeist
- October 9 - KÃ
Âki Miyata, voice actor
- October 19 - Sayaka Aoki, voice actress
- October 21 - Masakazu Morita, voice actor
- October 29 - Takafumi Horie, entrepreneur
- November 1 - Naoki Yanagi, voice actor
- November 9 - Naomi Shindou, voice actor
- November 13 - Takuya Kimura, member of SMAP and actor
- December 3 - Saki Takaoka, actress
- December 4 - YÃ
«ko Miyamura, voice actress and singer
- December 12 - Arihito Muramatsu, baseball player
- December 13 - Jun Itoda, comedian
- December 14 - Kiriko Nananan, manga artist (d. 2024)
- December 18 - Shinji Takeda, actor
- December 20
- Hideki Niwa, politician
- Takeshi Rikio, professional wrestler
- December 22 - Takayuki Yokoyama, football player
- December 28 - Shinobu Terajima, actress
Deaths
See also
References