Events in the year 1978 in Japan. It corresponds to ShÃ
Âwa 53 (æÂÂÃ¥ÂÂ53å¹´) in the Japanese calendar.
Incumbents
- Emperor: Hirohito
- Prime minister: Takeo Fukuda (Liberal Democratic) until December 7, Masayoshi Ã
Âhira (Liberal Democratic)
- Chief Cabinet Secretary: Shintaro Abe until December 7, Rokusuke Tanaka
- Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Masao Okahara
- President of the House of Representatives: Shigeru Hori
- President of the House of Councillors: Ken Yasui
- Diet sessions: 84th (regular session opened in December 19, 1977, to June 16), 85th (extraordinary, September 18 to October 21), 86th (extraordinary, December 6 to December 12), 87th (regular, December 22 to June 14, 1979)
Governors
Events
- January 14 - According to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency confirmed report, total of 25 people were dead, 211 people were wounded, a Richer Scale 6.7 earthquake and aftershocks damaged in Izu Peninsula, Shizuoka Prefecture.
- March 26 - Protesters destroy much of equipment in the control tower of Narita Airport with Molotov cocktails, set to open in just four days.
- April 6 – Sunshine 60 has officially open in Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo, the tallest skyscraper in Asia (Japan), until 63 Building in Seoul, South Korea on July 27, 1985.
- May 20, 1978 - Narita International Airport opened
- June 2 - Japan Air Lines Flight 115 suffered a tailstrike while landing at Osaka International Airport.
- June 12 - A large 7.7 magnitude earthquake hits offshore Miyagi Prefecture and causes 28 deaths and 1,325 injuries.
- July 30, 1978 - Okinawa Prefecture changed driving on the Right-hand traffic to Left-hand traffic(730)
- August 12 - The Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China is concluded.
- December 16 - The Mystery of Mamo is released in cinemas.
Births
January–June
- January 2 – Toyoguchi Megumi, voice actress
- January 6 –
- Reina Miyauchi, J-pop singer
- Ayano Tsuji, J-pop singer
- January 7 – Asami Imajuku, model, actress, and singer
- January 9 – Hassei Takano, actor
- January 10 – Kanako Mitsuhashi, voice actress
- January 11 – Kyoko Hamaguchi, freestyle wrestler
- January 15 – Vanilla Yamazaki, katsudÃ
Â-benshi, voice actor, an actress
- January 16 – Hisanori Ã
Âiwa, actor, stunt performer and suit actor
- January 17
- Takatoshi Kaneko, actor
- Hiro Suzuhira, manga artist
- January 24 – Tomokazu Myojin, football midfielder
- January 26 – Atsuko Kurusu, actress
- January 27 – Akiko Hinagata, actress and former gravure idol.
- February 4 – Shingo Kawaguchi, actor
- February 20 – Ken Takeuchi, voice actor
- February 21 – Miki Sakai, actress and J-pop idol singer
- February 23 – Yuka Motohashi, actress
- February 25
- Yuji Nakazawa, football player
- ShintarÃ
 Tokita, musician
- February 28 – Rei Kikukawa, actress, model, and television presenter
- March 1
- Noriyasu Agematsu, composer
- Sakura Nogawa, voice actress
- March 8 – Genki Sudo, mixed martial artist and a kickboxer
- March 9 – Ryosuke Sawai, baseball player
- March 12 – Arina Tanemura, manga artist
- March 15 – Takeru Kobayashi, competitive eater
- March 18
- Shimotori Norio, sumo wrestler
- Yoshie Takeshita, volleyball player
- March 20 – Hanako Oku, singer
- March 24
- Takeharu Kato, baseball player
- Kaori Mochida, singer
- March 29 – Hirotoki Onozawa, rugby union player
- April 5 – Yumie Funayama, curler
- April 8 – Daigo, e singer-songwriter, actor, talent, and voice actor
- April 9
- Kousei Amano, actor
- Takashi Ã
Âhara, voice actor
- April 14 – Kaori Muraji, classical guitarist
- April 18 – RyÃ
Âta Tsuzuki, football player
- April 24 – Kazunari Okayama, football player
- April 26
- Hiroshi Asai, musician and composer
- Shinnosuke Tachibana, voice actor
- April 27 – Takahiro Suzuki, baseball player
- May 1 – Sachie Hara, actress and model
- May 3 – Dai Tamesue, hurdler athlete
- May 4 – Daisuke Ono, voice actor
- May 8 – Atsushi Sato, long-distance runner
- May 10 – Daisuke Yamai, basketball pitcher
- May 11 – Ushiomaru Motoyasu, sumo wrestler (d. 2019)
- October 2 – Ayumi Hamasaki, singer, songwriter, actress and model
- May 12 – Masahiro Abe, baseball player
- May 13 – Junji Majima, voice actor
- May 15
- KÃ
Âsei Inoue, Judoka
- Hideki Sahara, football player
- May 17 – Norihiro Yamagishi, football player
- May 18 – Toru Yano, wrestler
- May 23 – Hideaki Kitajima, football player
- June 1 – Ayako Ikeda, singer-songwriter
- June 2 – Junko Yaginuma, announcer and model
- June 5
- Yuka Inokuchi, voice actress
- Takayuki KondÃ
Â, voice actor
- Taro Suruga, musician
- June 12 – Yumiko Shaku, actress and model
- June 13 – Mikako Ichikawa, actress and model
- June 17 – Kumiko AsÃ
Â, actress
- June 24 – Shunsuke Nakamura, football player
- June 25 – Miki Nakao, backstroke swimmer
July –December
- July 3 – Mizuki Noguchi, long-distance runner
- July 4 – Yusuke Murata manga artist
- July 7
- Kayo Kitada, judoka
- Misia, singer, songwriter, and record producer
- July 9 – Osamu Hamanaka, baseball player
- July 10 – Kotaro Koizumi, actor
- July 12 – Yoshihito Ishii, baseball player
- July 19 – Atsushi Harada, actor
- July 21 – Kyoko Iwasaki, swimmer
- July 22 – KyÃ
Âko Hasegawa, actress and model
- July 23 – Takashi Yamamoto, swimmer
- July 24 – Sayo Aizawa, model
- July 28 – Hitomi Yaida, pop/folk rock singer-songwriter and guitarist
- August 4 – Satoshi Hino, voice actor
- August 8
- Natsuko Kuwatani, voice actress
- Miho Shiraishi, actress
- August 12
- Toru Kurihara, rugby union player
- Kakizoe TÃ
Âru, sumo wrestler
- August 24 – Kentaro Sekimoto, baseball player
- September 6
- Homare Sawa, football player
- Keigo Yamashita, Go player
- September 18 – Kaoru Mori, manga artist
- October 2 – Ayumi Hamasaki, recording artist, actress, model, and entrepreneur
- October 18
- Kotomi Kyono, actress
- Minoru Shiraishi, voice actor
- October 20 – Nora Hirano, comedian
- October 21 – Mariko Ooe, newsroom announcer
- October 25 – Maria Takagi, actress
- October 25 – An Yong-hak, North Korean, football manager
- October 27 – Manami Konishi, rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actress
- October 31 – Mika Sugisaki, announcer, radio personality, entertainer, and actress
- November 3 – Koshiro Take, jockey
- November 4 – Akiko Abe, announcer and actress
- November 7 – Tomoya Nagase, singer and actor
- November 8 – Kensaku Kishida, actor
- November 10 – Akemi Kanda, voice actress
- November 25
- Ayumi Ogasawara, curler
- Ringo Sheena, singer, songwriter and musician
- November 26 – Fukuyama Jun voice actor
- November 28 – Tomohiro Nagatsuka cyclist
- December 5 – Michinao Yamamura, baseball player
- December 7 – Yasue Sato, actress and model
- December 9 – Chihiro Kusaka, voice actress
- December 12 – Hiroki Konno, comedian
- December 23 – Akiko Yada, actress
- December 25 – Miyuki Takahashi, volleyball player
- December 26 – Kaoru Sugayama, volleyball player
- December 29 – Noriko Aoyama, actress and former model
Deaths
- January 3 – Prince Kaya Tsunenori (b. 1900)
- January 5 – ShÃ
Âji Hamada, potter (b. 1894)
- February 7 – KeizÃ
 Komura, admiral (b. 1896)
- March 1 – Kiyoshi Oka, mathematician (b. 1901)
- March 5 – Toshiko Higashikuni, daughter of Emperor Meiji (b. 1896)
- April 29 – Yukihiko Yasuda, painter (b. 1884)
- May 15 – Kiku Amino, author and translator (b. 1900)
- May 30 – Tetsu Katayama, politician and 33rd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1887)
- June 6 РKatu̩ Kitasono, poet and photographer (b. 1902)
- July 10 – Takashi Suzuki, politician (b. 1882)
- July 25 – Masao Koga, composer (b. 1904)
- August 1 – KÃ
ÂgorÃ
 Uemura, businessman (b. 1892)
- September 9 – Kaoru Abe, saxophonist (b. 1949)
See also
References