The following is an overview of the year 2017 in Japan.
Incumbents
Governors
Events
January
March
April
May
June
July
October
November
- November 1 â Shinzo Abe reappoints his government's cabinet ministers following his re-election as the Japanese prime minister.
- Emperor Akihito announces that he intends to retire on April 30, 2019.
December
- December 20 - Chen Shifeng was sentenced to 20 years in prison after the Jiang Ge Murder Case was solved.
The Nobel Prize
Arts and entertainment
Sports
Deaths
January
- January 3, Shigeru KÃ
Âyama, actor (b. 1929)
- January 6, Kosei Kamo, tennis player (b. 1932)
- January 15, Kozo Kinomoto, football player (b. 1949)
- January 17, Tokio Kano, politician (b. 1935)
- January 21, Hiroki Matsukata, actor (b. 1942)
- January 22, Masaya Nakamura, businessman (b. 1925)
- January 25, Shunji Fujimura, actor (b. 1934)
February
- February 2, Shunichiro Okano, football player (b. 1931)
- February 3
- Shumon Miura, novelist (b. 1926)
- Yoshiro Hayashi, politician (b. 1927)
- February 7, Miho Nakayama, comedian (b. 1938)
- February 8
- Rina Matsuno, singer (b. 1998)
- Yoshio Tsuchiya, actor (b. 1927)
- February 10, Tsuyoshi Yamanaka, swimmer (b. 1939)
- February 11, Jiro Taniguchi, manga artist (b. 1947)
- February 13, Seijun Suzuki, filmmaker (b. 1923)
- February 19, Kyoko Hayashi, author (b. 1930)
- February 24, Fumio Karashima, jazz pianist (b. 1948)
- February 25, Toshio Nakanishi, musician (b. 1956)
March
- March 1
- Hiroshi Kamayatsu, musician (b. 1939)
- Yasuyuki Kuwahara, football player (b. 1942)
- March 4, Takashi Inoue, actor (b. 1960)
- March 7
- Yoshiyuki Arai, politician (b. 1934)
- Yukinori Miyabe, speed skater (b. 1968)
- March 9, Kasugafuji Akihiro, sumo wrestler (b. 1966)
- March 13
- Hiroto Muraoka, football player (b. 1931)
- Morihiro Hashimoto, darts player (b. 1977)
- March 14, Tsunehiko Watase, actor (b. 1944)
- March 19, Tomiko Okazaki, politician (b. 1944)
- March 20, Shuntaro Hida, physician (b. 1917)
- March 22, Daisuke SatÃ
Â, writer (b. 1964)
April
- April 1
- Shigeaki Uno, political scientist (b. 1930)
- Ikutaro Kakehashi, engineer, entrepreneur (b. 1930)
- April 5
- Makoto Ã
Âoka, poet (b. 1931)
- Ryo Kagawa, folk singer (b. 1947)
- April 12
- Toshio Matsumoto, film director (b. 1932)
- Peggy Hayama, singer (b. 1933)
- April 13, Norio Shioyama, animator (b. 1940)
- April 17, ShÃ
Âichi Watanabe, scholar (b. 1930)
- April 22
- Hiroshi Nakai, politician (b. 1942)
- Noritoshi Kanai, businessman (b. 1923)
- April 27, Sadanoyama Shinmatsu, sumo wrestler (b. 1938)
May
- May 3, Yumeji Tsukioka, actress (b. 1922)
- May 7, Yoshimitsu Banno, film director (b. 1931)
- May 10, Gaisi Takeuti, mathematician (b. 1926)
- May 15, Takeshi Kusaka, actor (b. 1931)
- May 18, Tatsuya NÃ
Âmi, actor (b. 1969)
- May 23, Kaoru Yosano, politician (b. 1938)
June
- June 6, Keiichi Tahara, photographer (b. 1951)
- June 12, Masahide Ã
Âta, academic, politician (b. 1925)
- June 13, YÃ
Âko Nogiwa, actress (b. 1936)
- June 22, Mao Kobayashi, newscaster (b. 1982)
- June 23, Nobuyuki Ã
Âuchi, shogi player (b. 1941)
- June 27, Ryoichi Jinnai, businessman (b. 1927)
- June 28, Shinji Mori, baseball player (b. 1974)
July
- July 4, Masatoshi Yoshino, geographer, climatologist (b. 1928)
- July 8, Seiji Yokoyama, musician (b. 1935)
- July 11, Keisuke Sagawa, actor (b. 1937)
- July 18, Shigeaki Hinohara, physician (b. 1911)
- July 24, Michiko Inukai, author, philanthropist (b. 1921)
- July 25, TarÃ
 Kimura, politician (b. 1965)
August
- August 1, ShÃ
ÂgorÃ
 Nishimura, film director (b. 1930)
- August 3, Iwao Ã
Âtani, recording engineer (b. 1919)
- August 7, Haruo Nakajima, actor (b. 1929)
- August 18, Tadayoshi Nagashima, politician (b. 1951)
- August 28, Tsutomu Hata, politician (b. 1935)
- August 30, Sumiteru Taniguchi, activist (b. 1929)
September
- September 7, Tsunenori Kawai, politician (b. 1937)
- September 8, Toshihiko Nakajima, actor (b. 1962)
- September 18, Kenji Watanabe, swimmer (b. 1969)
- September 25, Yoshitomo Tokugawa, photographer (b. 1950)
- September 29, RyÃ
«ji Saikachi, voice actor (b. 1928)
October
November
December
- December 2, Norihiko Hashida, musician (b. 1945)
- December 8, Atsutoshi Nishida, businessman (b. 1943)
- December 9, Heitaro Nakajima, engineer (b. 1921)
- December 14, Tamio Ã
Âki, voice actor (b. 1928)
- December 15, Michiru Shimada, screenwriter (b. 1959)
- December 20, Kenichi Yamamoto, engineer and businessman (b. 1922)
- December 21, Chu Ishikawa, composer (b. 1966)
- December 28, Junko Maya, actress (b. 1942)
- December 30
- Tatsuro Toyoda, businessman (b. 1929)
- Sansho Shinsui, actor (b. 1947)
Elections
National
- October 22: By-elections to the National Diet; 2 vacancies as of July 31, both from the House of Representatives: Ehime 3rd district and Aomori 4th district
Prefectural
- January 22: Yamagata gubernatorial (w/o vote)
- January 29: Gifu gubernatorial
- March 26: Chiba gubernatorial
- April 9: Akita gubernatorial
- June 25: Shizuoka gubernatorial
- July 2: Tokyo legislative, HyÃ
Âgo gubernatorial
- August 27: Ibaraki gubernatorial
- October 22: Miyagi gubernatorial
- November 12: Hiroshima gubernatorial
Major municipal
Elections in the 20 designated major cities and the 23 special wards/"cities":
- January 29: KitakyÃ
«shÃ
«, Fukuoka legislative
- February 5: Chiyoda, Tokyo mayoral
- March 26: Shizuoka, Shizuoka legislative
- April 23: Nagoya, Aichi mayoral
- May 21: Saitama, Saitama mayoral
- May 28: Chiba, Chiba mayoral
- July 23: Sendai, Miyagi mayoral
- July 30: Yokohama, Kanagawa mayoral
- September 24: Sakai, Osaka mayoral
- October 1: Okayama, Okayama mayoral
- October 22: Kawasaki, Kanagawa mayoral, KÃ
Âbe, HyÃ
Âgo mayoral
- before December 18/November 12 (ends of term; but both elections were held on the same day in 2013): Katsushika, Tokyo mayoral and legislative
References