1964 in Japan

Decades:	1940s; 1950s; 1960s; 1970s; 1980s;
See also:	Other events of 1964; History of Japan • Timeline • Years

Events in the year 1964 in Japan. It corresponds to Shōwa 39 (昭和39年) in the Japanese calendar.

1964 is considered a seminal year in modern Japanese history. The Tokyo Olympics and first run of the bullet train reflected a society-wide sense that post-war reconstruction was over and that Japan had rejoined the international family of nations. Diplomatic negotiations underway this year between South Korea and Japan resulted in a formal normalization of relations the following year.

Individuals born beginning around this date were often subsequently identified as "shinjinrui" (or new people) because they had not experienced the suffering older generations had during World War II or the post-war period, and on the contrary, grew up in material plenty.

Incumbents

Emperor: Hirohito^[1]
Prime Minister: Hayato Ikeda (L–Hiroshima, 3rd term) until November 9, Eisaku Satō (L–Yamaguchi)
Chief Cabinet Secretary: Yasumi Kurogane (L–Yamagata) until July 18, Zenkō Suzuki (L–Iwate) until November 9, Tomisaburō Hashimoto (L–Ibaraki)
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Kisaburō Yokota
President of the House of Representatives: Naka Funada (L–Tochigi)
President of the House of Councillors: Yūzō Shigemune (L–national)
Diet sessions: 46th (regular session opened in December 1963, to June 26), 47th (extraordinary, November 9 to December 18), 48th (regular, December 21 to 1965, June 1)

Governors

Aichi Prefecture: Mikine Kuwahara
Akita Prefecture: Yūjirō Obata
Aomori Prefecture: Shunkichi Takeuchi
Chiba Prefecture: Taketo Tomonō
Ehime Prefecture: Sadatake Hisamatsu
Fukui Prefecture: Eizō Kita
Fukuoka Prefecture: Taichi Uzaki
Fukushima Prefecture: Zenichiro Satō (until 23 March); Morie Kimura (starting 16 May)
Gifu Prefecture: Yukiyasu Matsuno
Gunma Prefecture: Konroku Kanda
Hiroshima Prefecture: Iduo Nagano
Hokkaido: Kingo Machimura
Hyogo Prefecture: Motohiko Kanai
Ibaraki Prefecture: Nirō Iwakami
Ishikawa Prefecture: Yōichi Nakanishi
Iwate Prefecture: Tadashi Chida
Kagawa Prefecture: Masanori Kaneko
Kagoshima Prefecture: Katsushi Terazono
Kanagawa Prefecture: Iwataro Uchiyama
Kochi Prefecture: Masumi Mizobuchi
Kumamoto Prefecture: Kōsaku Teramoto
Kyoto Prefecture: Torazō Ninagawa
Mie Prefecture: Satoru Tanaka
Miyagi Prefecture: Yoshio Miura
Miyazaki Prefecture: Hiroshi Kuroki
Nagano Prefecture: Gon'ichirō Nishizawa
Nagasaki Prefecture: Katsuya Sato
Nara Prefecture: Ryozo Okuda
Niigata Prefecture: Juichiro Tsukada
Oita Prefecture: Kaoru Kinoshita
Okayama Prefecture: Yukiharu Miki (until 21 September); Takenori Kato (starting 15 November)
Osaka Prefecture: Gisen Satō
Saga Prefecture: Sunao Ikeda
Saitama Prefecture: Hiroshi Kurihara
Shiga Prefecture: Kyujiro Taniguchi
Shiname Prefecture: Choemon Tanabe
Shizuoka Prefecture: Toshio Saitō
Tochigi Prefecture: Nobuo Yokokawa
Tokushima Prefecture: Kikutaro Hara
Tokyo: Ryōtarō Azuma
Tottori Prefecture: Jirō Ishiba
Toyama Prefecture: Minoru Yoshida
Wakayama Prefecture: Shinji Ono
Yamagata Prefecture: Tōkichi Abiko
Yamaguchi Prefecture: Masayuki Hashimoto
Yamanashi Prefecture: Hisashi Amano

Events

March 18: Hayakawa Electric (the predecessor of today's Sharp) and Sony announce that they have completed a prototype electronic calculator using Japanese-manufactured diodes and transistors.
March 24: U.S. ambassador Edwin Reischauer is stabbed by a Japanese youth.
April 1: Japanese citizens are permitted to freely travel overseas.
April 12: Channel 12, the predecessor of TV Tokyo, begins operations.
April 17 – Orient Lease, as predecessor of Orix Group founded in Osaka.^{[page needed]}
April 29 - The Keiō Dōbutsuen Line opens.
June 16: An earthquake in Niigata Prefecture kills 12.
July 14: According to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency official confirmed report, a Katsushima Warehouse caught fire and explode in Shinagawa, Tokyo, total 19 person were human fatalities and 117 persons were wounded.^{[citation needed]}
July 18: A heavy rain, following devastate flood and landslide in Shimane and Tottori Prefecture, at least 128 people lives. ^{[citation needed]}
August 18 – The International Olympic Committee bans South Africa from the Tokyo Olympics on the grounds that its teams are racially segregated.
September 17: The Tokyo Monorail begins operations.
October 1: The Tōkaidō Shinkansen begins operations.
October 10–24: 1964 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo. Judo introduced for the first time as an Olympic Game.
October 25: Ikeda Hayato resigns as prime minister; Eisaku Satō is elected to replace him.
November 9: Sato announces his first cabinet.
November 17: The political party Komeito is formed.
December 23: Tokyo Metro Tōzai Line was opened.

Births

January 1: Akemi Masuda, athlete
January 4: Riki Takeuchi, actor
January 25: Seiko Senou, actor of 1987 Metal Hero Series Choujinki Metalder.
March 8: Hiroshi Tsuburaya, actor of 1984 Space Sheriff Series Uchuu Keiji Shaider (d. 2001).
March 9: Tomomitsu Niimi, criminal (d. 2018)
March 12: Kaori Ekuni, author
March 18:
- Mika Kanai, voice actress and singer
- Yoko Kanno, pianist and songwriter
April 23: Rie Ishizuka, voice actress
April 30: Misa Watanabe, voice actress
May 5: Minami Takayama, singer and voice actress
May 6: Daisuke Araki, former professional baseball player
May 31: Yukio Edano, politician
June 12: Takashi Yamazaki, filmmaker^[2]
June 22: Hiroshi Abe, model and actor
June 23: Tomonohana Shinya, sumo wrestler and coach
July 3: Toshiharu Sakurai, voice actor
July 7: Shinichi Tsutsumi, actor^[3]
July 9: Kazumi Kawai, actress (d. 1997)
July 14: Kippei Shiina, actor
July 19: Masahiko Kondō, solo singer of Johnny & Associates
July 24: Banana Yoshimoto, author
July 25: Reiko Takashima, actress
August 10: Hiro Takahashi, singer, lyricist, and composer (d. 2005)
September 13: Junko Mihara, politician, former singer, and actress
September 23: Koshi Inaba, singer of B'z
October 5:
- Keiji Fujiwara, voice actor
- Seiko Hashimoto, ice speed skater
- Megumi Yokota, one of the North Korean abductee victims of the late 1970s (d. ca. 1977?)
October 12: Masaru Ogawa, figure skater
October 18: Etsuko Inoue, tennis player
October 20: Tomoko Yamaguchi, actress
October 24: Kotaro Tanaka, actor of 1991 Super Sentai Chōjin Sentai Jetman as Red Hawk/Ryu Tendou.
November 4: Yūko Mizutani, voice actress (d. 2016)
December 13: hide, musician (d. 1998)
December 15: Norihisa Tamura, politician
December 23: Kazuhiro Koshi, skeleton racer
December 28: Kaori Yamaguchi, judoka