1973 in Japan

Events in the year 1973 in Japan. It corresponds to Shōwa 48 (昭和48年) in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents

• Emperor: Hirohito
• Prime minister: Kakuei Tanaka (Liberal Democratic)
• Chief Cabinet Secretary: Susumu Nikaido
• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Kazuto Ishida until May 19, Tomokazu Murakami from May 21
• President of the House of Representatives: Umekichi Nakamura until May 29, Shigesaburō Maeo
• President of the House of Councillors: Kenzō Kōno
• Diet sessions: 71st (extraordinary session opened on December 22, 1972, to September 27), 72nd (regular, December 1 to June 3, 1974)

Governors

• Aichi Prefecture: Mikine Kuwahara
• Akita Prefecture: Yūjirō Obata
• Aomori Prefecture: Shunkichi Takeuchi
• Chiba Prefecture: Taketo Tomonō
• Ehime Prefecture: Haruki Shiraishi
• Fukui Prefecture: Heidayū Nakagawa
• Fukuoka Prefecture: Hikaru Kamei
• Fukushima Prefecture: Morie Kimura
• Gifu Prefecture: Saburō Hirano
• Gunma Prefecture: Konroku Kanda
• Hiroshima Prefecture: Iduo Nagano (until 10 November); Hiroshi Miyazawa (starting 16 December)
• Hokkaido: Naohiro Dōgakinai
• Hyogo Prefecture: Tokitada Sakai
• Ibaraki Prefecture: Nirō Iwakami
• Ishikawa Prefecture: Yōichi Nakanishi
• Iwate Prefecture: Tadashi Chida
• Kagawa Prefecture: Masanori Kaneko
• Kagoshima Prefecture: Saburō Kanemaru
• Kanagawa Prefecture: Bunwa Tsuda
• Kochi Prefecture: Masumi Mizobuchi
• Kumamoto Prefecture: Issei Sawada
• Kyoto Prefecture: Torazō Ninagawa
• Mie Prefecture: Ryōzō Tagawa
• Miyagi Prefecture: Sōichirō Yamamoto
• Miyazaki Prefecture: Hiroshi Kuroki
• Nagano Prefecture: Gon'ichirō Nishizawa
• Nagasaki Prefecture: Kan'ichi Kubo
• Nara Prefecture: Ryozo Okuda
• Niigata Prefecture: Shiro Watari
• Oita Prefecture: Masaru Taki
• Okayama Prefecture: Shiro Nagano
• Okinawa Prefecture: Chōbyō Yara
• Osaka Prefecture: Ryōichi Kuroda
• Saga Prefecture: Sunao Ikeda
• Saitama Prefecture: Yawara Hata
• Shiga Prefecture: Kinichiro Nozaki
• Shiname Prefecture: Seiji Tsunematsu
• Shizuoka Prefecture: Yūtarō Takeyama
• Tochigi Prefecture: Nobuo Yokokawa
• Tokushima Prefecture: Yasunobu Takeichi
• Tokyo: Ryōkichi Minobe
• Tottori Prefecture: Jirō Ishiba (until 22 February); Kōzō Hirabayashi (starting 27 March)
• Toyama Prefecture: Kokichi Nakada
• Wakayama Prefecture: Masao Ohashi
• Yamagata Prefecture: Tōkichi Abiko (until 27 September); Seiichirō Itagaki (starting 17 October)
• Yamaguchi Prefecture: Masayuki Hashimoto
• Yamanashi Prefecture: Kunio Tanabe

Events

• January 1 – Health care for those over 70 years of age is made free of charge
• March 8 – According to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency official confirmed report, Yawata General Hospital fire in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, total 13 patients were fatalities.
• March 19 – Konami is established.
• July 23 – Nidec was founded, as predecessor name was Nippon Densan (Electric Industry) Corporation.
• August 17 – Miyama Real Estate, as predecessor of Leopalace founded in Nakano, Tokyo.
• September 25 – According to Fire and Disaster Management Agency official confirmed report, a caught fire at under construction for department store in Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, kill six construction workers, in an incident caused bx a security guardman has arson acting.
• October 27 – A retailer CGC Group founded.
• November 29 – Fire breaks out in Taiyo department store in Kumamoto City, killing over a hundred.

Births

• January 2 – Michiyo Nakajima, actress, voice actress and former pop singer.
• January 11 – Eri Fukatsu, actress
• January 16 – Maki Miyamae, pop singer
• January 18 – Shinobu Nakayama, singer and former pop singer
• January 31 – Shingo Katayama, golfer
• February 1 – Makiko Ohmoto, voice actress
• February 7 – Mie Sonozaki, voice actress
• February 9 – Yoshitomo Tani, former professional baseball player
• February 11 – Haruhi Terada, voice actress
• February 28 – Masato Tanaka, professional wrestler
• March 6 – Rumi Ochiai, voice actress
• March 7 – Eiji Takemoto, voice actor
• March 24 – Sakura Tange, voice actress and singer
• March 27 – Sayaka Aoki, comedian
• April 6 – Rie Miyazawa, actress and singer
• April 21 – Katsuyuki Konishi, voice actor
• May 8 – Hiromu Arakawa, manga artist
• May 16 – Kōsuke Toriumi, voice actor
• May 18 – Kaz Hayashi, professional wrestler
• May 29 – Tomoko Kaneda, voice actress and J-pop singer
• June 12 – Mitsuki Saiga, voice actress
• June 18 – Yumi Kakazu, voice actress
• June 19 – Yuko Nakazawa, singer
• June 30 – Hidetada Yamagishi, bodybuilder
• July 2 – Makoto Kosaka, former professional baseball player
• July 4 – Gackt, singer-songwriter and actor
• July 7 – Natsuki Takaya, manga artist
• July 16 – Yoshihiko Hakamada, actor
• July 17
  • Takeshi Kaneshiro, Taiwanese/Japanese actor
  • Daimaou Kosaka, comedian
• August 13 – Ryōko Shinohara, actress
• August 31 – Kaori Mizumori, enka singer
• September 1 – Rieko Miura, actress and singer
• September 9 – Kazuhisa Ishii, baseball player
• September 18 – Ami Onuki, singer
• October 11 – Daisuke Sakaguchi, voice actor
• October 13 – Nanako Matsushima, actress and model
• October 14 – Masato Sakai, actor
• October 20 – Tomoka Shibasaki, writer
• October 22 – Ichiro Suzuki, baseball player
• October 26 – Taka Michinoku, professional wrestler
• November 6 – Rumi Shishido, voice actress and singer
• December 11 – Yūko Obuchi, politician and cabinet minister
• December 19 – Takashi Sorimachi, actor and singer
• December 25 – Daisuke Miura, professional baseball coach and former pitcher

Deaths

• April 25 – Tanzan Ishibashi, journalist and politician (b. 1884)
• May 2 – Akiko Seki, soprano (b. 1899)
• September 15 – Saburō Matsukata, journalist, businessman and mountaineer (b. 1899)
• September 18 – Ken Harada, first Japanese diplomat to the Holy See (b. 1893)
• October 7 – Masayuki Mori, actor (b. 1911)
• November 7 – Kiyohide Shima, admiral (b. 1890)
• November 23 – Sesue Hayakawa, actor (b. 1886)

See also

• 1973 in Japanese television
• List of Japanese films of 1973

References