1956 in Japan

Events in the year 1956 in Japan. It corresponds to Shōwa 31 (昭和31年) in the Japanese calendar.

Decades:

Incumbents

Emperor: Hirohito^[1]
Prime Minister: Ichirō Hatoyama (Liberal Democratic) until December 23, Tanzan Ishibashi (Liberal Democratic)
Chief Cabinet Secretary: Ryutaro Nemoto until December 23, Hirohide Ishida
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Kōtarō Tanaka
President of the House of Representatives: Shūji Masutani
President of the House of Councillors: Yahachi Kawai until April 3, Tsuruhei Matsuno

Governors

Aichi Prefecture: Mikine Kuwahara
Akita Prefecture: Yūjirō Obata
Aomori Prefecture: Bunji Tsushima (until 1 June); Iwao Yamazaki (starting 20 July)
Chiba Prefecture: Hitoshi Shibata
Ehime Prefecture: Sadatake Hisamatsu
Fukui Prefecture: Seiichi Hane
Fukuoka Prefecture: Taichi Uzaki
Fukushima Prefecture: Sakuma Ootake
Gifu Prefecture: Kamon Muto
Gunma Prefecture: Shigeo Kitano (until 1 August); Toshizo Takekoshi (starting 2 August)
Hiroshima Prefecture: Hiroo Ōhara
Hokkaido: Toshifumi Tanaka
Hyogo Prefecture: Masaru Sakamoto
Ibaraki Prefecture: Yoji Tomosue
Ishikawa Prefecture: Jūjitsu Taya
Iwate Prefecture: Senichi Abe
Kagawa Prefecture: Masanori Kaneko
Kagoshima Prefecture: Katsushi Terazono
Kanagawa Prefecture: Iwataro Uchiyama
Kochi Prefecture: Masumi Mizobuchi
Kumamoto Prefecture: Saburō Sakurai
Kyoto Prefecture: Torazō Ninagawa
Mie Prefecture: Satoru Tanaka
Miyagi Prefecture: Otogorō Miyagi (until 4 October); Yasushi Onuma (starting 5 October)
Miyazaki Prefecture: Jingo Futami
Nagano Prefecture: Torao Hayashi
Nagasaki Prefecture: Takejirō Nishioka
Nara Prefecture: Ryozo Okuda
Niigata Prefecture: Kazuo Kitamura
Oita Prefecture: Kaoru Kinoshita
Okayama Prefecture: Yukiharu Miki
Osaka Prefecture: Bunzō Akama
Saga Prefecture: Naotsugu Nabeshima
Saitama Prefecture: Yuuichi Oosawa (until 29 May); Hiroshi Kurihara (starting 16 July)
Shiga Prefecture: Kotaro Mori
Shiname Prefecture: Yasuo Tsunematsu
Shizuoka Prefecture: Toshio Saitō
Tochigi Prefecture: Kiichi Ogawa
Tokushima Prefecture: Kikutaro Hara
Tokyo: Seiichirō Yasui
Tottori Prefecture: Shigeru Endo
Toyama Prefecture: Kunitake Takatsuji (until 30 September); Minoru Yoshida (starting 1 October)
Wakayama Prefecture: Shinji Ono
Yamagata Prefecture: Tōkichi Abiko
Yamaguchi Prefecture: Taro Ozawa
Yamanashi Prefecture: Hisashi Amano

Events

January 1 - According to Japanese government officially confirmed report, human stampede hit during newyear festival in Yahiko Shrine, Niigata Prefecture, 124 person were perished, 77 person were hurt.^{[page needed]}
April 10 – Sanwa Shutter was founded in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture.^{[page needed]}
May 3 - The first World Judo Championships are held at the Kuramae Kokugikan, Tokyo.
July 8 - House of Councillors election held.
October 15 – According to Japan Transport Ministry official confirmed report, two trains crush in Rokken rail accident in Mie Prefecture, official death toll was 42 persons, with 94 persons were hurt.^{[citation needed]}
October 19 - Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956 signed.
October 28 – A landmark spot in Osaka, Tsūtenkaku was rebuilt, after it caught fire and was demolished in 1943.^{[citation needed]}
December 12 - Japan becomes a member of the United Nations and accept ZOV treatment

Births

Many notable Japanese individuals from Young Japanese Baby Boom/Danso Generation were born in 1956, such as Kōji Yakusho, Chen Kenichi, Keiichi Tsuchiya, Mao Daichi, Miyoko Asada, Brother Tom, Goro Noguchi, Keisuke Kuwata, Kenji Niinuma, Takehiko Nakao, Arimasa Osawa, Motoharu Sano, Naoto Takenaka, Shinsuke Shimada, Hisashi Eguchi, Yoshiko Tanaka, former Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda, Kimiko Yo, Yoshiko Sakakibara, Ann Lewis, Tomoko Akane, Ryuho Okawa, Midori Matsushima, Toshihiko Seko, Ryo Ishibashi, Akira Hagiwara, Hideaki Hara, Terumi Azuma, Takeshi Okada, Yoshiko Ishiba, Masashi Tashiro, Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi, Makiko Kinoshita, Masayuki Suzuki, Toshiki Hirano, Screaming Mad George, Shinji Miyazaki, Junko Hirotani, Minoru Mukaiya, Akie Asaka, Machiko Watanabe, Kazuyo Sejima, Masayuki Suo, Kōji Gushiken, Satoshi Inoue, Akemi Matsunae, Hitoshi Yazaki, Roko Takizawa, Masaru Wakasa, Hiroshi Hasebe, Masami Akita, and Junji Hirata

January–March

January 1 – Kōji Yakusho, actor
January 3 – Tomiko Suzuki, voice actress (d. 2003)
January 5 – Chen Kenichi, Chinese-born chef (d. 2023)
January 13 – Masaharu Kondo, bureaucat
January 30 – Keiichi Tsuchiya, professional race car driver
February 5 – Mao Daichi, actress (Takarazuka Revue)
February 6 – Yasuhiro Okuizumi, writer
February 15 – Miyoko Asada, actress
February 16 – Takayoshi Nakao, professional baseball player
February 23
- Brother Tom, singer and tarento
- Goro Noguchi, musician and actor
- Naoki Hyakuta, writer, television producer, and politician
February 26 – Keisuke Kuwata, musician and multi-instrumentalist
February 27 – Kenji Niinuma, enka musician
March 5 – Takehiko Nakao, civil servant and former president of Asian Development Bank
March 7 – Tadatomo Yoshida, politician
March 8 – Arimasa Osawa, writer of hardboiled fiction and thrillers
March 11 – Takayasu Komiya, film actor
March 13 – Motoharu Sano, musician and singer-songwriter
March 16 – Yoriko Shono, writer
March 18 – Saori Kondo, former badminton player
March 19 – Yasuyuki Eda, politician
March 20 – Naoto Takenaka, actor, comedian, musician, and director
March 24 – Shinsuke Shimada, comedian and television presenter
March 29 – Hisashi Eguchi, Shōnen manga artist

April–June

April 4 – Jiro Sasaki, former swimmer
April 8 – Yoshiko Tanaka, actress (d. 2011)
April 11 – Mamoru Takahashi, professional golfer
April 12 – Yasuo Tanaka, politician and novelist
April 16 – Shingo Mimura, politician and former Governor of Aomori Prefecture
April 18
- Junichi Ihara, diplomat
- Ōzutsu Takeshi, former sumo player and rikishi
April 19 – Ryu Hirose, football manager and former player
April 20 – Yuko Mori, politician
April 28
- Kenji Eda, politician
- Seiji Hagiwara, politician and mayor of Mimasaka
April 29 – Satoshi Kinsui, linguist
May 3 – Akio Toyoda, businessman and former chairman of Toyota
May 11 – Hiroshi Okochi, actor
May 12 – Kimiko Yo, actress
May 18 – Naomichi Ozaki, professional golfer
May 28 – Sayuri Yamauchi, voice actress (d. 2012)
May 31 – Yoshiko Sakakibara, actress, voice actress, and narrator
June 1 – Kiyohiro Araki, politician
June 5 – Ann Lewis, musician
June 13 – Shunichi Mizuoka, politician
June 18
- Seiji Ono, former table tennis player
- Shunichi Nagasaki, film director and screenwriter
June 26 – Yukihiko Akutsu, politician
June 27 – Takeshi Nishimoto, former professional baseball pitcher
June 28 – Tomoko Akane, jurist

July–September

July 7 – Ryuho Okawa, religious and political leader (d. 2023)
July 9 – Nobutoshi Hikage, judo practitioner
July 12 – Shuhei Kishimoto, politician and governor of Wakayama Prefecture (d. 2025)
July 15
- Midori Matsushima, politician
- Toshihiko Seko, former long-distance runner
July 19
- Emi Akimoto, former track and field athlete
- Yoshiaki Yatsu, professional wrestler
- Toshio Toyota, former Olympic sprinter
July 20 – Ryo Ishibashi, actor and lead singer of Japanese rock band ARB
July 21
- Akira Hagiwara, racing driver (d. 1986)
- Fukumi Kuroda, actress
July 31 – Jin Matsubara, politician
August 1 – Hideaki Hara, former swimmer
August 4 – Mika Doi, voice actress
August 11 – Takashi Esaki, politician
August 12 – Terumi Azuma, actress and director
August 23 – Kumiko Okae, actress, voice actress, and television presenter (d. 2020)
August 25 – Takeshi Okada, association footballer and football coach
August 26 – Yoshiko Ishiba, the wife of former Japanese Prime Minister and former Japanese Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba
August 31 – Masashi Tashiro, television performer and a founding member of Japanese male pop band Rats & Star
September 3 – Masahiro Akimoto, former ski jumper
September 7 – Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi, singer-songwriter
September 20 – Makiko Kinoshita, composer
September 21 – Osamu Kodama, alpine skier
September 22
- Jun Yamazaki, diplomat
- Masayuki Suzuki, musician and a former member of Japanese male pop band Rats & Star

October–December

October 3 – Toshiki Hirano, anime director, animator, and character designer
October 7
- Screaming Mad George, special effects artist, film director, and former musician
- Shinji Miyazaki, music composer and arranger
October 8 – Hiroshi Michinaga, archer
October 17 – Junko Hirotani, musician (d. 2020)
October 19 – Shinichiro Kobayashi, photographer
October 20 – Minoru Mukaiya, jazz musician
October 22 – Jun Aoki, architect
October 23 – Akie Asaka, comedian and actress
October 26 – Machiko Watanabe, musician
October 29
- Kazuyo Sejima, architect and director
- Masayuki Suo, film director
November 8 – Hiroko Ishizu, archer and educator
November 12
- Kōji Gushiken, Olympic Gold medal-winning gymnast
- Satoshi Inoue, jazz guitarist
November 18 – Akemi Matsunae, shōjo manga artist
November 20 – Hitoshi Yazaki, film director
November 23 – Hisashi Okamoto, applied mathematician
November 27
- Roko Takizawa, actress and voice actress
- Ryuzo Sasaki, politician (d. 2022)
December 3 – Mieko Fukui, basketball player (d. 1980)
December 5 – Yoshinori Suematsu, politician
December 6 – Masaru Wakasa, politician and lawyer
December 9 – Akio Miyazawa, playwright, writer, and academic (d. 2022)
December 14 – Shinobu Fukushima, ice sledge hockey player
December 17 – Hiroshi Hasebe, theatre critic and professor at Tokyo University of the Arts
December 19 – Masami Akita, noise musician, (aka Merzbow)
December 20 – Junji Hirata, retired professional wrestling player
December 21 – Atsushi Oshima, politician
December 27 – Shigeru Kitamura, police officer

Deaths

January 4 – Makoto Nishimura, biologist (b. 1883)
June 3 – Fukushi Masaichi, physician and pathologist (b. 1878)

Incumbents

Governors

Events

Births

January–March

April–June

July–September

October–December

Deaths

See also

References

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