2007 in Japan

Events in the year 2007 in Japan.

Incumbents

• Emperor – Akihito
• Prime Minister – Shinzō Abe (Liberal Democratic Party–Yamaguchi) until September 26, Yasuo Fukuda (Liberal Democratic Party–Gunma)
• Chief Cabinet Secretary: Yasuhisa Shiozaki (L–Ehime) to August 27, Kaoru Yosano (L–Tokyo) to September 26, Nobutaka Machimura (L–Hokkaidō)
• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Nirō Shimada
• President of the House of Representatives: Yōhei Kōno (L–Kanagawa)
• President of the House of Councillors: Chikage Ōgi (L–proportional) until July 28, Satsuki Eda (D–Okayama)
• Diet sessions: 166th (regular, January 25 to July 5), 167th (extraordinary, August 7 to August 10), 168th (extraordinary, September 10 to 2008, January 15)

Events

The launch of SELENE, 14 September 2007

January

• January 23 - A rare eel-like creature identified as frilled shark is discovered in Japan by fishermen.
• January 29 - Japan’s oldest person, Yone Minagawa, 114, becomes the world’s oldest living person.

February

• February 20 - A power outage strikes the central area of Nagoya.
• February 26 - A 7.0 magnitude earthquake strikes off the southern coast of Japan's Ryukyu Island.

March

• March 25 - A tsunami occurs on the northern coast of Japan after an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 in the Sea of Japan. NHK reports that 1 person has died and 40 have been injured.
• March 26 - Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe apologizes for Japan's use of women as sex slaves in frontline brothels during World War II.

April

• April 1 - Niigata and Hamamatsu become cities designated by government ordinance.
• April 8 - Voters go to the polls in Japan for the first phase of the unified local elections including 13 gubernatorial elections, 44 prefectural assembly elections and 4 mayoral races in major cities.
• April 10 - The government of Japan extends economic sanctions against the North Korean government by an additional six months, citing a lack of progress in resolving kidnapping cases of Japanese citizens.
• April 16 - The United States, Japan and India carry out a joint naval exercise in the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to increase strategic cooperation.
• April 17 - Iccho Ito, the mayor of Nagasaki, Japan, is shot at least twice outside his re-election campaign headquarters. The assassin, Tetsuya Shiroo, is alleged to be a senior member of a local gang affiliated to the Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate. Itoh was taken to the Nagasaki University Hospital, where he died early the next morning due to loss of blood.
• April 22 - In the second phase of the unified local elections, hundreds of municipal elections and two by-elections for the national Diet are held.
• April 25 - Japanese police raid the offices of a pro-North Korean group in relation to the alleged kidnapping of two children in the 1970s.

May

• May 14 - The House of Councillors passes rules for revising the pacifist Constitution of Japan.
• May 28
  • Riyo Mori becomes Miss Universe 2007 in Mexico City, the second Japanese to do so after Akiko Kojima.
  • Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Toshikatsu Matsuoka is found dead at his Tokyo home, hours before he was to face questions in the Diet about his expenses.

June

• June 1 - Archaeologists discover a 2,100-year-old melon in Shiga Prefecture.
• June 21 - Japan changes the name of Iwo Jima to its original name, Iwo To, to reflect the wishes of its original inhabitants.

July

• July 3 - Japan's Minister of Defense Fumio Kyuma resigns over comments he made about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the weekend.
• July 4 - Japan's first female Minister of Defense, Yuriko Koike, is sworn in a day after the resignation of her predecessor, Fumio Kyuma.
• July 16 - 2007 Chūetsu offshore earthquake, eleven deaths and at least 1000 injuries were reported, and 342 buildings destroyed.
• July 29 - House of Councillors election

August

• August 1 - Norihiko Akagi resigns as Japan's agriculture minister after scandals involving him adversely affected the Liberal Democratic Party's performance in the Japanese House of Councillors election, 2007.
• August 24 - Murder of Rie Isogai
• August 25 - The 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics get underway in Osaka, Japan.

September

• September 12 - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announces his resignation.
• September 14 - The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency successfully launches SELENE, the largest lunar mission since the Apollo program, on a mission to explore the moon.
• September 23 - Yasuo Fukuda, a political moderate, is elected by Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party to become the country’s next prime minister.

October

• October 5 - SELENE, Japan's lunar probe, successfully achieves an orbit around the moon.

November

• November 18 - Japan resumes whaling of humpbacks for the first time in 40 years. Greenpeace and other environmentalist groups condemn the decision.

• November 28 - The Chinese Type 051B destroyer Shenzhen visits Tokyo in the first visit of a Chinese warship to Japan since World War II.

December

• December 19 - A 32-year-old police sergeant shoots himself inside a kōban in front of Tokyo Station.

Deaths

• January 5 - Momofuku Ando, inventor of Instant noodles and Cup Noodles, founder of Nissin Foods
• January 8 - Iwao Takamoto, animator
• April 18 - Iccho Itoh, mayor of Nagasaki
• May 3 - Knock Yokoyama, comedian and politician
• May 27 - Izumi Sakai, singer
• May 28 - Toshikatsu Matsuoka, politician
• June 28 - Kiichi Miyazawa, 78th Prime Minister
• July 18 - Kenji Miyamoto, politician
• August 13 - Yone Minagawa, world's oldest living person
• August 28 - Miyoshi Umeki, actress
• September 7 - Kenji Nagai, journalist
• October 7 - Norifumi Abe, motorcycle road racer
• October 12 - Kurokawa Kisho, architect
• November 13 - Kazuhisa Inao, baseball player