Governors

• Aichi Prefecture: Hideaki Omura
• Akita Prefecture: Norihisa Satake
• Aomori Prefecture: Sōichirō Miyashita
• Chiba Prefecture: Toshihito Kumagai
• Ehime Prefecture: Tokihiro Nakamura
• Fukui Prefecture: Tatsuji Sugimoto
• Fukuoka Prefecture: Seitaro Hattori
• Fukushima Prefecture: Masao Uchibori
• Gifu Prefecture: Hajime Furuta
• Gunma Prefecture: Ichita Yamamoto
• Hiroshima Prefecture: Hidehiko Yuzaki
• Hokkaido: Naomichi Suzuki
• Hyogo Prefecture: Motohiko Saitō
• Ibaraki Prefecture: Kazuhiko Ōigawa
• Ishikawa: Masanori Tanimoto
• Iwate Prefecture: Takuya Tasso
• Kagawa Prefecture: Keizō Hamada
• Kagoshima Prefecture: Kōichi Shiota
• Kanagawa Prefecture: Yuji Kuroiwa
• Kumamoto Prefecture: Ikuo Kabashima
• Kochi Prefecture: Seiji Hamada
• Kyoto Prefecture: Takatoshi Nishiwaki
• Mie Prefecture: Eikei Suzuki
• Miyagi Prefecture: Yoshihiro Murai
• Miyazaki Prefecture: Shunji Kōno
• Nagano Prefecture: Shuichi Abe
• Nagasaki Prefecture: Hōdō Nakamura
• Nara Prefecture: Makoto Yamashita
• Niigata Prefecture: Hideyo Hanazumi
• Oita Prefecture: Kiichiro Sato
• Okayama Prefecture: Ryuta Ibaragi
• Okinawa Prefecture: Denny Tamaki
• Osaka Prefecture: Hirofumi Yoshimura
• Saga Prefecture: Yoshinori Yamaguchi
• Saitama Prefecture: Motohiro Ōno
• Shiga Prefecture: Taizō Mikazuki
• Shimame Prefecture: Tatsuya Maruyama
• Shizuoka Prefecture: Heita Kawakatsu
• Tochigi Prefecture: Tomikazu Fukuda
• Tokushima Prefecture: Masazumi Gotoda
• Tokyo Prefecture: Yuriko Koike
• Tottori Prefecture: Shinji Hirai
• Toyama Prefecture: Hachiro Nitta
• Wakayama Prefecture: Shūhei Kishimoto
• Yamagata Prefecture: Mieko Yoshimura
• Yamaguchi Prefecture: Tsugumasa Muraoka
• Yamanashi Prefecture: Kotaro Nagasaki

January

• January 1 –
  • Six wards in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, including Naka-ku, Minami-ku, Higashi-ku, Nishi-ku, and Kita-ku, are disestablished and replaced by two new wards, namely Hamana-ku and Chūō-ku.^[2]
  • A 7.5 magnitude earthquake strikes Ishikawa Prefecture,^[3] killing 241 people.^[4]
• January 2 – 2024 Haneda Airport runway collision: A Japan Airlines Airbus A350-900 collides with a Japan Coast Guard DHC-8 aircraft and bursts into flames at Tokyo's Haneda Airport. The Coast guard plane was going to deliver aid to those affected by the earthquake in Ishikawa Prefecture the day before. All 379 occupants aboard the Japan Airlines flight are evacuated, while five of the six occupants aboard the Coast Guard aircraft are killed.^[5]
• January 3 – Three men are stabbed on a train at Akihabara Station, Tokyo. A woman is arrested by police.^[6]
• January 19:
  • Japan becomes the fifth country to successfully land on the surface of the moon with the SLIM lunar lander mission.^{[citation needed]}
    • 2023–2024 Japanese slush fund scandal
    • Several Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers are indicted in a scandal involving misuse of campaign funds, including incumbent lawmakers Yasutada Ōno and Yaichi Tanigawa, both of whom resign from the party following their indictments.^[7]
    • The Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai, Kōchikai, and Shisuikai factions of the Liberal Democratic Party all announce their intention to dissolve as a result of the scandal.^[8]
• January 23 – Two railway workers are injured after being electrocuted while trying to fix a massive power outage that shuts down the Shinkansen system in a section operated by JR East between Omiya Station in Saitama and Ueno Station in Tokyo. A train is also damaged during the outage.^[9][10]
• January 24 – Ukrainian-born Karolina Shiino is announced as the winner of the 2024 Miss Nippon Grand Prix beauty pageant.^[11] She is the first naturalised Japanese citizen to win the pageant.^[12] Her win sparks debates over "Japaneseness" and the shifting demographics of Japan.^{[13][14][15][16]}
• January 25 – Kyoto Animation arson attack: A court sentences Shinji Aoba to death for a 2019 arson attack on a Kyoto Animation studio in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, which killed 36 people.^[17]
• January 26 – 1974 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries bombing: Police announce they have arrested who they believe to be Satoshi Kirishima, a member of East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front who has been a fugitive from justice for 50 years for his role in a series of bombings of companies.^[18]
• January 29 – The man believed to be Satoshi Kirishima dies.^[19] DNA comparison with relatives further confirms his identity as Kirishima.^[20]

February

• February 5 – Ukrainian-born Karolina Shiino relinquishes her crown as winner of the 2024 Miss Nippon Grand Prix beauty pageant after news emerges of her having an affair with a married man.^[21][22]
• February 27 – Sony announces it will cut 900 jobs across its global workforce and proposes the closure of London Studio as part of the restructuring.^[23]

March

• March 4 – The Nikkei 225 reaches 40,000 points for the first time.^[24]
• March 11 – Two New Zealand skiers are killed and another is injured following an avalanche on Mount Yotei in Hokkaido.^[25]
• March 12 – A court in Fukuoka overturns the death sentence of Yakuza Kudo-kai leader Satoru Nomura imposed for a 1998 murder and sentences him to life in prison.^[26]
• March 13:
  • KAIROS-1, designed by Space One as Japan's first privately-manufactured rocket, explodes seconds after its maiden launch from Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture.^[27]
  • The Fuji-Q Highland amusement park announces the removal of the famed high-speed roller coaster Do-Dodonpa,^[28] which had been closed since August 2021 following numerous incidents resulting in injuries within a year.^[29]
  • The Tokyo District Court orders the government to return the remains of Aum Shinrikyo leader Shoko Asahara, who was executed in 2018 for the Tokyo subway attack in 1995, to his family.^[30]
• March 14:
  • In separate lawsuits, the Sapporo High Court and the Tokyo District Court rule that the non-recognition of same-sex marriage in Japan is unconstitutional.^[31]
  • The Tokyo District Court convicts former State Minister of Justice Mito Kakizawa of vote-buying worth 2.8 million yen ($19,000) during mayoral elections in the Kōtō ward of Tokyo in April 2023 and sentences him to a two-year suspended sentence.^[32]
  • The Tokyo District Court convicts former Member of the House of Councillors and YouTuber GaaSyy of online harassment and sentences him to a three-year suspended sentence.^[33]
• March 16: The Hokuriku Shinkansen railway extension from Kanazawa to Tsuruga, Fukui is completed.^[34]
• March 20: South Korean-flagged tanker Keoyoung Sun capsizes off the coast of Yamaguchi Prefecture during stormy weather. Nine crew members are found dead, while one person remains missing. Two people are rescued.^[35]
• March 26: The Cabinet of Japan allows the sale and export of fighter aircraft to other countries.^[36]
• March 29 – North Korean state media cites foreign minister Choe Son Hui as saying that North Korea rejects any talks with Japan on any issue, including the Japanese abductees, after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he was willing to meet in person with Kim Jong Un.^[37]
• March 30 – Authorities raid a facility of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Company in Osaka after five deaths from kidney failure are linked to consumption of its health supplements containing the red mold benikoji.^[38]

April

• April 1:
  • A magnitude 6.0 earthquake strikes Iwate Prefecture, injuring two people.^[39]
  • The Imperial House of Japan opens an account on Instagram for the first time.^[40]
• April 2 – The governor of Shizuoka Prefecture, Heita Kawakatsu, announces his resignation following uproar over comments he made the previous day comparing civil servants with other professions.^[41]
• April 3 – A magnitude 7.4 earthquake strikes off the coast of Taiwan, prompting tsunami warnings for Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. A 30-cm tsunami is observed at Yonaguni Island and Miyako Island while a 20-cm tsunami reaches Ishigaki Island.^[42][43]
• April 15 –
  • Nearly 60,000 residents of Naha are ordered evacuated due to risks of landslides caused by heavy rains.^[44][45]
  • Japan raises its four-stage danger ranking level for most of Iran, including Tehran, to Level 3, which urges to avoid all travel to Iran following the Iranian strikes in Israel.^[46]
• April 17 – A magnitude 6.6 earthquake strikes along the Bungo Channel between Shikoku and Kyushu, injuring 12 people.^[47]
• April 20 – Two SH-60K helicopters of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces crash into the Pacific Ocean following a possible collision during a training exercise near Torishima Island, killing one person and leaving seven others missing.^[48]
• April 22 – China objects to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's offering at Yasukuni Shrine.^[49]
• April 25 – Hiroyuki Miyazawa resigns as a member of the House of Representatives after reports emerge of him having an extra-martial affair.^[50]
• April 28 – By-elections are held for three seats in the House of Representatives, which are all won by the Constitutional Democratic Party.^[51]

January

• January 3 – Kunihiko Muroi, politician (b. 1947)^[52]
• January 4:
  • Kishin Shinoyama, photographer (b. 1940)
  • Tomonobu Yokoyama, footballer (b. 1985)
• January 12:
  • Jiro Hirano, news anchor (b. 1940)
  • Haruo Takahashi, animator and manga creator (b. 1947)
• January 14:
  • Yuichi Ogawa, politician (b. 1946)
  • Makoto Taniguchi, diplomat and academic (b. 1930)
• January 16 – Esper Itō, comedian (b. 1960)
• January 19 – Toru Kawashima, footballer (b. 1970)
• January 22:
  • Takashi Ezure, screenwriter (b. 1941)
  • Motohisa Ikeda, politician (b. 1940)
• January 27 – Susumu Taira, actor (b. 1934)
• January 28 – Satoshi Kirishima, terrorist (b. 1954)
• January 29 – Hinako Ashihara, manga author (b. 1974)

February

• 4 February – Yōko Abe, calligrapher (b. 1928).^[53]
• 5 February – Tsutomu Hanahara, wrestler, Olympic champion (1964) (b. 1940).^[54]
• 6 February – Seiji Ozawa, conductor (b. 1935)
• 7 February – Ryōko Akamatsu, politician (b. 1929)
• 12 February – Hirotake Yano, businessman (b. 1943)
• 20 February – Yoko Yamamoto, actress (b. 1942)
• 23 February – Giichi Tsunoda, politician (b. 1937)

March

• 1 March – Akira Toriyama, manga artist (b. 1955)
• 4 March – Tarako, voice actress (b. 1960)
• 10 March – Yutaka Yoshie, professional wrestler (b. 1974)
• 14 March – Minori Terada, actor (b. 1942)
• 18 March – Kenjiro Shinozuka, rally driver (b. 1948)
• 21 March – Hideki Seo, fashion designer (b. 1974)
• 30 March – Yukiko Kato, author (b. 1936)

April

• April – Akebono Tarō, sumo wrestler (b. 1969)
• 11 April – Yasuo Muramatsu, voice actor (b. 1933)
• 23 April – Yukio Kasaya, ski jumper (b. 1943)
• 26 April – Yumi Katsura, wedding fashion designer (b. 1930)

Country overviews

Related timelines for current period