Events in the year 1991 in Japan. It corresponds to Heisei 3 (平成3年) in the Japanese calendar.
Incumbents Emperor: Akihito Prime Minister: Toshiki Kaifu (L–Aichi) until November 5, Kiichi Miyazawa Chief Cabinet Secretary: Misoji Sakamoto (L–Ishikawa) until November 5, Kōichi Katō (L–Yamagata) Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Ryōhachi Kusaba President of the House of Representatives: Yoshio Sakurauchi (L–Shimane) President of the House of Councillors: Yoshihiko Tsuchiya (L–Saitama) until October 4, Yūji Osada (L–proportional) Diet sessions: 120th (regular session opened in December 1990, to May 8), 121st (extraordinary, August 5 to October 4), 122nd (extraordinary, November 5 to December 21)
Governors Aichi Prefecture: Reiji Suzuki Akita Prefecture: Kikuji Sasaki Aomori Prefecture: Masaya Kitamura Chiba Prefecture: Takeshi Numata Ehime Prefecture: Sadayuki Iga Fukui Prefecture: Yukio Kurita Fukuoka Prefecture: Hachiji Okuda Fukushima Prefecture: Eisaku Satō Gifu Prefecture: Taku Kajiwara Gunma Prefecture: Ichiro Shimizu (until 12 June); Hiroyuki Kodera (starting 28 July) Hiroshima Prefecture: Toranosuke Takeshita Hokkaido: Takahiro Yokomichi Hyogo Prefecture: Toshitami Kaihara Ibaraki Prefecture: Fujio Takeuchi Ishikawa Prefecture: Yōichi Nakanishi Iwate Prefecture: (until 29 April); Iwao Kudō (starting 29 April) Kagawa Prefecture: Jōichi Hirai Kagoshima Prefecture: Yoshiteru Tsuchiya Kanagawa Prefecture: Kazuji Nagasu Kochi Prefecture: Chikara Nakauchi (until 6 December); Daijiro Hashimoto (starting 7 December) Kumamoto Prefecture: Morihiro Hosokawa (until 10 February); Joji Fukushima (starting 11 February) Kyoto Prefecture: Teiichi Aramaki Mie Prefecture: Ryōzō Tagawa Miyagi Prefecture: Shuntarō Honma Miyazaki Prefecture: Suketaka Matsukata Nagano Prefecture: Gorō Yoshimura Nagasaki Prefecture: Isamu Takada Nara Prefecture: Shigekiyo Ueda (until 27 November); Yoshiya Kakimoto (starting 28 November) Niigata Prefecture: Kiyoshi Kaneko Oita Prefecture: Morihiko Hiramatsu Okayama Prefecture: Shiro Nagano Okinawa Prefecture: Masahide Ōta Osaka Prefecture: Sakae Kishi (until 22 April); Kazuo Nakagawa (starting 23 April) Saga Prefecture: Kumao Katsuki (until 22 April); Isamu Imoto (starting 23 April) Saitama Prefecture: Yawara Hata Shiga Prefecture: Minoru Inaba Shiname Prefecture: Nobuyoshi Sumita Shizuoka Prefecture: Shigeyoshi Saitō Tochigi Prefecture: Fumio Watanabe Tokushima Prefecture: Shinzo Miki Tokyo: Shun'ichi Suzuki Tottori Prefecture: Yuji Nishio Toyama Prefecture: Yutaka Nakaoki Wakayama Prefecture: Shirō Kariya Yamagata Prefecture: Seiichirō Itagaki Yamaguchi Prefecture: Toru Hirai Yamanashi Prefecture: Kōmei Mochizuki (until 16 February); Ken Amano (starting 17 February)
Events January 1: Telephone numbers in Tokyo are expanded from 7 digits to 8 digits March 14: A under constructing to Hiroshima Astram Line bridge girder falling accident, kills 14, injures 9.:ja:広島新交通システム橋桁落下事故 April 1: Tokyo Metropolitan Government moved its offices from Marunouchi to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku. April 26: Self-Defense Forces dispatched to assist in the Gulf War. May 14: Shigaraki train disaster – 42 fatalities, 614 injures in Shiga Prefecture. June 3: Mount Unzen in Nagasaki Prefecture saw a pyroclastic flow, resulting in 43 deaths.Mount Unzen June 15: The International Olympic Committee awards the 1998 Winter Olympics to Nagano, Japan. June 20: Tohoku Shinkansen line is extended from Ueno Station to Tokyo Station. July 13: 1991 Itoman special breach of trust case, six arrested by Japanese authorities.:ja:イトマン事件 July 31: Lotte Orions baseball team announces it will move to Chiba and become the Chiba Lotte Marines. August 5: Aerospatiale SA365N helicopter crash in Muraoka, Mikata District, Hyōgo Prefecture, 8 fatalities. August 14 – NTT Docomo was founded. September 11: USS Independence (CV-62) arrives at Yokosuka, replacing the USS Midway (CV-41) as the U.S. Navy's only forward-deployed aircraft carrier. September 27: Typhoon Mireille kills 45 people in Japan. October 3: Kaifu resigns as prime minister. October 20: At the Japanese Grand Prix held at the Suzuka Circuit, Ayrton Senna wins his third and last F1 Drivers' Championship. November 5: Miyazawa announces his first cabinet.
Births
January January 8: Asuka Hinoi, singer January 14: Kana Ichikawa, sprinter January 19: Yu Takahashi, model and actress
February February 4: Aya Ōmasa, fashion model and actress
March March 4: Aoi Nakamura, actor March 10: Kenshi Yonezu, singer-songwriter March 14: Michiko Kashiwabara, cross country skier March 14: Miu Nakamura, tarento and gravure idol March 15: Kii Kitano, gravure idol and actress. Retrieved 7 January 2014. March 28: Rin Asuka, actress
April April 8: Minami Takahashi, singer April 11: Erina Mano, J-pop singer April 11: Kenta Matsudaira, table tennis player April 12: Daisuke Kikuchi, footballer April 15: Daiki Arioka, singer April 16: Misato Ugaki, announcer April 17: Shinsaku Uesugi, FIDE master April 20: Yuko Shintake, artistic gymnast April 29: Misaki Doi, tennis player May 3: Narita Brian, racehorse (died 1998)
May May 24: Erika Umeda, singer May 26: Takumi Abe, football player May 29: Saori Hayami, voice actress and singer
June June 15: Rina Takeda, actress and martial artist June 17: Yusei Kikuchi, baseball pitcher June 25: Kyousuke Hamao, actor and model June 27: Haruka Yamazaki, voice actress and singer June 30: Kaho, actress
July July 3: Tomomi Itano, singer, actress and idol July 10: Atsuko Maeda, singer July 11: Kentaro Sakaguchi, model and actor July 12: Tomoki Kameda, boxer July 15: Yuki Kashiwagi, singer, actress and idol July 18: Mizuki Yamamoto, model and actress July 25: Miyu Nagaoka, volleyball player July 27: Rena Matsui, singer and idol July 28: Rina Aizawa, actress
August August 3: Kaori Kawanaka, archer August 16: Yūki Tokiwa, voice actor
September September 17: Ryo Ishikawa, golfer
October October 15: Sayaka Nakaya, idol October 16: Miori Takimoto, actress October 23: Princess Mako October 26: Riho Iida, actress and child model October 27: Sōta Murakami, actor and voice actor
November November 12: Takatoshi Abe, track and field athlete November 16: Tomomi Kasai, singer November 19: Genki Yamamoto, cyclist November 22: Saki Shimizu, singer November 26: Yoshi Tsutsugo, professional baseball player November 28: Mayuko Kawakita, actress and model
December December 3: Masahiro Usui, actor December 7: Dori Sakurada, actor and singer December 14: Mitsuki Takahata, actress and singer December 19: Sumire Uesaka, voice actress and singer December 24: Shion Kokubun, figure skater December 30: Kurumi Nara, tennis player
Deaths January 2: Hiroshi Noma, author (b. 1915) January 29: Yasushi Inoue, author (b. 1907) February 24: Shingo Kanemoto, voice actor (b. 1932) May 15: Shintaro Abe, politician (b. 1924) May 26: Kisaburo Osawa, aikido teacher (b. 1910) June 3: Takeshi Nagata, earth scientist (b. 1913) July 5: Nobuo Nakamura, actor (b. 1908). Retrieved 7 January 2014. July 11: Hitoshi Igarashi, scholar (b. 1947) August 5: Soichiro Honda, founder of Honda Motor Company (b. 1906) August 8: Mitsuko Yoshikawa, actress (b. 1901) September 3: Susumu Ishii, second kaicho (Godfather) of Inagawa-kai (b. 1924) October 22: Hachiro Kasuga, enka singer (b. 1924) November 12: Keizō Hayashi, civil servant and military general (b. 1907) November 14: Yoshikata Yoda, screenwriter (b. 1909). Retrieved 7 January 2014. November 23: Ken Uehara, film actor (b. 1909). Retrieved 7 January 2014. November 27: Yō Yoshimura, voice actor (b. 1909)
Statistics Yen value: US$1 = ¥124.85 (December 31)
See also 1991 in Japanese football 1991 in Japanese television List of Japanese films of 1991
References