Events in the year 1998 in Japan. It corresponds to the year Heisei 10 (平成10年) in the Japanese calendar.
Incumbents Emperor: Akihito Prime Minister: Ryutaro Hashimoto (L–Okayama) until July 30, Keizo Obuchi (L–Gunma) Chief Cabinet Secretary: Kanezō Muraoka (L–Akita) until July 30, Hiromu Nonaka (L–Kyōto) Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Shigeru Yamaguchi President of the House of Representatives: Sōichirō Itō (L–Miyagi) President of the House of Councillors: Jūrō Saitō (L–Mie) until July 25 and again from August 4 Diet sessions: 142nd (regular, January 12 to June 18), 143rd (extraordinary, August 7 to October 16), 144th (extraordinary, November 27 to December 14)
Governors Aichi Prefecture: Reiji Suzuki Akita Prefecture: Sukeshiro Terata Aomori Prefecture: Morio Kimura Chiba Prefecture: Takeshi Numata Ehime Prefecture: Sadayuki Iga Fukui Prefecture: Yukio Kurita Fukuoka Prefecture: Wataru Asō Fukushima Prefecture: Eisaku Satō Gifu Prefecture: Taku Kajiwara Gunma Prefecture: Hiroyuki Kodera Hiroshima Prefecture: Yūzan Fujita Hokkaido: Tatsuya Hori Hyogo Prefecture: Toshitami Kaihara Ibaraki Prefecture: Masaru Hashimoto Ishikawa Prefecture: Masanori Tanimoto Iwate Prefecture: Hiroya Masuda Kagawa Prefecture: Jōichi Hirai (until 4 September); Takeki Manabe (starting 5 September) Kagoshima Prefecture: Tatsurō Suga Kanagawa Prefecture: Hiroshi Okazaki Kochi Prefecture: Daijiro Hashimoto Kumamoto Prefecture: Joji Fukushima Kyoto Prefecture: Teiichi Aramaki Mie Prefecture: Masayasu Kitagawa Miyagi Prefecture: Shirō Asano Miyazaki Prefecture: Suketaka Matsukata Nagano Prefecture: Gorō Yoshimura Nagasaki Prefecture: Isamu Takada (until 1 March); Genjirō Kaneko (starting 2 March) Nara Prefecture: Yoshiya Kakimoto Niigata Prefecture: Ikuo Hirayama Oita Prefecture: Morihiko Hiramatsu Okayama Prefecture: Masahiro Ishii Okinawa Prefecture: Masahide Ōta (until 10 December); Keiichi Inamine (starting 10 December) Osaka Prefecture: Knock Yokoyama Saga Prefecture: Isamu Imoto Saitama Prefecture: Yoshihiko Tsuchiya Shiga Prefecture: Minoru Inaba (until 20 July); Yoshitsugu Kunimatsu (starting 20 July) Shiname Prefecture: Nobuyoshi Sumita Shizuoka Prefecture: Yoshinobu Ishikawa Tochigi Prefecture: Fumio Watanabe Tokushima Prefecture: Toshio Endo Tokyo: Yukio Aoshima Tottori Prefecture: Yuji Nishio Toyama Prefecture: Yutaka Nakaoki Wakayama Prefecture: Isamu Nishiguchi Yamagata Prefecture: Kazuo Takahashi Yamaguchi Prefecture: Sekinari Nii Yamanashi Prefecture: Ken Amano
Events February 7 – February 22: The 1998 Winter Olympics are held in Nagano. March 5 – March 14: The 1998 Winter Paralympics are held in Nagano. April 1: Toyota City, Fukuyama City, Kōchi City and Miyazaki City become core cities. April 5: The Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge linking Shikoku with Honshū and costing about ¥ 500 billion (US$3.8 billion), opens to traffic, becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world. May 26: Takashi Imai is inaugurated as the 9th head of the Keidanren. June 22: Financial Services Agency established. July 5: Japan launches the Nozomi probe to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as an outer space-exploring nation. July 12: Election for the House of Councillors held. July 25: Masumi Hayashi poisons a curry pot at a festival in Wakayama, causing the death of two adults and two children. August 11: The USS Kitty Hawk CV-63 arrives at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, replacing the USS Independence CV-62 as the U.S. Navy's forward-deployed carrier in Japan. September 3: Metal Gear Solid is first released for the PS1 in Japan. September 7: Serial Experiments Lain Episode 10 : LOVE is released in Japan. September 22 – 23: Typhoon Vivki causes damage to several cultural heritage sites in Wakayama, Nara, Kyoto and Shiga Prefecture and causing 19 deaths. October 8: Japan-South Korea Joint Declaration of 1998. November 1: The Japanese Grand Prix sees Mika Häkkinen win his first F1 Drivers' Championship and McLaren's last Constructors title until 2024. November 13: Free solo climber Alain Robert scales the Shinjuku Center Building and is arrested on its roof. November 26: Japan-China Joint Declaration On Building a Partnership of Friendship and Cooperation for Peace and Development. November 27: The Dreamcast is released in Japan. December 18: Mario Party is released in Japan. December 23: Sonic Adventure is released in Japan.
Births January 5 - Marie Iitoyo, model and actress January 23 - Yuto Adachi, singer and member of South Korean boy band Pentagon February 8 - Rui Hachimura, basketball player March 19 - Sakura Miyawaki, singer and member of South Korean girl group Le Sserafim March 26 - Satoko Miyahara, figure skater April 6 - Rina Katsuta, singer April 10 - Airi Kinoshita, murder victim (d. 2005) April 28 - Manamo Miyata, singer and member of Hinatazaka46 May 13 - Karen Iwata, singer and voice actress May 28 - Riho Sayashi, J-pop singer May 31 - Ryang Hyon-ju, North Korean, footballer June 14 - Taishi Nakagawa, actor and model June 19 - Suzu Hirose, model and actress July 9 - Tiger Onitsuka, jazz drummer July 16 - Rina Matsuno, singer (d. 2017) July 26 - Maya Sakura, singer July 27 - Risa Watanabe, idol and model August 5 - Kanon Suzuki, singer August 17 - Yoshinobu Yamamoto, professional baseball player August 28 - Haruka Fukuhara, actress, model and singer August 29 - Yui Kawamoto, professional golfer September 29 - Aoi Fujino, gravure idol (d. 2026) October 30 - Meimi Tamura, singer and actress November 12 - Yuna Taira, actress November 29 - Ayumu Hirano, snowboarder December 24 - Keito Tsuna, actor December 30 - Akari Uemura, pop singer
Deaths January 9 – Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918) January 21 – Yoshifumi Kondō, animator (b. 1950) January 26 – Shinichi Suzuki, violinist (b. 1898) January 27 – Tamio Kageyama, novelist (b. 1947) January 28 – Shotaro Ishinomori, Manga artist, "Father of Henshin heroes." (b. 1938) February 5 – Takahashi Chikuzan, Tsugaru-jamisen performer and composer (b. 1910) March 10 – Kenkō Satoshi, Sumo wrestler (b. 1967) March 13 – Kosho Uchiyama, Sōtō priest (b. 1912) April 20 – Yoshio Inaba, actor (b. 1920) May 2 – Matsumoto Hideto (hide), Japanese musician (b. 1964) May 10 – Nekojiru, manga artist (b. 1967) May 19 – Sōsuke Uno, Prime Minister (b. 1922) August 3 – Reizo Koike, breaststroke swimmer (b. 1915) August 28 – Hirokazu Kobayashi, aikidoka (b. 1929) September 6 – Akira Kurosawa, screenwriter, producer, and director (b. 1910) September 27 – Narita Bryan, racehorse (b. 1991) October 12 – Ineko Sata, communist and feminist author of proletarian literature (b. 1904) November 1 – Silence Suzuka, racehorse (b. 1994) November 5 – Momoko Kōchi, actress (b. 1932) December 1 – Shōji Nakayama, actor (b. 1928) December 2 – Mikio Oda, athlete (b. 1905) December 30 – Keisuke Kinoshita, film director (b. 1912)
See also 1998 in Japanese television List of Japanese films of 1998
References