2014 in Japan

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Decades: 1990s • 2000s • 2010s • 2020s See also: Other events of 2014 List of years in Japan

Events in the year 2014 in Japan.

Incumbents

• Emperor: Akihito
• Prime Minister: Shinzō Abe
• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Hironobu Takesaki

Events

Electoral calendar

• National elections
  • (if necessary) April and October: By-elections to both houses of the National Diet
• Prefectural elections (gubernatorial and general assembly elections only, not including assembly by-elections)
  • February 2: Nagasaki gubernatorial^[1]
  • February 9: Tokyo gubernatorial^[2]
  • February 23: Yamaguchi gubernatorial^[3]
  • March 16: Ishikawa gubernatorial^[4]
  • April 6:^[5] Kyoto gubernatorial
  • in or before July (expires July 19):^[6] Shiga gubernatorial
  • in or before August (expires August 31):^[6] Nagano gubernatorial
  • in or before September (expires September 4):^[6] Kagawa gubernatorial
  • in or before November (expires November 11):^[6] Fukushima gubernatorial
  • in or before November (expires November 30):^[6] Ehime gubernatorial
  • in or before December (expires December 9):^[6] Okinawa gubernatorial
  • in or before December (expires December 16):^[6] Wakayama gubernatorial
  • in or before January 2015 (expires January 7, 2015; previous election in December 2010^[7]): Ibaraki assembly
  • in or before January 2015 (expires January 20, 2015;^[6] previous election in December 2010): Miyazaki gubernatorial
• Municipal elections in designated major cities and special wards (not including assembly by-elections)
  • June 8: Nakano City mayoral^[8]
  • in or before July (expires July 10):^[9] Suginami City mayoral
  • in or before October (expires October 7):^[9] Shinagawa City mayoral
  • in or before November (expires November 23):^[9] Shinjuku City mayoral
  • in or before November (expires November 17):^[10] Niigata City mayoral
  • in or before November (expires December 2):^[11] Kumamoto City mayoral
  • in or before December (expires December 6):^[12] Fukuoka City mayoral

Additional early elections may be caused by resignations, deaths, recalls, no-confidence votes, etc.

Economy

Popular culture

Arts and entertainment

For events in anime, see 2014 in anime. For events in music, see 2014 in Japanese music. For events in television, see 2014 in Japanese television.

Sports

For the Japanese participation in the 2014 Winter Olympics, see Japan at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Deaths

• January 1 – Tokuo Yamashita, 94, politician, Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, natural causes.
• January 2
  • Higashifushimi Kunihide, 103, Buddhist monk.^[13]
  • Yōko Mitsui, 78, Japanese poet, liver failure.^[14]
• January 3
  • Yashiki Takajin, 64, singer-songwriter and television presenter, esophageal cancer.
  • Yasuki Hamano, 62, media expert and university professor, stroke.
• January 4 – Shigeyuki Imai, 81, composer, esophageal cancer.
• January 6 – Tesshin Okada, 21, boxer, subdural hematoma.
• January 11 – Keiko Awaji, 80, actress, esophageal cancer.
• January 12 – Tsunetoshi Tanaka, 88, politician, member of House of Representatives (1969-1972, 1980-1996).
• January 15 – Hiroshi Yoshino, 87, poet, pneumonia.
• January 16
  • Masahide Sakuma, 61, musician (Plastics) and music producer (Glay and Judy and Mary), stomach cancer.
  • Masaya Takahashi, 83, actor, respiratory failure.
  • Hiroo Onoda, 91, army officer, heart failure due to complications of pneumonia. ^{[15] [16]}
• January 17
  • Saizo Kishimoto, 85, yakuza (Yamaguchi-gumi).
  • Seizō Katō, 86, voice actor, bladder cancer. ^[17]
• January 18 – Takao Iwami, 78, Japanese political pundit, pneumonia.
• January 19
  • Yukio Funai, 81, management consultant, pneumonia.
  • Tsutomu Kawabuchi, 88, ice hockey player and coach, IIHF Hall of Fame.
• January 20
  • Kiyoharu Ishiwata, 73, politician, member of the House of Councilors (1989-2001), heart failure.
  • Tsuyoshi Nara, 81, linguist (Bengali scholar), lung cancer.
• January 23
  • Umon Sanyūtei, 65, rakugo comedian, stomach cancer.
  • Katsuyo Kobayashi, 76, food critic (Iron Chef), multiple organ failure.
• January 27
  • Masaaki Tsukada, 74, voice actor (Bleach, One Piece). ^[18]
  • Ichirō Nagai, 82, voice actor (Sazae-san, Space Battleship Yamato), coronary artery disease. ^[19]
  • Masako Bandō, 55, novelist, winner of the Naoki Prize (1996).
• January 28
  • Kazuhiko Sakazaki, 76, baseball player (Yomiuri Giants), stomach cancer.
  • Gudo Wafu Nishijima, 94, Zen Buddhist priest and teacher.

References