1962 in Japan

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Incumbents

Emperor: Hirohito
Prime minister: Hayato Ikeda (Liberal Democratic)
Chief Cabinet Secretary: Masayoshi Ōhira until July 18, Yasumi Kurogane
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Kisaburo Yokota
President of the House of Representatives: Ichirō Kiyose
President of the House of Councillors: Tsuruhei Matsuno until August 6, Yūzō Shigemune

May 3 - Mikawashima train crash - A freight train and two passenger trains collide near Mikawashima Station in Arakawa, Tokyo, resulting in 160 deaths.
May 17 - Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma halts the sale of the drug Thalidomide.
November 9 - An All Nippon Airways Vickers Viscount plane crashes in Aichi Prefecture while en route to Nagoya Airport, killing all 4 occupants of the aircraft.
November 18 - Two tankers, the smaller Munakata Maru 1 owned by Idemitsu Kosan and the larger Thrard Brovig, collide in the Keihin canal in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, causing the deaths of 40 crew members from both ships.

January 20
- IKKO, make-up artist
- Sakiko Tamagawa, voice actress
February 1 - Takashi Murakami, pop artist
March 10 - Seiko Matsuda, pop singer/songwriter
April 12 - Nobuhiko Takada, mixed martial arts fighter and professional wrestler
May 5 - Kaoru Wada, composer
May 31 - Noriko Hidaka, voice actress
June 11 - Toshihiko Seki, voice actor
June 18 - Mitsuharu Misawa, professional wrestler
August 8 - Yūji Machi, voice actor
August 21 - Tsutomu Miyazaki, serial killer
September 4 - Shinya Yamanaka, physician and researcher
September 13 - Hisao Egawa, voice actor
October 21 - Miki Itō, voice actress
October 27 - Jun'ichi Kanemaru, voice actor
November 14 - Atsuko Tanaka, voice actress
November 27 - Marumi Shiraishi, actress
December 1 - Shozo Hayashiya IX, rakugoka, tarento and voice actor
December 23 - Keiji Mutoh, professional wrestler

Years in Japan (1868–present)

Meiji period (1868–1912)

1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912

Taishō period (1912–1926)

1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926

Shōwa period (1926–1989)

1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

Heisei period (1989–present)

1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

1962 in Asia

Sovereign states	Afghanistan Bhutan Burma (Myanmar) Cambodia Ceylon China Cyprus Egypt India Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Japan Jordan North Korea South Korea Kuwait Laos Lebanon Malaya Mongolia Nepal Oman East Pakistan West Pakistan Philippines Saudi Arabia Sikkim Singapore Soviet Union Syria Thailand Turkey North Vietnam South Vietnam North Yemen

States with limited recognition	Taiwan

Dependencies, colonies and other territories	Bahrain Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colony of Aden