2008 in Japan
Events in the year 2008 in Japan.
Incumbents
Events
- January 31 - Nine people are hospitalized after eating gyōza made at the Tianyang Food Plant in China.[1]
- February 11 - Okinawa police arrest United States Marine Tyrone Hadnott and charge him with raping a middle-school girl.[2]
- February 19
- Kei Nishikori wins an ATP title. At age 18, he is the youngest player to win the title after Lleyton Hewitt won it at age 16 in 1998.[3]
- A Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer Atago collides with fishing boat Seitoku Maru at 4:07 am, off the coast of Chiba Prefecture.[4]
- February 22 - The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force resumes fueling warships from the United States and its allies.[5]
- February 22 - Kazuyoshi Miura is arrested in Saipan on suspicion of involvement with the murder of his wife in 1981.[6]
- February 25 - The Supreme Court upheld life sentence of Daisuke Mori.[7]
- June 8 - The Akihabara massacre takes place in Tokyo. A man kills seven in an attack on a crowd using a truck and a dagger.[8]
- June 14 - the 2008 Iwate earthquake strikes northern Honshū, leaving two dead and hundreds injured.[9]
- June 17 - Serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki is executed by hanging.[10]
- July 7 - July 9 - G8 is hosted by Japan.
- September 6 - Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda announces his resignation.
- September 24 - The Diet elects Taro Aso Prime Minister.
- October - Toyota launches yet another Avensis at the 2008 Paris Motor Show to be built in Britain.
- October 1 - Arson claims 15 lives in a pre-dawn fire at an adult-video shop in Osaka.[11]
- October 10 (U.S. Pacific Daylight Time) - Kazuyoshi Miura commits suicide in Los Angeles while under arrest on suspicion of involvement in the murder of his wife.[12]
- October 17 - Japan won their tenth nonpermanent seat for 2009 and 2010 sessions on the United Nations Security Council, defeating Iran by 158 votes to 32 in elections in the General Assembly[13]
Deaths
- January 17: Jinzō Toriumi, screenwriter
- February 13: Kon Ichikawa, film director
- February 22: Tsuneyo Toyonaga, supercentenarian
- February 29: Kenji Yanagiya, fighter ace of the Imperial Japanese Army
- March 3: Taichirō Hirokawa, voice actor and narrator
- March 11: Akemi Negishi, actress
- April 2: Momoko Ishii, author
- June 6: Saeko Himuro, novelist, essayist, and playwright
- June 9: Kan Mukai, film director, cinematographer, producer and screenwriter
- June 17: Tsutomu Miyazaki, serial killer
- June 18: Miyuki Kanbe, model and actress
- June 27: Daihachi Oguchi, drummer
- August 2: Fujio Akatsuka, manga artist
- August 4: Eri Kawai, singer
- August 11: Arase Nagahide, sumo wrestler
- August 14: Seiji Aochi, ski jumper
- August 16: Masanobu Fukuoka, microbiologist
- October 10: Kazuyoshi Miura, businessman
- October 27: Frank Nagai, singer
- November 7: Hidetaka Nishiyama, master of Shotokan karate
- November 10: Kiyoshi Itō, mathematician
- December 5: Shūichi Katō, critic
- December 16: Ai Iijima, media personality and AV idol
- Undated: Yoshinao Kodaira, officer and fighter ace
References