1959 in Japan

Incumbents

• Emperor: Hirohito
• Prime minister: Nobusuke Kishi

  Events

• April 1 - Kyoto Ceramic has founded.
• April 10 - The Crown Prince Akihito, the future Emperor of Japan, weds Michiko Shōda, the first commoner to marry into the Japanese Imperial Family.
• June 2 - Mori Building was founded.
• June 30 - Twenty-one students are killed and more than a hundred injured when an American North American F-100 Super Sabre jet crashes into Miamori Elementary School on the island of Okinawa. The pilot ejected before the plane struck the school.
• July 22 - A Kumamoto University medical research group studying Minamata disease concludes that it is caused by mercury.
• September 26 - According to Japanese government official confirmed report, Typhoon Vera with hit around Ise Bay, total 5,098 person were lives, 38,921 person were hurt.

  Births

• January 3 - Dankan, actor and director
• January 16 - Kimiko Ikegami, actress
• January 17 - Momoe Yamaguchi, actress
• February 8 - Amy Yamada, writer
• February 20 - Tomomi Inada, politiican
• March 23 - Kazue Ikura, actress, voice actress and narrator
• May 19 - Michiru Shimada, screenwriter
• June 17 - Kazuki Yao, voice actor and actor
• August 17 - Chika Sakamoto, voice actress
• October 13 - Denny Tamaki, governor of Okinawa Prefecture
• October 21 - Ken Watanabe, actor
• November 21 - Naoko Watanabe, voice actress
• November 24 - Akio Ōtsuka, actor and voice actress
• December 5 - Yoshitomo Nara, artist
• December 6 - Satoru Iwata, video game designer, businessman

  Deaths

• March 7 - Ichirō Hatoyama, politician and 35th Prime Minister of Japan
• April 30 - Kafū Nagai, author, playwright, essayist, and diarist
• June 20 - Hitoshi Ashida, politician and 35th Prime Minister of Japan