1962 in Japan

Incumbents

• Emperor: Hirohito
• Prime minister: Hayato Ikeda
• 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

  Events

• 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.
• May 29 - Tobu Department Store in Tokyo-Ikebukuro was open.
• 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.
• Unknown Date - Kotobuki Foods, as predecessor of Skylark Restaurant founded in Nishitokyo, Tokyo.

  Births

• January 20
• * IKKO, make-up artist
• * Sakiko Tamagawa, voice actress
• February 1 - Takashi Murakami, pop artist
• March 10 - Seiko Matsuda, pop singer/songwriter
• March 13 - Shoko Sawada, singer-songwriter
• March 30 - Yōko Ogawa, writer
• 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
• July 19 - Aya Kitō, writer
• 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 12 - Ko Matsushita, conductor
• 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

  Deaths

• September 7 - Eiji Yoshikawa, writer and novelist
• October 21 - Kinnosuke Ogura, mathematician, historian of mathematics