1972 in Japan

Incumbents

• Emperor: Hirohito
• Prime minister: Eisaku Satō until July 7, Kakuei Tanaka
• Chief Cabinet Secretary: Noboru Takeshita until July 7, Susumu Nikaido
• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Kazuto Ishida
• President of the House of Representatives: Naka Funada until November 13, Umekichi Nakamura from December 22
• President of the House of Councillors: Kenzō Kōno

  Events

• January 24 - Two hunters discover Yokoi Shōichi, a former lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army who lived in a cave in Guam for 28 years after the end of World War II. Upon his return to Japan on February 2, he proclaimed, "it is with much shame that I return."
• February 3–13 - The 1972 Winter Olympics are held in Sapporo, Hokkaido.
• February 19-28 - Asama-Sanso incident occurs in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture.
• May 13 - A fire at the Sennichi Department Store in Osaka kills 118, injures 78.
• May 15 - Okinawa returned to Japan after being occupied by the United States military for 27 years.
• July 3 to 13 - A heavy torrential rain with debris flow hit Kyushu and Shikoku area, according to Fire and Disaster Management official confirmed report, 447 person were lost to lives, 1056 person were wounded.
• July 21 - MOS Burger was founded.
• November 6 - An express passenger train caught fire in Hokuriku Rail Tunnel in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, according to Japan Transport Ministry official confirmed report, 31 person were lost to lives, 714 person were wounded.
• December 10 - General election of 1972 - Liberal Democratic Party win 271 out of 491 seats.

  Births

• January 7 - Tamakasuga Ryōji, sumo wrestler
• January 8 - Ryō Tamura, comedian
• January 13
• *Yukiko Iwai, voice actress
• *Akinori Otsuka, baseball pitcher
• January 17 - Ken Hirai, singer-songwriter
• January 22 - Romi Park, voice actress
• January 24 - Junko Kubo, announcer and presenter
• January 28 - Tsuyoshi Shinjo, baseball player
• January 29 - Masaru Hamaguchi, comedian
• February 2 - Hisashi Tonomura, musician
• February 5 - Koriki Chōshū, comedian
• February 7 - Akiko Suwanai, violinist
• February 8 - Hiroshi Tsuchida, actor and voice actor
• February 17 - Yuki Isoya, singer
• March 10 - Takashi Fujii, television performer
• March 29 - Junichi Suwabe, voice actor
• April 5 - Junko Takeuchi, voice actress
• April 30 - Takako Tokiwa, voice actress
• May 6 - Naoko Takahashi, long-distance runner
• May 21 - Kaoru Fujino, voice actress
• May 30 - Sōichirō Hoshi, voice actor
• July 1 - Tetsu Inada, voice actor
• July 5 - Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Zainichi-Korean wrestler
• July 14 - Masami Suzuki, voice actress
• July 27
• *Takako Fuji, actress
• *Takashi Shimizu, director
• August 14 - Takako Honda, voice actress
• August 20 - Anna Umemiya, model
• September 8 - Tomokazu Seki, voice actor
• September 10 - Rio Tahara, snowboarder
• September 20 - Sawa Suzuki, actress
• September 29 - Taizo Son, entrepreneur and investor
• October 9 - Kōki Miyata, voice actor
• October 19 - Sayaka Aoki, voice actress
• October 21 - Masakazu Morita, voice actor
• October 29 - Takafumi Horie, entrepreneur
• November 1 - Naoki Yanagi, voice actor
• November 9 - Naomi Shindou, voice actor
• November 13 - Takuya Kimura, member of SMAP and actor
• December 3 - Saki Takaoka, actress
• December 4 - Yūko Miyamura, voice actress and singer
• December 12 - Arihito Muramatsu, baseball player
• December 13 - Jun Itoda, comedian
• December 14 - Kiriko Nananan, manga artist
• December 18 - Shinji Takeda, actor
• December 19 - Hideki Niwa, politician
• December 20 - Takeshi Rikio, professional wrestler
• December 22 - Takayuki Yokoyama, football player
• December 28 - Shinobu Terajima, actress

  Deaths

• February 17 - Taiko Hirabayashi, writer
• April 16 - Yasunari Kawabata, writer, Nobel Prize laureate
• August 26 - Goroku Amemiya, photographer