2007 in Japan

Incumbents

• Emperor – Akihito
• Prime Minister – Shinzō Abe until September 26, Yasuo Fukuda
• Chief Cabinet Secretary: Yasuhisa Shiozaki to August 27, Kaoru Yosano to September 26, Nobutaka Machimura
• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Nirō Shimada
• President of the House of Representatives: Yōhei Kōno
• President of the House of Councillors: Chikage Ōgi until July 28, Satsuki Eda
• Diet sessions: 166th, 167th, 168th

  Events

January

• January 23 – A rare eel-like creature identified as a frilled shark is discovered in Japan by fishermen.

  February

• February 20 – A power outage strikes the central area of Nagoya.
• February 26 – A 7.0 magnitude earthquake strikes off the southern coast of Japan's Ryukyu Island.

  March

• March 25 – A tsunami occurs on the northern coast of Japan after an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 in the Sea of Japan. NHK reports that 1 person has died and 40 have been injured.
• March 26 – Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe apologizes for Japan's use of women as sex slaves in frontline brothels during World War II.

  April

• April 1 – Niigata and Hamamatsu become cities designated by government ordinance.
• April 8 – Voters go to the polls in Japan for the first phase of the unified local elections including 13 gubernatorial elections, 44 prefectural assembly elections and 4 mayoral races in major cities.
• April 10 – The government of Japan extends economic sanctions against the North Korean government by an additional six months, citing a lack of progress in resolving kidnapping cases of Japanese citizens.
• April 16 – The United States, Japan and India carry out a joint naval exercise in the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to increase strategic cooperation.
• April 17 – Iccho Ito, the mayor of Nagasaki, Japan, is shot at least twice outside his re-election campaign headquarters. The assassin, Tetsuya Shiroo, is alleged to be a senior member of a local gang affiliated to the Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate. Itoh was taken to the Nagasaki University Hospital, where he died early the next morning due to loss of blood.
• April 22 – In the second phase of the unified local elections, hundreds of municipal elections and two by-elections for the national Diet are held.
• April 25 – Japanese police raid the offices of a pro-North Korean group in relation to the alleged kidnapping of two children in the 1970s.

  May

• May 14 – The House of Councillors passes rules for revising the pacifist Constitution of Japan.
• May 28
• *Riyo Mori becomes Miss Universe 2007 in Mexico City, the second Japanese to do so after Akiko Kojima.
• *Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Toshikatsu Matsuoka is found dead at his Tokyo home, hours before he was to face questions in the Diet about his expenses.

  June

• June 1 – Archaeologists discover a 2,100-year-old melon in Shiga Prefecture.
• June 21 – Japan changes the name of Iwo Jima to its original name, Iwo To, to reflect the wishes of its original inhabitants.

  July

• July 3 – Japan's Minister of Defense Fumio Kyuma resigns over comments he made about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the weekend.
• July 4 – Japan's first female Minister of Defense, Yuriko Koike, is sworn in a day after the resignation of her predecessor, Fumio Kyuma.
• July 16 – 2007 Chūetsu offshore earthquake, eleven deaths and at least 1000 injuries were reported, and 342 buildings destroyed.
• July 29 – House of Councillors election

  August

• August 1 – Norihiko Akagi resigns as Japan's agriculture minister after scandals involving him adversely affected the Liberal Democratic Party's performance in the 2007 Japanese House of Councillors election.
• August 24 – Murder of Rie Isogai
• August 25 – The 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics get underway in Osaka, Japan.
• August 31 – Crypton Future Media's First Vocaloid on their Character Vocal Series, Hatsune Miku was released for Vocaloid2 Software

  September

• September 12 – Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announces his resignation.
• September 14 – The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency successfully launches SELENE, the largest lunar mission since the Apollo program, on a mission to explore the Moon.
• September 23 – Yasuo Fukuda, a political moderate, is elected by Japan's governing Liberal Democratic Party to become the country's next prime minister.

  November

• November 18 – Japan resumes whaling of humpbacks for the first time in 40 years. Greenpeace and other environmentalist groups condemn the decision.
• November 28 – The Chinese Type 051B destroyer Shenzhen visits Tokyo in the first visit of a Chinese warship to Japan since World War II.

  December

• December 19 – A 32-year-old police sergeant shoots himself inside a kōban in front of Tokyo Station.

  Deaths

• January 5 – Momofuku Ando, inventor of Instant noodles and Cup Noodles, founder of Nissin Foods
• January 8 – Iwao Takamoto, animator
• April 18 – Iccho Itoh, mayor of Nagasaki
• May 3 – Knock Yokoyama, comedian and politician
• May 27 – Izumi Sakai, singer
• May 28 – Toshikatsu Matsuoka, politician
• June 28 – Kiichi Miyazawa, 78th Prime Minister
• July 18 – Kenji Miyamoto, politician
• August 28 – Miyoshi Umeki, actress
• September 7 – Kenji Nagai, journalist
• October 7 – Norifumi Abe, motorcycle road racer
• October 12 – Kurokawa Kisho, architect
• November 13 – Kazuhisa Inao, baseball player