1929 in Japan

← 1928 1927 1926 1929 in Japan → 1930 1931 1932
Decades:	1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s
See also:	Other events of 1929 History of Japan  • Timeline  • Years

Events in the year 1929 in Japan. It corresponds to Shōwa 4 (昭和4年) in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents

• Emperor: Hirohito
• Prime Minister:
  • Tanaka Giichi: until July 2
  • Osachi Hamaguchi: from July 2

Governors

• Aichi Prefecture: Toyoji Obata (until 5 July); Masao Oka (starting 5 July)
• Akita Prefecture: Iwao Koinuma (until 5 January); Shinji Kikuchi (starting 5 January)
• Aomori Prefecture:
  • until 30 January: Tetsuzo Yoshimura
  • 30 January-5 July: Yujiro Shinjo
  • starting 5 July: Mitsuo Hirai
• Ehime Prefecture: Keizo Ichimura (until 8 November); Shin Kinoshita (starting 8 November)
• Fukui Prefecture: Joko Obama
• Fukuoka Prefecture: Saito Morikuni (starting month unknown)
• Fukushima Prefecture: Aid Kiyoo (until 5 July); Koyanagi Makimamoru (starting 5 July)
• Gifu Prefecture: Masao Kanazawa (until 5 July); Ken Usawa (starting 5 July)
• Gunma Prefecture: Omori Keiichi (until 10 September); Hotta Kanae (starting 10 September)
• Hiroshima Prefecture: Masao Kishimoto (until 5 July); Hiroshi Kawabuchi (starting 5 July)
• Ibaraki Prefecture: Jiro Morioka (until 5 July); Shozo Ushijima (starting 5 July)
• Ishikawa Prefecture: Nakano Kunikazu (starting month unknown)
• Iwate Prefecture: Tojiro Io (until 5 July); Shichiro Niwa (starting 5 July)
• Kagawa Prefecture: Toshio Motoda (until 5 July); Susumu Tsuboi (starting 5 July)
• Kanagawa Prefecture: Ikeda Hiroshi (until month unknown); Jiro Yamagata (starting month unknown)
• Kochi Prefecture: Ichiro Oshima (until 5 July); Tanaka (starting 5 July)
• Kumamoto Prefecture: Saito Munenori (until month unknown); Omori Kichigoro (starting month unknown)
• Kyoto Prefecture: Shigeyoshi Omihara (until July); Shinichi Sagami (starting July)
• Mie Prefecture: Iori Hanada (until 8 November); Keizo Ichimura (starting 8 November)
• Miyagi Prefecture: Katorataro Ushizu (until 9 October); Michio Yuzawa (starting 9 October)
• Miyazaki Prefecture: Kunitoshi Yamaoka (until 5 July); Kaoru Ishida (starting 5 July)
• Nagano Prefecture: Ryo Chiba (until 5 July); Shintaro Suzuki (starting 5 July)
• Niigata Prefecture: Ozaki Yujiro (until 5 July); Takeo Mimatsu (starting 5 July)
• Okayama Prefecture: Masao Kishimoto (until month unknown); Minabe Choji (starting month unknown)
• Okinawa Prefecture: Chōhei Hosokawa (until 5 July); Masao Moriya (starting 5 July)
• Osaka Prefecture: Yuichiro Chikaraishi
• Saitama Prefecture:
  • until 6 February: Miyawaki Umekichi
  • 6 February-5 July: Shirane Takekai
  • starting 5 July: Chohei Hosokawa
• Shiname Prefecture: Rinsaku Yagi
• Tochigi Prefecture:
  • until 5 July: Takeichi Fujiyama
  • 5 July-8 November: Jiro Morioka
  • starting 8 November: Harada
• Tokyo:
  • until 9 October: Hiroshi Hiratsuka
  • 5 July-9 October: Kenzo Kakagawa
  • starting 9 October: Torataro Shizuka
• Toyama Prefecture: Shirane Takesuke (until 8 February); Kozo Yamanaka (starting 8 February)
• Yamagata Prefecture: Shinohara Eitaro (until 9 October); Kubota Osamu Kosuke (starting 9 October)

Events

• January 27 – An auto parts brand, Akebono Brake was founded, as predecessor name of Akebono Asbest Manufacturing.
• April 1 - openings of Kugenuma-Kaigan Station, Satte Station and Tochigi Station
• April 15 – Hankyu Department Store Osaka Umeda officially open in Kita-ku, Osaka.
• October 1 - opening of Tōbu-Nikkō Station
• November 17 - opening of Iwatsuki Station
• December 15 - opening of Bungo-Mori Station
• opening of the Beppu Rakutenchi Cable Line
• founded of Pola Orbis, as predecessor name was Pola Chemical Industries in Shizuoka City.

Films

• Akeyuku Sora
• Days of Youth
• Sakanaya Honda

Births

Isamu Akasaki, Isamu Akasaki, Nobel Prize-winning Japanese physicist and engineer

Yayoi Kusama, Japanese visual artist

Miyoshi Umeki, Japanese actress

Tomoko Naraoka, Japanese actress, voice actress, and narrator

Toshiko Akiyoshi, Japanese jazz musician, composer/arranger, pianist, and bandleader

January–March

• January 1
  • Akihiko Okamura, photographer (d. 1985)
  • Haruo Nakajima, actor, stuntman, and choreographer (d. 2017)
• January 15
  • Teizo Matsumura, composer and poet (d. 2007)
  • Wataru Kubo, politician (d. 2003)
• January 16 – Shigeru Koyama, actor (d. 2017)
• January 17 – Hideo Murata, rōkyoku and enka singer (d. 2002)
• January 20 – Masaharu Kawakatsu, zoologist
• January 23 – Kenji Suzuki, television announcer (d. 2024)
• January 24 – Katsuo Nishida, long-distance runner (d. 2001)
• January 26 – Sumiteru Taniguchi, survivor of the Nagasaki atomic bombing, and anti–nuclear weapons activist (d. 2017)
• January 30 – Isamu Akasaki, Nobel Prize-winning physicist and engineer (d. 2021)
• February 1 – Jinzō Toriumi, screenwriter (d. 2008)
• February 3 – Koichi Saito, film director (d. 2009)
• February 5 – Taitetsu Unno, scholar, writer, and lecturer (d. 2014)
• February 6 – Masaharu Nagashima, dermatologist and the first professor of dermatology at Kyorin University (d. 2010)
• February 7 – Nobuyoshi Sadanaga, long-distance runner (d. 2003)
• February 13
  • Frankie Sakai, comedian, actor, and musician (d. 1996)
  • Sen-itiroh Hakomori, a Japanese-American biochemist (d. 2020)
• February 14
  • Hirokazu Kobayashi, aikidoka (d. 1998)
  • Masamoto Yashiro, businessman
• February 15 – Tachikawa Sumito, baritone singer and radio host presenter (d. 1985)
• February 17 – Shosaku Numa, neuroscientist (d. 1992)
• February 18 – Takako Saito, visual artist (d. 2025)
• February 19 – Kiyoshi Awazu, graphic designer (d. 2009)
• February 20 – Toshiro Mayuzumi, music composer (d. 1997)
• February 26 – Hideo Gosha, director and screenwriter (d. 1992)
• March 3 – Hajime Sato, film director (d. 1995)
• March 5 – Takao Saito, cinematographer (d. 2014)
• March 20 – Kazue Takahashi, voice actress (d. 1999)
• March 22 – Yayoi Kusama, artist
• March 28 – Takehiro Irokawa, writer (d. 1989)

April–June

• April 3
  • Masato Yamanouchi, voice actor (d. 2003)
  • Shinichiro Sakurai, automotive engineer (d. 2011)
• April 6 – Shoichi Ozawa, actor, radio host and singer (d. 2012)
• April 8 – Eiji Kitamura, jazz clarinetist and tenor saxophonist
• April 9 – Hashizo Okawa, film actor (d. 1984)
• April 10 – Yozo Aoki, football player (d. 2014)
• April 11 – Hiroko Takenishi, fiction writer and literary critic
• April 18 – Masayuki Ishii, sailor (d. 2014)
• April 20 – Kazumasa Nagai, printmaker and graphic designer
• April 22 – Otohiko Kaga, writer (d. 2023)
• April 26 – Tsurugamine Akio, sumo wrestler (d. 2006)
• May 4 – Noboru Nakaya, actor (d. 2006)
• May 8 – Miyoshi Umeki, actress (d. 2007)
• May 24 – Takeshi Kato, actor and voice actor (d. 2015)
• June 4 – Nakamura Tomijūrō V, Kabuki actor (d. 2011)
• June 7 – Setsuko Wakayama, actress (d. 1985)
• June 14 – Keizo Hino, writer (d. 2002)
• June 29 – Michio Mamiya, composer (d. 2024)

July–September

• July 5 – Chikao Ohtsuka, voice actor (d. 2015)
• July 17 – Eiichi Kudo, film director (d. 2000)
• July 22 – Kiichirō Furukawa, astronomer (d. 2016)
• July 28 – Shozo Sasahara, freestyle wrestler (d. 2023)
• August 4 – Kōhei Miyauchi, actor and voice actor (d. 1995)
• August 11
  • Akira Hayasaka, writer (d. 2017)
  • Tetsuo Kondo, politician (d. 2010)
• August 12 – Joji Yuasa, music composer (d. 2024)
• August 18
  • Hidenobu Takahide, politician (d. 2002)
  • Tetsutaro Murano, director (d. 2020)
• August 20 – Yasuro Kikuchi, amateur Go player (d. 2021)
• August 21 – Susumu Nakanishi, linguist
• August 22 – Satoko Kitahara, Japanese Roman Catholic woman (d. 1958)
• August 24 – Ryōko Akamatsu, politician (d. 2024)
• August 31 – Osamu Yamaji, professional footballer (d. 2021)
• September 1 – Tomisaburo Wakayama, actor (d. 1992)
• September 10 – Akio Yashiro, composer (d. 1976)
• September 11 – Akira Kono, Olympic gymnast (d. 1995)
• September 19 – Kojiro Kusanagi, actor (d. 2007)
• September 22 – Kiyoko Sugimura, athlete
• September 29 – Tōru Ōhira, voice actor (d. 2016)
• September 30 – Kazuko, Princess Taka (Now Kazuko Takatsukasa), daughter of Emperor Hirohito and oldest sister of Emperor Emeritus Akihito (d. 1989)

October–December

• October 4 – Chokei Kishaba, Okinawan martial artist master (d. 2000)
• October 5 – Takeshi Ito, economist and peace activist (d. 2000)
• October 14 – Nagatoshi Sakamoto, film actor (d. 2024)
• October 23 – Akiko Kawarai, artist, jewellery designer, and composer
• October 25
  • Hosei Norota, politician (d. 2019)
  • Kazuo Ikehiro, film director (d. 2025)
• November 7 – Akio Suzuki, medical scientist, educator (d. 2010)
• November 13 – Asashio Tarō III, professional sumo wrestler and rikishi (d. 1988)
• November 15 – Albert Ando, Japanese–American economist (d. 2002)
• November 17 – Gorō Naya, voice actor (d. 2013)
• November 18 – Kiyoshi Kawakubo, voice actor (d. 2019)
• November 28 – Kuniko Mukōda, screenwriter (d. 1981)
• December 1
  • Hidesaburo Hanafusa, virologist (d. 2009)
  • Tomoko Naraoka, actress and narrator (d. 2023)
• December 7 – Keijiro Kaitoku, sailor (d. 1997)
• December 12 – Toshiko Akiyoshi, jazz composer/arranger, bandleader and pianist
• December 14 – Hiroshi Tada, aikido teacher
• December 15 – Jiro Kikkawa, Japanese–Australian ornithologist (d. 2016)

Deaths

• February 10 – Nagai Nagayoshi, chemist and pharmacologist (b. 1844)
• March 22 – Inoue Yoshika, Marshal Admiral (b. 1845)
• April 13 – Gotō Shinpei, politician and scouting pioneer (b. 1857)
• April 27 – Hōjō Tokiyuki, educator, mathematician and politician (b. 1858)
• June 29 – Prince Kuniyoshi Kuni, prince and field marshal (b. 1873)
• July 25 – Shōzō Makino silent film director and producer (b. 1878)
• August 16 – Tsuda Umeko, educator (b. 1864)
• August 26 – Ernest Mason Satow, British scholar, diplomat and Japanologist (b. 1843)
• September 29 – Tanaka Giichi, general and Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1864)
• October 31 – Senshō Murakami, Buddhist scholar and priest
• November 22 – Kamakichi Kishinouye, marine biologist and cnidariologist (b. 1867)
• December 20 – Ryūsei Kishida, painter (b. 1891)

See also

• List of Japanese films of the 1920s