1980 in Japan

← 1979 1978 1977 1980 in Japan → 1981 1982 1983
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
See also:	Other events of 1980 List of years in Japan

Events in the year 1980 in Japan.

Incumbents

• Emperor: Hirohito (Emperor Shōwa)
• Prime Minister: Masayoshi Ōhira (L–Kagawa) until June 12, Zenkō Suzuki (L–Iwate) from July 17
• Chief Cabinet Secretary and acting Prime Minister from June 12 to July 17: Masayoshi Itō (L–Fukushima) until July 17, Kiichi Miyazawa (L–Hiroshima)
• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Takaaki Hattori
• President of the House of Representatives: Hirokichi Nadao (L–Hiroshima) until May 19, Hajime Fukuda (L–Fukui) from July 17
• President of the House of Councillors: Ken Yasui (L–Tokyo) until July 7, Masatoshi Tokunaga (L–national) from July 17
• Diet sessions: 91st (regular session opened in December 1979, to May 19), 92nd (special, July 17 to July 26), 93rd (extraordinary, September 29 to November 29), 94th (regular, December 22 to 1981, June 6)

Events

• January 16 - Paul McCartney is arrested at Narita airport for possession of drugs.
• April 24 - Nintendo releases the first portable game console, the Game&Watch.
• June 22
  • Japanese general election, 1980
  • Japanese House of Councillors election, 1980
• August 16 - A gas explosion occurs in the underground shopping area of Shizuoka Station, killing 200.
• November 19 - A fire at the Kawaji Prince Hotel in Fujihara, Tochigi Prefecture kills 40.

Popular culture

Arts and entertainment

In film, Zigeunerweisen by Seijun Suzuki won the Best film award at the Japan Academy Prize and the Yokohama Film Festival, Kagemusha by Akira Kurosawa won Best film at the Hochi Film Awards, the Blue Ribbon Awards and the Mainichi Film Award. For a list of Japanese films released in 1980 see Japanese films of 1980.

In manga, the winners of the Shogakukan Manga Award were Hakatakko Junjō and Gangaragan by Hōsei Hasegawa and Chie the Brat by Etsumi Haruki (general) and Urusei Yatsura by Rumiko Takahashi (shōnen or shōjo).^[1] Susano Oh by Go Nagai (shōnen) and Lemon Report by Mayumi Yoshida (shōjo) won the Kodansha Manga Award. For a list of manga released in 1980 see Category:1980 manga.

In music, the 31st Kōhaku Uta Gassen was won by the Red Team (women). Hiroshi Itsuki won the FNS Music Festival.

In television, see: 1980 in Japanese television.

Japan hosted the Miss International 1980 beauty pageant, won by Costa Rican Lorna Chávez.

Sports

In football (soccer) Yanmar Diesel won the Japan Soccer League. For the champions of the regional leagues see: 1980 Japanese Regional Leagues. For more see: 1980 in Japanese football.

At the Winter Olympics Japan won a silver medal.

Births

• January 6: Hiromi Oshima, model^[2]
• January 13: Akira Kaji, football player
• January 21: Nana Mizuki, voice actress and singer
• January 23: Nana Natsume, AV idol and celebrity^[3]
• March 28: Minori Aoi, AV and gravure idol^[4]
• April 2: Yuya Shirai, mixed martial artist^[5]
• April 3: Yūko Ishibashi, singer^[6]
• April 7: Mr. C.B., thoroughbred racehorse (died 2002)
• April 21: Hiro Shimono, voice actor
• May 10: Mayumi Kawasaki, race walker^[7]
• May 20: Chinatsu Mori, shot putter (died 2006)^[8]
• May 31: Akitoshi Tamura, mixed martial artist^[9]
• June 1: Mitsuru Chiyotanda, football player
• June 2: Shingo Suetsugu, sprinter
• June 3: Keiji Suzuki, judoka
• June 9: Kana Ueda, voice actress
• June 27: Takahiro Futagawa, football player
• July 15: Masayuki Hirahara, pianist and composer
• July 18: Ryōko Hirosue, actress and pop star
• July 22: Hisashi Mizutori, gymnast
• July 28: Harumi Nemoto, gravure idol
• July 30: Ayako Uehara, classical pianist
• July 31: Rina Aiuchi, singer
• August 1: Yoichi Mori, football player
• August 14: Yusuke Kawaguchi, mixed martial artist
• August 29: Daisuke Saito, football player
• September 4: Ran Asakawa, model and AV idol
• September 8: Mai Kadowaki, voice actress
• September 19: Jun Natsukawa, gravure idol
• October 13: Salyu, singer
• October 16: Takehito Shigehara, football player
• November 18: Junichi Okada, singer, actor
• November 21: Hiroyuki Tomita, gymnast
• November 26: Satoshi Ohno, singer, actor
• December 5: Shizuka Itō, voice actress
• December 15: Mayu Kotono, AV idol
• December 16: Daito Takahashi, Nordic combined skier

Deaths

• January 4: Shohachi Ishii, wrestler
• January 23: Shōjirō Iida, general
• February 14: Kitsuju Ayabe, general
• February 22: Sadaaki Akamatsu, officer and ace fighter pilot in the Imperial Japanese Navy
• February 27: Shin'ichi Hisamatsu, philosopher
• March 16: Susumu Kimura, admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy
• May 21: Hiroshi Inagaki, filmmaker
• June 12: Masayoshi Ōhira, Prime Minister (died in office)
• October 10: Tameichi Hara, Imperial Japanese naval commander
• October 21: Kanjūrō Arashi, actor
• December 28: Nobuzo Tohmatsu, admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy

References

1. 小学館漫画賞：歴代受賞者 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on 14 November 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-29.
2. "Hiromi Oshima IMDb Bio". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
3. "Nana Natsume". Behind the Voice Actors. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
4. "葵 みのり - Aoi Minori (Profile)". 'Web I-dic' (in Japanese). Retrieved 2007-04-23.
5. "Yuya Shirai". ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
6. "Yuko Ishibashi". Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
7. "Mayumi Kawasaki". Sports Reference. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
8. "Chinatsu Mori". Sports Reference. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
9. "Akitoshi Tamura statistics and rankings". Tapology. Retrieved 4 February 2014.