2007 in Japan

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See also:	Other events of 2007 List of years in Japan

Events in the year 2007 in Japan.

Incumbents

• Emperor – Akihito
• Prime Minister – Shinzō Abe (Liberal Democratic Party–Yamaguchi) until September 26, Yasuo Fukuda (Liberal Democratic Party–Gunma)
• Chief Cabinet Secretary: Yasuhisa Shiozaki (L–Ehime) to August 27, Kaoru Yosano (L–Tokyo) to September 26, Nobutaka Machimura (L–Hokkaidō)
• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Nirō Shimada
• President of the House of Representatives: Yōhei Kōno (L–Kanagawa)
• President of the House of Councillors: Chikage Ōgi (L–proportional) until July 28, Satsuki Eda (D–Okayama)
• Diet sessions: 166th (regular, January 25 to July 5), 167th (extraordinary, August 7 to August 10), 168th (extraordinary, September 10 to 2008, January 15)

Events

The launch of SELENE, 14 September 2007

January

• January 23 - A rare eel-like creature identified as frilled shark is discovered in Japan by fishermen.^[1]
• January 29 - Japan’s oldest person, Yone Minagawa, 114, becomes the world’s oldest living person.^[2]

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.^[3]

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.^[4]
• 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.^[5]

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.^[6]
• 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.^[7]
• 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.^[8] 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.^[9]

May

• May 14 - The House of Councillors passes rules for revising the pacifist Constitution of Japan.^[10]
• May 28
  • Riyo Mori becomes Miss Universe 2007 in Mexico City, the second Japanese to do so after Akiko Kojima.^[11]
  • 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.^[12]

June

• June 1 - Archaeologists discover a 2,100-year-old melon in Shiga Prefecture.^[13]
• June 21 - Japan changes the name of Iwo Jima to its original name, Iwo To, to reflect the wishes of its original inhabitants.^[14]

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.^[15]
• July 4 - Japan's first female Minister of Defense, Yuriko Koike, is sworn in a day after the resignation of her predecessor, Fumio Kyuma.^[16]
• 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 Japanese House of Councillors election, 2007.^[17]
• August 24 - Murder of Rie Isogai
• August 25 - The 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics get underway in Osaka, Japan.^[18]

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.^[19]
• September 23 - Yasuo Fukuda, a political moderate, is elected by Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party to become the country’s next prime minister.^[20]

October

• October 5 - SELENE, Japan's lunar probe, successfully achieves an orbit around the moon.^[21]

November

• November 18 - Japan resumes whaling of humpbacks for the first time in 40 years. Greenpeace and other environmentalist groups condemn the decision.^[22]

• November 28 - The Chinese Type 051B destroyer Shenzhen visits Tokyo in the first visit of a Chinese warship to Japan since World War II.^[23]

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 13 - Yone Minagawa, world's oldest living person
• 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

References

1. "Rare shark captured on film". CNN. January 24, 2007. Archived from the original on January 26, 2007.
2. "Japan’s Yone Minagawa Oldest Person". Weird Asia News. January 30, 2007.
3. Winter, Michael (February 26, 2010). "7.0 quake hits off Okinawa; tsunami warnings canceled". USA Today. Archived from the original on February 26, 2010.
4. "1 dead, 162 injured in Japan quake". China Daily. March 25, 2007.
5. Tabuchi, Hiroko (March 26, 2007). "Japan Apologizes to WWII Sex Slaves". The Washington Post.
6. "Tokyo's governor wins third term". BBC. April 9, 2007.
7. Ueno, Kiyori; Yamamura, Keiichi. "Japan Extends Sanctions on North Korea for Six Months". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007.
8. Nishiyama, George (April 17, 2007). "Mayor of Japanese city dies after being shot". Reuters.
9. "Japan raid on pro-Pyongyang group". BBC. April 25, 2007.
10. Martin, Craig (May 2, 2007). "The Case Against Revising Interpretations of the Japanese Constitution". The Asia-Pacific Journal (Japan Focus) 5 (5): 1. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
11. Medel, Monica (May 29, 2007). "Japan's Mori wins troubled Miss Universe contest". Reuters.
12. Kyodo News (May 29, 2007). "Political circles shocked by suicide". The Japan Times. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
13. "2,100-year-old melon dug up". The Japan Times. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
14. "Japan renames island of Iwo Jima". BBC. June 21, 2007.
15. "Japan minister quits over gaffe". BBC. July 3, 2007.
16. "Japan swears in new defense minister". Market Watch. July 4, 2007.
17. McLeod, Shane (July 31, 2007). "Japan's Agriculture Minister quits". ABC (AU).
18. "World Champs day one as it happened". BBC. August 25, 2007.
19. "Japan launches first lunar probe". BBC. September 14, 2007.
20. Onishi, Norimitsu (September 23, 2007). "Moderate Is Chosen as Japan’s Next Prime Minister". The New York Times.
21. "Japanese probe enters lunar orbit". BBC. October 5, 2007.
22. "Japanese whalers hunt humpbacks". BBC. November 18, 2007.
23. Talmadge, Eric (November 27, 2007). "China Warship Makes 1st Visit to Japan". Associated Press. Archived from the original on December 11, 2007.