1998 in Japan

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Events in the year 1998 in Japan.

Incumbents

• Emperor: Akihito
• Prime Minister: Ryutaro Hashimoto (L–Okayama) until July 30, Keizo Obuchi (L–Gunma)
• Chief Cabinet Secretary: Kanezō Muraoka (L–Akita) until July 30, Hiromu Nonaka (L–Kyōto)
• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Shigeru Yamaguchi
• President of the House of Representatives: Sōichirō Itō (L–Miyagi)
• President of the House of Councillors: Jūrō Saitō (L–Mie) until July 25 and again from August 4
• Diet sessions: 142nd (regular, January 12 to June 18), 143rd (extraordinary, August 7 to October 16), 144th (extraordinary, November 27 to December 14)

Events

• February 7–February 22 - The 1998 Winter Olympics are held in Nagano.
• April 5 - The Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge linking Shikoku with Honshū and costing about ¥ 500 billion, opens to traffic, becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world.
• July 5 - Japan launches the Nozomi probe to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as an outer space-exploring nation.
• July 25 - Masumi Hayashi poisons a curry poy at a festival in Wakayama causing the death of two adults and two children.
• October 8 - Japan-South Korea Joint Declaration of 1998
• November 26 - Japan-China Joint Declaration On Building a Partnership of Friendship and Cooperation for Peace and Development

Births

• April 10 - Airi Kinoshita, murder victim (d. 2005)
• May 28 - Riho Sayashi, J-pop singer
• July 9 - Tiger Onitsuka, jazz drummer
• July 26 - Maya Sakura, singer
• August 5 - Kanon Suzuki, singer
• December 9 - Mika Dela Cruz, actress

Deaths

• January 9 - Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
• January 21 - Yoshifumi Kondō, animator (b. 1950)
• January 26 - Shinichi Suzuki, violinist (b. 1898)
• January 27 - Tamio Kageyama, novelist (b. 1947)
• January 28 - Shotaro Ishinomori, Manga artist, "Father of Henshin heroes." (b. 1938)
• February 5 - Takahashi Chikuzan, Tsugaru-jamisen performer and composer (b. 1910)
• March 10 - Kenkō Satoshi, Sumo wrestler (b. 1967)
• March 13 - Kosho Uchiyama, Sōtō priest (b. 1912)
• April 20 - Yoshio Inaba, actor (b. 1920)
• May 2 - Matsumoto Hideto (hide), Japanese musician (b. 1964)
• May 10 - Nekojiru, manga artist (b. 1967)
• May 19 - Sosuke Uno, Prime Minister (b. 1922)
• August 3 - Reizo Koike, breaststroke swimmer (b. 1915)
• August 28 - Hirokazu Kobayashi, aikidoka (b. 1929)
• September 6 - Akira Kurosawa, screenwriter, producer, and director (b. 1910)
• September 27 - Narita Bryan, racehorse (b. 1991)
• October 12 - Ineko Sata, communist and feminist author of proletarian literature (b. 1904)
• November 1 - Silence Suzuka, racehorse (b. 1994)
• November 5 - Momoko Kōchi, actress (b. 1932)
• November 18 - Tase Matsunaga, supercentenarian (b. 1884)
• December 1 - Shōji Nakayama, actor (b. 1928)
• December 2 - Mikio Oda, athlete (b. 1905)
• December 30 - Keisuke Kinoshita, film director (b. 1912)