January 2 –2024 Haneda Airport runway collision: AJapan AirlinesAirbus A350-900 collides with aJapan Coast GuardDHC-8 aircraft and bursts into flames atTokyo'sHaneda Airport. The Coast guard plane was going to deliver aid to those affected by the earthquake in Ishikawa Prefecture the day before. All 379 occupants aboard the Japan Airlines flight are evacuated, while five of the six occupants aboard the Coast Guard aircraft are killed.[5]
January 23 – Two railway workers are injured after being electrocuted while trying to fix a massive power outage that shuts down theShinkansen system in a section operated byJR East betweenOmiya Station inSaitama andUeno Station in Tokyo. A train is also damaged during the outage.[9][10]
February 5 – Ukrainian-bornKarolina Shiino relinquishes her crown as winner of the 2024Miss Nippon Grand Prixbeauty pageant after news emerges of her having an affair with a married man.[21][22]
February 27 –Sony announces it will cut 900 jobs across its global workforce and proposes the closure ofLondon Studio as part of the restructuring.[23]
TheFuji-Q Highland amusement park announces the removal of the famed high-speed roller coasterDo-Dodonpa,[28] which had been closed since August 2021 following numerous incidents resulting in injuries within a year.[29]
In separate lawsuits, the Sapporo High Court and the Tokyo District Court rule that the non-recognition ofsame-sex marriage in Japan is unconstitutional.[31]
The Tokyo District Court convicts former State Minister of JusticeMito Kakizawa of vote-buying worth 2.8 million yen ($19,000) during mayoral elections in theKōtō ward ofTokyo in April 2023 and sentences him to a two-year suspended sentence.[32]
The Tokyo District Court convicts former Member of theHouse of Councillors andYouTuberGaaSyy of online harassment and sentences him to a three-year suspended sentence.[33]
March 30 –Kobayashi red yeast rice scandal: Authorities raid a facility of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Company inOsaka after five deaths from kidney failure are linked to consumption of its health supplements containing the red moldbenikoji.[39]
April 2 – The governor ofShizuoka Prefecture,Heita Kawakatsu, announces his resignation following uproar over comments he made the previous day comparing civil servants with other professions.[43]
May 14 – Three people are killed and two others are injured in an accident involving seven vehicles along theMetropolitan Expressway inToda, Saitama Prefecture.[53]
May 17 –
TheNational Diet approves a bill seeking to allow joint child custody for divorced couples.[54]
Three members of theJapan Wings Party (Tsubasa no tō), including a candidate of the House of Representatives by-election on April 28 are arrested on suspicion of disrupting other candidates' campaign rallies.[55]
May 23 – Four people, including three children are found dead in suspicious circumstances following a house fire inShinagawa, Tokyo.[56]
May 24 – A probation officer is killed inOtsu, in what is suspected to be the first of its kind by their charge in Japan since 1964.[57]
TheSupreme Court of Japan rules that a defunct eugenics law that led to the forced sterilization of 24,500 people from 1948 to 1996 is unconstitutional. The court also invalidates a 20-year statute of limitations for complaints relating to the law.[73]
12 July – Three people are killed in a landslide inMatsuyama.[77]
16 July – A man sets himself on fire at the city hall ofTakahama,Aichi Prefecture, injuring himself and three city employees.[78]
17 July – Prime MinisterFumio Kishida formally apologizes to 130 victims of forcedsterilization under the Eugenics Protection Law which was declared unconstitutional on July 3, and approves compensation measures for more than 25,000 affected victims and their relatives[79] which are passed into law on 8 October.[80]
19 July – Ryo Sakai resigns as Chief of Staff of theJapan Maritime Self-Defense Force following criticism over a series of scandals in the service. He is replaced in his position by Akira Saito.[81]
28 July – Three people are reported killed inYamagata andAkita Prefectures following days of flooding caused by heavy rains.[85][86]
29 July – One person is reported dead and 147 others are sickened following an outbreak ofStaphylococcus aureus linked to contaminated roastedunagi being sold at the Keikyu Department Store inYokohama.[87]
Kadokawa's official website and the video-sharing platformNiconico go back online after a two-month shutdown due to theransoware attack on June 8. The result of an investigation released on the same day confirms that the attack leaked 254,241 user data.[91]
The Nikkei 225 stock market index rises more than 10%, a day after declining by more than 12%.[93]
7 August – The US and British ambassadors to Japan announce their intent to boycott ceremonies marking the 79th anniversary of theAtomic bombing of Nagasaki following a decision by mayorShiro Suzuki not to invite Israeli ambassador Gilad Cohen due to concerns over protests against thewar in Gaza.[94]
8 August –
Amagnitude 7.1 earthquake strikes off the coast ofMiyazaki Prefecture, injuring at least five people and causing a 0.5 meter tsunami.[95][96] The earthquake prompts theJapan Meteorological Agency to issue a 'Nankai Trough Earthquake Extra Information' advisory[97] that a probability of amegathrust earthquake along theNankai Trough was now "relatively higher" in the first advisory of its kind but clarifies that it was not imminent.[98] The warning is lifted on 15 August with no major seismic activity recorded.[99]
Kobayashi red yeast rice scandal: The Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Company announces that it would discontinue the production ofbenikoji supplements.[100]
26 August – Japan announces the first incursion into its airspace of Chinese military aircraft after aShaanxi Y-9 surveillance plane flies over theDanjo Islands inNagasaki Prefecture for two minutes.[105]
28 August –Manabu Horii resigns as a member of theHouse of Representatives fromHokkaido following a scandal over his giving out condolence money to constituents for funerals he did not personally attend in violation of election laws.[107]
5 September – Belarus announces the arrest in July of a Japanese national on suspicion of spying on vital installations along the border with Ukraine on behalf of Japanese intelligence services.[109]
17 September – Yoshihiro Hidaka, the president ofYamaha Motor Company, is injured after being stabbed, allegedly by his daughter, at their residence inIwata, Shizuoka.[111]
18 September – Seiichi Katsurada, the CEO of Shiretoko Pleasure Cruise, is arrested on charges related to the sinking of the company vesselKazu I in 2022 which killed all 26 people on board.[112]
19 September – TheTōhoku Shinkansen suffers a decoupling incident involving theHayabusa andKomachi trains, causing a suspension of services along the entire line.[113]
21–23 September – Seven people are killed and six others are reported missing following floods and landslides caused by heavy rains inIshikawa Prefecture.[114]
26 September –Iwao Hakamada, the world's longest-servingdeath row inmate, who has waited his potential execution since 1968, is acquitted by a court inShizuoka after a retrial for four murders.[120]
9 October – Prime Minister Ishiba dissolves the House of Representatives.[129]
11 October –Nihon Hidankyo, a group established byhibakusha, is awarded theNobel Peace Prize for their campaign against nuclear weapons that has "contributed greatly to the establishment of the nuclear taboo".[130]
17 October – Abird flu outbreak is reported at a farm inAtsuma,Hokkaido, prompting the culling of 19,000 poultry.[131]
6 November – The winter snowcap onMount Fuji makes its latest-occurring formation since records began in 1894.[136]
9 November –Tetsuo Saito becomes leader ofKomeito following an extraordinary party convention to replaceKeiichi Ishii, who lost his parliamentary seat in the general election.[137]
11 November – Shigeru Ishiba is reelected as prime minister during an extraordinary session of the Diet, defeating Yoshihiko Noda andSecond Ishiba Cabinet is formed as theminority government.[139]
^"宮崎空港 陥没は米軍の戦時中の不発弾と判明 滑走路は運用再開" [Miyazaki Airport cave-in identified as an unexploded wartime bomb from the US military; runway resumes operation].NHK. October 2, 2024. Archived fromthe original on October 2, 2024. RetrievedOctober 2, 2024.
Media related to2024 in Japan at Wikimedia Commons
