1972 in Japan

Events in the year 1972 in Japan. It corresponds to Shōwa 47 (昭和47年) in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents 
Emperor: Hirohito
Prime minister: Eisaku Satō (Liberal Democratic) until July 7, Kakuei Tanaka (Liberal Democratic)
Chief Cabinet Secretary: Noboru Takeshita until July 7, Susumu Nikaido
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Kazuto Ishida
President of the House of Representatives: Naka Funada until November 13, Umekichi Nakamura from December 22
President of the House of Councillors: Kenzō Kōno

Events 
January 24 - Two hunters discover Yokoi Shōichi, a former lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army who lived in a cave in Guam for 28 years after the end of World War II. Upon his return to Japan on February 2, he proclaimed, "it is with much shame that I return."
February 3–13 - The 1972 Winter Olympics are held in Sapporo, Hokkaido.
May 13 - A fire at the Sennichi Department Store in Osaka kills 118, injures 78.
May 15 - Okinawa returned to Japan after being occupied by the United States military for 27 years.
July 3 to 13 - A heavy torrential rain with debris flow hit Kyushu and Shikoku area, according to Fire and Disaster Management official confirmed report, 447 person were lost to lives, 1056 person were wounded.    
November 6 - An express passenger train caught fire in Hokuriku Rail Tunnel in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, according to Japan Transport Ministry official confirmed report, 31 person were lost to lives, 714 person were wounded.
December 10 - General election of 1972 - Liberal Democratic Party win 271 out of 491 seats.

Births 

January 7 – Tamakasuga Ryōji, sumo wrestler
January 8 – Ryō Tamura, comedian
January 13
Yukiko Iwai, voice actress
Akinori Otsuka, baseball pitcher
January 17 – Ken Hirai, singer-songwriter
January 22 - Romi Park, voice actress
January 24 – Junko Kubo, announcer and presenter
January 28 – Tsuyoshi Shinjo, baseball player
January 29 – Masaru Hamaguchi, comedian 
February 2 – Hisashi Tonomura, musician
February 5 – Koriki Chōshū, comedian
February 7 – Akiko Suwanai, violinist
February 8 – Hiroshi Tsuchida, actor and voice actor
February 17 - Yuki Isoya, singer
March 10 - Takashi Fujii (Matthew Minami), television performer
March 29 - Junichi Suwabe, voice actor
April 5 - Junko Takeuchi, voice actress
April 30 - Takako Tokiwa, voice actress
May 6 - Naoko Takahashi, long-distance runner
May 21 - Kaoru Fujino, voice actress
May 30 - Sōichirō Hoshi, voice actor
July 1 – Tetsu Inada, voice actor
July 5 - Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Zainichi-Korean wrestler
July 14 - Masami Suzuki, voice actress
July 27
Takako Fuji, actress
Takashi Shimizu, director
August 14 - Takako Honda, voice actress
August 20 - Anna Umemiya, model
September 8 - Tomokazu Seki, voice actor
September 10 - Rio Tahara, snowboarder
September 20 – Sawa Suzuki, actress
September 29 – Taizo Son, entrepreneur and investor
October 9 - Kōki Miyata, voice actor
October 19 - Sayaka Aoki, voice actress
October 21 - Masakazu Morita, voice actor
October 29 - Takafumi Horie, entrepreneur
November 1 - Naoki Yanagi, voice actor
November 9 - Naomi Shindou, voice actor
November 13 - Takuya Kimura, member of SMAP and actor
December 3 - Saki Takaoka, actress
December 4 - Yūko Miyamura, voice actress and singer
December 12 - Arihito Muramatsu, baseball player
December 13 - Jun Itoda, comedian
December 14 - Kiriko Nananan, manga artist
December 18 - Shinji Takeda, actor
December 19 - Hideki Niwa, politician
December 20 - Takeshi Rikio, professional wrestler
December 22 - Takayuki Yokoyama, football player
December 28 - Shinobu Terajima, actress

Deaths 
February 17 – Taiko Hirabayashi, writer (b. 1905)
April 16 - Yasunari Kawabata, writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
August 26 - Goroku Amemiya, photographer (b. 1886)

See also
 1972 in Japanese television
 List of Japanese films of 1972

References

Japan
 
Category:Years of the 20th century in Japan