1998 in Japan

yearbox
in?= in Japan
cp=19th Century
c=20th century
cf=21st century

yp1=1995
yp2=1996
yp3=1997
year=1998
ya1=1999
ya2=2000
ya3=2001
dp3=1960s
dp2=1970s
dp1=1980s
d=1990s
da=0
dn1=2000s
dn2=2010s
dn3=2020s

1998 was the 10th year of Heisei in Japan.

Incumbents

* Emperor: Akihito
* Prime Minister: Ryutaro Hashimoto, Keizo Obuchi
* Chief Cabinet Secretary: Kanezo Muraoka, Hiromu Nonaka

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

Deaths

* January 9 - Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
* January 28 - Shotaro Ishinomori, Manga artist, "Father of Henshin heroes." (b. 1938)
* May 2 - Matsumoto Hideto (hide), Japanese musician (b. 1964)
* May 19 - Sosuke Uno, Prime Minister (b. 1922)
* September 6 - Akira Kurosawa, screenwriter, producer, and director (b. 1910)
* September 27 - Narita Bryan, racehorse (b. 1991)