1920 in Japan

Events in the year 1920 in Japan. It corresponds to Taishō 9 (大正9年) in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents

Governors

Aichi Prefecture: Shunji Miyao
Akita Prefecture: Ryoshin Nao
Aomori Prefecture: Hidehiko Michioka
Ehime Prefecture: Toshio Mawatari
Fukui Prefecture: Kohei Yuji
Fukuoka Prefecture: Yasukouchi Asakichi
Fukushima Prefecture: Miyata Mitsuo
Gifu Prefecture: Kanokogi Kogoro
Gunma Prefecture: Muneyoshi Oshiba
Hiroshima Prefecture: Raizo Wakabayashi
Ibaraki Prefecture: Yuichiro Chikaraishi
Iwate Prefecture: Takeo Kakinuma
Kagawa Prefecture: Yoshibumi Satake
Kochi Prefecture: Abe Yoshihiko
Kumamoto Prefecture: Hikoji Kawaguchi
Kyoto Prefecture: Eitaro Mabuchi
Mie Prefecture: Haruki Yamawaki
Miyagi Prefecture: Mori Masataka
Miyazaki Prefecture: Naomiki Hirose
Nagano Prefecture: Tenta Akaboshi
Niigata Prefecture: Ota Masahiro
Okayama Prefecture: Masao Kishimoto
Okinawa Prefecture: Sōsuke Kawagoe
Saga Prefecture: Sawada Ushimaro
Saitama Prefecture: Horiuchi Hidetaro
Shiname Prefecture: Sanehide Takarabe
Tochigi Prefecture: Hiroyoshi Hiratsuka
Tokushima Prefecture: Rinpei Otsu
Tokyo: Hiroshi Abe
Toyama Prefecture: Higashizono Motomitsu
Yamagata Prefecture: Ichiro Yoda
Yamanashi Prefecture: Miki Nagano

Events

January 10 – Japan is a founding member of the League of Nations.
January 30 – Mazda founded, as predecessor name was Toyo Cork Industry.[citation needed]
February – The Kawanishi Engineering Works, predecessor of ShinMaywa, is founded in Hyogo-ku, Kobe.
February 1 – Japanese sugar plantation workers in Hawaii officially join a strike led by Filipinos and Hispanic workers.
February 24 – Nikolayevsk Incident: Realizing that he is outnumbered and far from reinforcement, the commander of the Japanese garrison allows Yakov Triapitsyn's troops to enter the town of Nikolayevsk-on-Amur under a flag of truce.
May 10 – In the general election, the Rikken Seiyūkai, led by Prime Minister Hara Takashi, increases on its majority of seats in the lower house of the Diet.
May 31 - The Rome–Tokyo Raid, a cross-Eurasian flight from Rome to Tokyo organized by Harukichi Shimoi and Gabrielle D'Annunzio ends with Arturo Ferrarin arriving in Tokyo.
June - About 450 Japanese civilians and 350 Japanese soldiers, along with Russian White Army supporters, are massacred by partisan forces associated with the Red Army at Nikolayevsk on the Amur River.
June Unknown date – Shikishima Bakery was founded in Nagoya, as predecessor of Pasco Shikishima.[citation needed]
September 1 – Rinnai was founded in Nagoya.[citation needed]
September 17 – The Victory Medal, a commemorative military medal of Japan awarded to mark service during the First World War, is established by Imperial Edict.
October 21 – The Battle of Qingshanli begins between the Imperial Japanese Army and Korean armed groups in a densely wooded region of eastern Manchuria called Qīngshānlǐ.
December 16 – Bank of Yokohama was founded, as predecessor name was Yokohama Kōshō Bank (横浜興商銀行) in Kanagawa Prefecture.[citation needed]
date unknown The literary magazine Teikoku Bungaku is published for the last time. The Guards Cavalry Regiment, Guards Field Artillery Regiment, Guards Engineer Battalion, Guards Transport Battalion, plus other Guards service units are added to the Japanese Imperial Guard.

Births

January 23 – Nejiko Suwa, violinist (d. 2012)
January 30 – Machiko Hasegawa, Illustrator (d. 1992)
February 12 – Yoshiko Yamaguchi, singer, actress, journalist, and politician (d. 2014)
March 17 – Takeo Doi, academic, psychoanalyst and author (d. 2009)
March 22 – Katsuko Saruhashi, geochemist (d. 2007)
April 1 – Toshiro Mifune, actor (d. 1997)
May 9 – Mitsuko Mori, actress (d. 2012)
May 30 – Shōtarō Yasuoka, writer (d. 2013)
June 17 – Setsuko Hara, actress (d. 2015)
July 15 – Yoshio Inaba, actor (d. 1998)
October 20 – Masao Sugiuchi, go player (d. 2017)
December 24 – Hiroyuki Agawa, writer (d. 2015)

Deaths

January 10 – Yoshikawa Akimasa, politician and cabinet minister (b. 1842)
January 11 – Kataoka Shichirō, admiral (b. 1854)
April 12 – Takaki Kanehiro, naval physician (b. 1849)
April 27 – Tadashi Satō, soldier and politician (b. 1849)
September 20 – Shō Ten, last Ryūkyū crown prince, member of the House of Peers (b. 1864)
October 5 – Suematsu Kenchō, politician and author (b. 1855)
October 6 – Kuroiwa Shūroku, journalist and writer (b. 1864)