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← 1963 1962 1961 1964 in Japan → 1965 1966 1967
Decades:	1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
See also:	Other events of 1964 History of Japan  • Timeline  • Years

Events in the year 1964 in Japan. It corresponds to Shōwa 39 (昭和39年) in the Japanese calendar.

1964 is considered a seminal year in modern Japanese history. The Tokyo Olympics and first run of the bullet train reflected a society-wide sense that post-war reconstruction was over and that Japan had rejoined the international family of nations. Diplomatic negotiations underway this year between South Korea and Japan resulted in a formal normalization of relations the following year.

Individuals born beginning around this date were often subsequently identified as " shinjinrui" (or new people) because they had not experienced the suffering older generations had during World War II or the post-war period, and on the contrary, grew up in material plenty.

• Emperor: Hirohito ^[1]
• Prime Minister: Hayato Ikeda ( L–Hiroshima, 3rd term) until November 9, Eisaku Satō (L–Yamaguchi)
• Chief Cabinet Secretary: Yasumi Kurogane (L–Yamagata) until July 18, Zenkō Suzuki (L–Iwate) until November 9, Tomisaburō Hashimoto (L–Ibaraki)
• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Kisaburō Yokota
• President of the House of Representatives: Naka Funada (L–Tochigi)
• President of the House of Councillors: Yūzō Shigemune (L–national)
• Diet sessions: 46th (regular session opened in December 1963, to June 26), 47th (extraordinary, November 9 to December 18), 48th (regular, December 21 to 1965, June 1)

• Aichi Prefecture: Mikine Kuwahara
• Akita Prefecture: Yūjirō Obata
• Aomori Prefecture: Shunkichi Takeuchi
• Chiba Prefecture: Taketo Tomonō
• Ehime Prefecture: Sadatake Hisamatsu
• Fukui Prefecture: Eizō Kita
• Fukuoka Prefecture: Taichi Uzaki
• Fukushima Prefecture: Zenichiro Satō (until 23 March); Morie Kimura (starting 16 May)
• Gifu Prefecture: Yukiyasu Matsuno
• Gunma Prefecture: Konroku Kanda
• Hiroshima Prefecture: Iduo Nagano
• Hokkaido: Kingo Machimura
• Hyogo Prefecture: Motohiko Kanai
• Ibaraki Prefecture: Nirō Iwakami
• Ishikawa Prefecture: Yōichi Nakanishi
• Iwate Prefecture: Tadashi Chida
• Kagawa Prefecture: Masanori Kaneko
• Kagoshima Prefecture: Katsushi Terazono
• Kanagawa Prefecture: Iwataro Uchiyama
• Kochi Prefecture: Masumi Mizobuchi
• Kumamoto Prefecture: Kōsaku Teramoto
• Kyoto Prefecture: Torazō Ninagawa
• Mie Prefecture: Satoru Tanaka
• Miyagi Prefecture: Yoshio Miura
• Miyazaki Prefecture: Hiroshi Kuroki
• Nagano Prefecture: Gon'ichirō Nishizawa
• Nagasaki Prefecture: Katsuya Sato
• Nara Prefecture: Ryozo Okuda
• Niigata Prefecture: Juichiro Tsukada
• Oita Prefecture: Kaoru Kinoshita
• Okayama Prefecture: Yukiharu Miki (until 21 September); Takenori Kato (starting 15 November)
• Osaka Prefecture: Gisen Satō
• Saga Prefecture: Sunao Ikeda
• Saitama Prefecture: Hiroshi Kurihara
• Shiga Prefecture: Kyujiro Taniguchi
• Shiname Prefecture: Choemon Tanabe
• Shizuoka Prefecture: Toshio Saitō
• Tochigi Prefecture: Nobuo Yokokawa
• Tokushima Prefecture: Kikutaro Hara
• Tokyo: Ryōtarō Azuma
• Tottori Prefecture: Jirō Ishiba
• Toyama Prefecture: Minoru Yoshida
• Wakayama Prefecture: Shinji Ono
• Yamagata Prefecture: Tōkichi Abiko
• Yamaguchi Prefecture: Masayuki Hashimoto
• Yamanashi Prefecture: Hisashi Amano

• March 18: Hayakawa Electric (the predecessor of today's Sharp) and Sony announce that they have completed a prototype electronic calculator using Japanese-manufactured diodes and transistors.
• March 24: U.S. ambassador Edwin Reischauer is stabbed by a Japanese youth.
• April 1: Japanese citizens are permitted to freely travel overseas.
• April 12: Channel 12, the predecessor of TV Tokyo, begins operations.
• April 17 – Orient Lease, as predecessor of Orix Group founded in Osaka.^{[ page needed]}
• April 29 - The Keiō Dōbutsuen Line opens.
• June 16: An earthquake in Niigata Prefecture kills 12.
• July 14: According to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency official confirmed report, a Katsushima Warehouse caught fire and explode in Shinagawa, Tokyo, total 19 person were human fatalities and 117 persons were wounded.^{[ citation needed]}
• July 18: A heavy rain, following devastate flood and landslide in Shimane and Tottori Prefecture, at least 128 people lives. ^{[ citation needed]}
• August 18 – The International Olympic Committee bans South Africa from the Tokyo Olympics on the grounds that its teams are racially segregated.
• September 17: The Tokyo Monorail begins operations.
• October 1: The Tōkaidō Shinkansen begins operations.
• October 10–24: 1964 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo. Judo introduced for the first time as an Olympic Game.
• October 25: Ikeda Hayato resigns as prime minister; Eisaku Satō is elected to replace him.
• November 9: Sato announces his first cabinet.
• November 17: The political party Komeito is formed.
• December 23: Tokyo Metro Tōzai Line was opened.

• January 1: Akemi Masuda, athlete
• January 4: Riki Takeuchi, actor
• January 25: Seiko Senou, actor of 1987 Metal Hero Series Choujinki Metalder.
• March 8: Hiroshi Tsuburaya, actor of 1984 Space Sheriff Series Uchuu Keiji Shaider (d. 2001).
• March 9: Tomomitsu Niimi, criminal (d. 2018)
• March 12: Kaori Ekuni, author
• March 18:
  • Mika Kanai, voice actress and singer
  • Yoko Kanno, pianist and songwriter
• April 23: Rie Ishizuka, voice actress
• April 30: Misa Watanabe, voice actress
• May 5: Minami Takayama, singer and voice actress
• May 6: Daisuke Araki, former professional baseball player
• May 31: Yukio Edano, politician
• June 12: Takashi Yamazaki, filmmaker ^[2]
• June 22: Hiroshi Abe, model and actor
• June 23: Tomonohana Shinya, sumo wrestler and coach
• July 3: Toshiharu Sakurai, voice actor
• July 7: Shinichi Tsutsumi, actor ^[3]
• July 9: Kazumi Kawai, actress (d. 1997)
• July 14: Kippei Shiina, actor
• July 19: Masahiko Kondō, solo singer of Johnny & Associates
• July 24: Banana Yoshimoto, author
• July 25: Reiko Takashima, actress
• August 10: Hiro Takahashi, singer, lyricist, and composer (d. 2005)
• September 13: Junko Mihara, politician, former singer, and actress
• September 23: Koshi Inaba, singer of B'z
• October 5:
  • Keiji Fujiwara, voice actor
  • Seiko Hashimoto, ice speed skater
  • Megumi Yokota, one of the North Korean abductee victims of the late 1970s (d. ca. 1977?)
• October 12: Masaru Ogawa, figure skater
• October 18: Etsuko Inoue, tennis player
• October 20: Tomoko Yamaguchi, actress
• October 24: Kotaro Tanaka, actor of 1991 Super Sentai Chōjin Sentai Jetman as Red Hawk/Ryu Tendou.
• November 4: Yūko Mizutani, voice actress (d. 2016)
• December 13: hide, musician (d. 1998)
• December 15: Norihisa Tamura, politician
• December 23: Kazuhiro Koshi, skeleton racer
• December 28: Kaori Yamaguchi, judoka

• February 8: Boshirō Hosogaya, admiral (b. 1888)
• February 17: Chūichi Hara, admiral (b. 1889)
• April 5: Tatsuji Miyoshi, poet, literary critic, and editor (b. 1900)
• May 5: Tadao Ikeda, director and screenwriter (b. 1905) ^[4]
• May 6: Haruo Satō, novelist and poet (b. 1892)
• May 8: Kichisaburo Nomura, politician and military leader (b. 1877)
• August 17: Keiji Sada, actor (b. 1926)
• November 29: Ryūsaku Tsunoda, educator and historian (b. 1877)

• Yen value: US$1 = ¥360 (fixed)

• 1964 in Japanese television
• List of Japanese films of 1964