60 of 60 events · showing 41–60
Island country in East Asia
February 1972 – 13 February 1972
The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the XI Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Sapporo 1972, were a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside Europe and North America.
12 August 1985
Japan Air Lines Flight 123 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Tokyo to Osaka, Japan. On the evening of Monday, August 12, 1985, the Boeing 747 flying the route suffered a severe structural failure and explosive decompression 12 minutes after takeoff.
8 January 1989 – 30 April 2019
The Heisei era (平成; Japanese: [heːseː] ) was the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Akihito from 8 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. The Heisei era started on 8 January 1989, the day after the death of the Emperor Hirohito, when his elder son, Akihito, acceded to the throne as the 125th Emperor of Japan.
17 January 1995
The Kobe earthquake, also known as the Great Hanshin Earthquake (Japanese: 阪神淡路大震災, Hepburn: Hanshin-Awaji daishinsai), occurred on January 17, 1995, at 05:46:53 JST in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, including the region of Hanshin. It measured 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale and had a maximum intensity of 7 on the JMA Seismic Intensity Scale (XI on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale).
20 March 1995
The Tokyo subway sarin attack (Japanese: 地下鉄サリン事件, Hepburn: Chikatetsu sarin jiken; lit. 'subway sarin incident') was a domestic chemical terrorist attack perpetrated on 20 March 1995, in Tokyo, Japan, by members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult. In five coordinated attacks, the perpetrators released sarin, a nerve agent, on three lines of the Tokyo Metro (then Teito Rapid Transit Authority) during rush hour, killing 14 people, severely injuring 50 (some of whom later died), and causing temporary vision problems for nearly 1,000 others.
February 1998 – 22 February 1998
The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVIII Olympic Winter Games (Japanese: 第18回オリンピック冬季競技大会, Hepburn: Dai Jūhachi-kai Orinpikku Tōkikyōgi Taikai) and commonly known as Nagano 1998 (Japanese: 長野1998), were a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, with some events taking place in the nearby mountain communities of Hakuba, Karuizawa, Nozawa Onsen, and Yamanouchi. The city of Nagano had previously been a candidate to host the 1940 Winter Olympics (which were later cancelled), as well as the 1972 Winter Olympics, but had been…
30 September 1999
The Tokaimura nuclear accidents were two nuclear incidents which occurred near the village of Tōkai, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. The first accident occurred on 11 March 1997, producing an explosion after an experimental batch of solidified nuclear waste caught fire at the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation (PNC) radioactive waste bituminisation facility.
2002
The 2002 FIFA World Cup (Korean: 2002 FIFA 월드컵 한국/일본; Japanese: 2002 FIFAワールドカップ 韓国/日本) also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea and Japan, with its final match hosted by Japan at International Stadium in Yokohama. A field of 32 teams qualified for this World Cup, which was the first to be held in Asia, the first to be held outside of the Americas or Europe, as well as the first to be hosted by more than one nation.
11 March 2011
On 11 March 2011, at 14:46:24 local time (UTC+9), a Mw 9.0–9.1 undersea megathrust earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, 72 km (45 mi) east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region of Japan. It lasted approximately six minutes and caused a tsunami.
11 March 2011
On 11 March 2011, a major nuclear accident started at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan. The direct cause was the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which resulted in electrical grid failure and damaged nearly all of the power plant's backup energy sources.
11 March 2011
The aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami included both a humanitarian crisis and massive economic impacts. The tsunami created over 300,000 refugees in the Tōhoku region of Japan, and resulted in shortages of food, water, shelter, medicine and fuel for survivors.
10 October 2013
The Minamata Convention on Mercury is an international treaty designed to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds. The convention was a result of three years of meeting and negotiating, after which the text of the convention was approved by delegates representing close to 140 countries on 19 January 2013 in Geneva and adopted and signed later that year on 10 October 2013 at a diplomatic conference held in Kumamoto, Japan.
April 2016 – 16 April 2016
The 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes (Japanese: 平成28年熊本地震, Hepburn: Heisei 28-nen Kumamoto jishin) were a series of earthquakes, including a magnitude 7.0 mainshock which struck at 01:25 JST on April 16, 2016 (16:25 UTC on April 15) beneath Kumamoto City of Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyushu Region, Japan, at a depth of about 10 kilometres (6.2 miles), and a foreshock earthquake with a magnitude 6.2 at 21:26 JST (12:26 UTC) on April 14, 2016, at a depth of about 11 kilometres (6.8 miles). In total, the two earthquakes killed 277 people and injured 2,809 others, a majority of them indirectly, This…
1 May 2019
Reiwa (Japanese: 令和; pronounced [ɾeːwa] or [ɾeꜜːwa]) is the current and 232nd era of the official calendar of Japan. It began on 1 May 2019, the day on which Naruhito was enthroned as the 126th Emperor of Japan.
1 December 2019
The global COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. It spread to other parts of Asia and then worldwide in early 2020.
2021
The 2020 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXII Olympiad and officially branded as Tokyo 2020, were an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021, in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Tokyo Games were postponed until 2021 on 24 March 2020 as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the only such postponement in the history of the Olympic Games (some previous editions had been cancelled but not rescheduled).
8 July 2022
On 8 July 2022, Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister of Japan and serving member of the Japanese House of Representatives, was assassinated while speaking at a political event outside Yamato-Saidaiji Station in Nara City, Nara Prefecture. Abe was delivering a campaign speech for a Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) candidate when he was fatally shot by 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami with an improvised firearm.
1 January 2024
On 1 January 2024, at 16:10:09 JST (07:10:09 UTC), a MJMA7.6 (Mw7.5) earthquake struck 6 km (3.7 mi) north-northeast of Suzu, located on the Noto Peninsula of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. The reverse-faulting shock achieved a maximum JMA seismic intensity of Shindo 7 and Modified Mercalli intensity of X–XI (Extreme).
2 January 2024
On 2 January 2024, a runway collision occurred at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan, involving an Airbus A350, operating as Japan Airlines Flight 516, and a De Havilland Canada Dash 8 operated by the Japan Coast Guard (JA722A). Flight 516 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from New Chitose Airport near Sapporo, Japan, to Haneda Airport.
28 July 2026
On 28 July 2026 at approximately 16:27:15 JST (07:27:15 UTC), an earthquake struck Kumamoto Prefecture in southern Japan with a magnitude of Mww 6.8 (MJMA 7.1) at a depth of 10 km (6.2 mi), later revised to 16 km (9.9 mi). At least 38 people were killed and more than 368 were injured.