1928 in Japan

Events from the year 1928 in Japan. It corresponds to Shōwa 3 (昭和3年) in the Japanese calendar.

← 1927 1926 1925 1928 in Japan → 1929 1930 1931
Decades:	1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s
See also:	Other events of 1928 History of Japan  • Timeline  • Years

Incumbents

• Emperor: Hirohito[1]
• Prime Minister: Tanaka Giichi

Events

Emperor Hirohito after his enthronement ceremony in 1928, dressed in sokutai

• February 11–19 – Japan competes in the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, the first true Winter Olympics held on its own and not in conjunction with a Summer Olympics.
• February 20 – 1928 Japanese general election: The first general election after the introduction of universal male suffrage was passed in 1925. The ruling Rikken Seiyūkai led by Prime Minister Tanaka Giichi won one more seat than the opposition Rikken Minseitō led by Hamaguchi Osachi, although Rikken Minseitō had received slightly more votes. The hung parliament led to the Tanaka government continuing in office.
• March 15 – March 15 incident: Alarmed by gains made by socialists and communists in the 1928 general election, the conservative government of Prime Minister Giichi Tanaka ordered the mass arrest of known communists and suspected communist sympathizers. The arrests occurred throughout Japan, and a total of 1652 people were apprehended.[2]
• May 3 – Jinan Incident: an armed conflict between the Japanese Imperial Army allied with Northern Chinese warlords against the Kuomintang's southern army, occurs in Jinan, eastern China.[3][4][5][6][7]
• June 4 – Huanggutun Incident: Chinese warlord Zhang Zuolin is killed by low-ranking officer in the Japanese Kwantung Army when a bomb his personal train is travelling over explodes. Emperor Hirohito harshly criticized the event and eventually dismissed Prime Minister Tanaka Giichi for his inability to arrest and prosecute the plotters of the incident.[8]
• July 28–August 12 – Japan competes in the ninth Summer Olympics held in Amsterdam, Netherlands. For the 1928 Olympics, Japan won 2 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze.
• September 28 – Prince Chichibu marries Matsudaira Setsuko.
• November 10 – Enthronement of Hirohito as Emperor of Japan in the Imperial Palace in Kyoto.
• December 21 – Fujikoshi Steel Industry, later Nachi-Fujikoshi founded in Toyama City.
• Unknown date – A food processing Ito Meat Packer was founded, as predecessor of Itoham-Yonekyu in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture.

Births

• January 1 – Masatoshi Yoshino, geographer, climatologist (d. 2017)
• January 2
  • Daisaku Ikeda, religious leader
  • Tamio Oki, voice actor (d. 2017)
• January 22 – Yoshihiko Amino, historian (d. 2004)
• February 20 – Mitsuyo Asaka, actress (d. 2020)
• March 9 – Tatsumi Hijikata, choreographer, (d. 1986)
• March 10 – Kiyoshi Atsumi, actor (d. 1996)
• March 16 – Wakanohana Kanji I, sumo wrestler (d. 2010)
• March 27
  • Ryuji Saikachi, voice actor (d. 2017)
  • Seiko Tanabe, author (d. 2019)
• May 8 – Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, novelist, art critic, and translator (d. 1987)
• June 23 – Hayao Kawai, psychologist (d. 2007)
• June 26 – Yoshiro Nakamatsu, inventor
• July 21 – Hirofumi Uzawa, economist (d. 2014)
• August 16 – Shōji Yasui, actor (d. 2014)
• September 20 – Shiro Hashizume, Olympic swimmer
• November 3 – Osamu Tezuka, manga artist, cartoonist, animator, film producer and medical doctor (d. 1989)
• November 30 – Takako Doi, politician (Speakers of the House) (d. 2014)

Deaths

• February 17 – Ōtsuki Fumihiko, lexicographer, linguist, and historian (b. 1847)
• March 8 – Sachiko, Princess Hisa, second child of Emperor Shōwa (b. 1927)
• April 5 – Okura Kihachiro, entrepreneur (b. 1837)
• May 4 – Jinzō Matsumura, botanist (b. 1856)
• May 21 – Hideyo Noguchi, bacteriologist (b. 1876)
• July 23 – Zenzō Kasai, novelist (b. 1887)
• October 25 – Hirotsu Ryurō, novelist (b. 1861)
• November 3 – Uryū Shigeko, educator (b. 1862)
• December 25 – Kaoru Osanai, theater director, playwright, and actor (b. 1881)

See also

• List of Japanese films of the 1920s

References

1. "Hirohito | Biography, Accomplishments, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
2. Bowman, Columbian Chronologies of Asian History and Culture. Pg 152
3. Li Jiazhen (1987) Jinan Tragedy p 238,
4. Iriye, After Imperialism, 199-201.
5. Ji'nan Government (September 1, 2005). "The Year of 1928". Archived from the original on July 24, 2012. Retrieved August 16, 2013. 蔡公时用日语抗议，日兵竟将其耳鼻割去，继又挖去舌头、眼睛。日军将被缚人员的衣服剥光，恣意鞭打，然后拉至院内用机枪扫射
6. An Xiang: "Second Northern Expedition 1928: Part II" Archived 2016-03-11 at the Wayback Machine
7. Jay Taylor, The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-Shek and the Struggle for Modern China (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009), 82-83.
8. Bix. Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. pages 216-218 Zhang was a de jure head of state because he held absolute power over the internationally recognized Beiyang government based in Beijing.