1936 in Japan

Events in the year 1936 in Japan. It corresponds to Shōwa 11 (昭和11年) in the Japanese calendar.

• Emperor: Hirohito^[1]
• Prime Minister:
  • Keisuke Okada, until March 9
  • Kōki Hirota, from March 9

• February 5 – Japanese Baseball League is founded.
• February 6 – Ricoh founded.^[2]
• February 21 – According to USGS official report, a Richer scale 6.0 earthquake hit on Mount Nijō, Nara Prefecture, according to Japanese government official confirmed report, kills nine persons and injures 59 persons.^[3]
• February 26–29 – February 26 Incident (二・二六事件, Niniroku Jiken): The Imperial Way Faction engineers a failed coup against the Japanese government; some politicians are killed.
• February 27 – Tokyo is placed under martial law (not to be repealed until July 16)
• February 29
  • Prime Minister Keisuke Okada, a target in the February 26 incident, emerges from hiding.
  • Emperor Hirohito orders the Japanese army to arrest 123 conspirators in Tokyo government offices; 19 of them are executed in July.
  • Facing overwhelming opposition as the army moved against them, the rebels surrender
• March 4 – The Emperor signs an ordinance on March 4 establishing a Special Court Martial (特設軍法会議 tokusetsu gunpō kaigi) to try those involved in the February 26 uprising.^[4]
• March 9 – Pro-democratic militarist Keisuke Okada steps down as Prime Minister of Japan and is replaced by radical militarist Kōki Hirota.
• March 12 – Ukichiro Nakaya creates the first artificial snow crystal.
• May 11 – According to Japanese government and former Japan Health and Welfare Ministry official report, a massive food poisoning hit, many attend and their families presented Daifuku rice cake eat, after 2,200 persons affective salmonella infection in junior high-school sports festival in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, total 29 students and 15 parents and families were lost to lives.^[5]
• May 18 – Sada Abe strangled her lover with an obi and then cut off his genitals to carry around with her as a souvenir. When the crime was discovered the next day it became a national sensation and would be the subject of many books and movies over the decades to follow.^[6]
• July 31 – The International Olympic Committee announces that the 1940 Summer Olympics will be held in Tokyo. However, the games are given back to the IOC after the Second Sino-Japanese War breaks out, and are eventually cancelled altogether because of World War II.
• August 1–August 16 – Japan competes at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Japan wins six gold medals, four silvers, and eight Bronze.
• November 20 – Mitsubishi Osarizawa mine and Nakazawa dam collapse by heavy rain, total 362 persons fatalities in Akita Prefecture, according to Japanese government official confirmed report.
• Unknown date – Bousei-gakujuku, as predecessor of Tokai University was founded in Musashino, Tokyo.

• The Only Son (1936 film)

• January 24 – Etsuko Ichihara, (d. 2019)
• February 20 – Shigeo Nagashima, professional baseball player, coach (d. 2025)
• April 10 – Makoto Wada, illustrator, essayist and film director
• April 22 – Takeshi Koba, professional baseball player and coach
• June 19 – Takeshi Aono, voice actor (d. 2012)
• June 27 – Tadanori Yokoo, graphic designer, illustrator, print maker and painter.
• July 8 – Kazuhiro Tanaka, modern pentathlete
• July 16
  • Yasuo Fukuda, 58th Prime Minister of Japan
  • Akira Kinoshita, photographer
• July 23 – Keiichi Tanaami, pop artist (d. 2015)
• August 11 – Mitsutoshi Furuya, comic artist (d. 2021)
• September 3 – Ikki Kajiwara, author, manga writer, and film producer (d. 1987)
• September 4 – Yoshihisa Yoshikawa, sport shooter (d. 2019)
• October 12 – Minoru Murayama, Japanese baseball pitcher (d. 1998)
• October 14 – Fuyumi Shiraishi, voice actress (d. 2019)
• October 16 – Akira Machida, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Japan (d. 2015)
• October 25 – Masako Nozawa, voice actress
• October 29 – Akiko Kojima, model and beauty queen
• October 31 – Shigeo Takii, supreme court justice (d. 2015)
• December 4 – Michiko Yamamoto, writer and poet

• January 11 – Ikuta Chōkō, translator, author and literary critic (b. 1882)
• February 1 – Genji Matsuda, politician and cabinet minister (b. 1876)
• February 26
  • Saitō Makoto, naval officer and politician (19th Prime Minister of Japan) (b. 1858)
  • Takahashi Korekiyo, politician and Governor of the Bank of Japan (b. 1854)
  • Jōtarō Watanabe, general (b. 1874)
• February 29 – Shirō Nonaka, Imperial Japanese Army officer (b. 1903)
• March 11 – Yumeno Kyūsaku, writer (b. 1889)
• March 12 – Uchida Kōsai, statesman, diplomat and interim prime minister (b. 1865)
• March 27 – Kawasaki Takukichi, politician and cabinet minister (b. 1871)
• April 8 – Chūhachi Ninomiya, aviation pioneer (b. 1866)
• May 3 – Kikunae Ikeda, chemist (b. 1864
• May 27 – Take Hagiwara, military nurse (b. 1873)
• June 10 – Tsuchida Bakusen, nihonga painter (b. 1887)
• June 27 – Miekichi Suzuki, novelist (b. 1882)
• July 3 – Saburo Aizawa (b. 1889)
• July 12 – Yasuhide Kurihara (b. 1908)
• October 8 – Utako Shimoda, educator and poet (b. 1854)

• List of Japanese films of the 1930s