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2001 in Japan

2001 was the 13th year of Heisei in Japan.

Incumbents

• Emperor: Akihito
• Prime Minister: Yoshiro Mori, Junichiro Koizumi
• Chief Cabinet Secretary: Yasuo Fukuda
• Governor of Tokyo: Shintaro Ishihara

Events

• January 6: Nurse Daisuke Mori was arrested for an attempted murder of 11-year-old girl.^[1]
• January 31: 2001 Japan Airlines mid-air incident
• February 9: The fishing boat Ehime Maru is struck by a U.S. submarine and sunk.
• March 31: Universal Studios Japan opens.
• April 1: Sakura Bank and Sumitomo Bank merge to form Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.
• April 6: Japanese government institutes new overtime regulations.
• April 24: Junichiro Koizumi defeats Ryutaro Hashimoto in LDP polls to become prime minister.
• April 26: Koizumi announces his first cabinet, with Makiko Tanaka as foreign minister and Heizo Takenaka as Minister of State for the Economy.
• June 8: Osaka school massacre takes place.
• July 13: Osaka is removed on the first ballot for the site of the 2008 Summer Olympics.
• July 20: Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away premieres; it becomes the first anime film to win an Academy Award.
• July 29: Japan upper house election, 2001.
• August 13: Koizumi visits Yasukuni Shrine.
• September 1: Myojo 56 building fire kills 44.
• September 4: Tokyo DisneySea opens.
• September 12: In the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, the Nikkei 225 index drops below 10,000 for the first time since 1984.
• December 1: Princess Aiko, potential heiress to the Imperial throne, is born.
• December 9: Television performer Masashi Tashiro is arrested for peeping in a male bath-house.
• December 21: TIME removes Masashi Tashiro from its "Person of the Year" poll after 2channel users vote the "bad boy" performer into first place.

Births

• December 1: Princess Aiko

Deaths

• July 28: Futaro Yamada, author
• December 22: Shizue Kato, politician and activist

References

1. ^ Killer nurse. Medical Serial Killers. Retrieved on 2008-03-21.