1896 in Japan explained

Events in the year 1896 in Japan. It corresponds to Meiji 29 (明治29年) in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents

• Monarch

Emperor Meiji^[1]

• Prime Minister

• • Itō Hirobumi (until August 31)
  • Kuroda Kiyotaka (acting) (August 31  - September 18)
  • Matsukata Masayoshi (from September 18)

Governors

• Aichi Prefecture

Tokito Konkyo

• Akita Prefecture: Yasuhiko Hirayama then Saburo Iwao
• Aomori Prefecture: Masa Sawa then Naomasa Maki
• Ehime Prefecture: Chang Masaya Komaki
• Fukui Prefecture: Kunizo Arakawa
• Fukushima Prefecture: Yasutaro Hara then Ogura Nobuchika then Akiyama
• Gifu Prefecture: Sukeo Kabayama
• Gunma Prefecture: Motootoko Nakamura then Abe Hiroshi then Masataka Ishizata
• Hiroshima Prefecture

Nabeshima Miki then Orita Heinai

• Ibaraki Prefecture

Egi Kazuyuki then Motohiro Onoda

• Iwate Prefecture: Ichizo Hattori
• Kagawa Prefecture: Ichizo Fukano then Tsunenori Tokuhisa
• Kochi Prefecture: Ishida Eikichi then Hiroshi Shikakui
• Kumamoto Prefecture

Matsudaira Masanao then Kanetake Oura

• Kyoto Prefecture

Baron Nobumichi Yamada

• Mie Prefecture: Terumi Tanabe
• Miyagi Prefecture

Terumi Tanabe

• Nagano Prefecture

Takasaki Chikaaki

• Niigata Prefecture

Baron Seung Zhi Kuwata

• Oita Prefecture: Tameharu Yamada then Yasuhiko Hirayama
• Okinawa Prefecture

Shigeru Narahara

• Osaka Prefecture

Utsumi Tadakatsu

• Saga Prefecture

Takeuchi

• Saitama Prefecture

Teru Tanabe then Tomi Senketaka

• Shiname Prefecture: Michio Sokabe
• Tochigi Prefecture: Egi Kazuyuki
• Tokyo

Miura Yasushi then Marquis Michitsune Koga

• Toyama Prefecture: Tokuhisa Tsunenori then Ando Kinsuke
• Yamagata Prefecture: Shuichi Kinoshita

Events

• June 15  - Sanriku earthquake: One of the most destructive seismic events in Japanese history. The 8.5 magnitude earthquake occurred at 19:32 (local time), approximately off the coast of Iwate Prefecture, Honshu. It resulted in two tsunamis which destroyed about 9,000 homes and caused at least 22,000 deaths. The waves reached a record height of ; more than a meter lower than those created after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake which triggered the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.^[2]
• December 28  - Nippon Flower Mills (Nipun) was founded.
• Unknown date  - Penta-Ocean construction company founded^[3]
• Unknown date  - Kotaro Mikamo reports the first results of a double-eyelid procedure for aesthetic purposes.^[4]

Births

• January 1  - Hankyu Sasaki, admiral (d. 1971)
• April 22  - Chishō Takaoka, geisha, writer, and nun (d. 1994)
• May 11  - Toshiko, Princess Yasu, daughter of Emperor Meiji (d. 1978)
• July 28  - Takeru Inukai, politician and novelist (d. 1960)
• August 27  - Kenji Miyazawa, author and poet (d. 1933)
• November 13  - Nobusuke Kishi, politician and Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1987)^[5]

Deaths

• February 28  - Tazawa Inabune, writer (b. 1874)
• November 23  - Ichiyō Higuchi, writer (b. 1872)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Meiji emperor of Japan . Encyclopedia Britannica . 27 March 2019 . en.
2. Web site: Experts say Japanese tsunami over 40m high. https://web.archive.org/web/20110722104509/http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8274519/experts-say-japanese-tsunami-over-40m-high. dead. 2011-07-22. Nine News. 2011-07-19.
3. Book: Carr . Jennifer L. . Major Companies of The Far East and Australasia 1991/92: Volume 2: East Asia . 2012 . Springer Science & Business Media . 978-94-011-3010-3 . 231 . en.
4. Sergile . Suzanne L. . Obata . Kazuo . March 1997 . Mikamo's Double-Eyelid Operation: The Advent of Japanese Aesthetic Surgery . Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery . en-US . 99 . 3 . 662 . 0032-1052.
5. Web site: Kishi Nobusuke prime minister of Japan . Encyclopedia Britannica . 17 June 2020 . en.