Events in the year 1989 in
Japan. In the
history of Japan, it marks the final year of the
Shōwa period, Shōwa 64, upon the death of
Emperor Shōwa on January 7, and the beginning of the
Heisei period, Heisei 1 (平成元年 Heisei gannen, gannen means "first year"), from January 8 under the reign of his son
the current emperor emeritus. Thus, 1989 corresponds to the transition between Shōwa and Heisei In the
Japanese calendar.
1989 was the first year of
Heisei in Japan as well as the all-time peak of the
Nikkei 225 stock market average until being surpassed in 2024.
Diet sessions: 114th (regular session opened in December 1988, to June 22), 115th (extraordinary, August 7 to August 12), 116th (extraordinary, September 28 to December 16), 117th (regular, December 25 to 1990, January 24)
June 1: 100th anniversary of the foundation of
Fukuoka City.
June 2: Takeshita cabinet resigns,
Sōsuke Uno becomes Prime Minister.
July
July 1: 100th anniversary of the foundations of
Kōfu and
Gifu City.
July 12: 100th anniversary of the foundation of
Akita City.
July 16: A large-scale landslides occurred, following to a microbus crushed by rockfall prevention in
Echizen, Fukui Prefecture, according to official confirmed report, 15 people fatalities.
July 23
In the
15th regular election for the House of Councillors, Liberal Democrats lose their majority for the first time in party history. In the ensuing "twisted Diet" (nejire kokkai), it must cooperate with the
Socialist-led opposition as it does not hold a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives. The Uno cabinet resigns.
August
August 8: Reformist
Toshiki Kaifu from the small Kōmoto faction is elected LDP president with 279 votes against
Yoshirō Hayashi (Nikaidō group, a breakaway group from the Takeshita faction, 120 votes) and
Shintarō Ishihara (formerly with his own faction that merged into the Abe faction in 1984, 48 votes)[3]
August 9: First Kaifu cabinet formed and formally appointed one day later.
November 4:
Sakamoto family murder -
Aum Shinrikyo murders a lawyer, Tsutsumi Sakamoto, as well as his wife, Satoko, and infant son, Tatsuhiko, who had been working on a lawsuit against the religious group.
November 22: The
Japan Trade Union Confederation, or "RENGO", is founded with the merger of the Japan Confederation of Labor (Dōmei) and the Federation of Independent Labor Unions (Chūritsu Rōren).
December
December 15: 100th anniversary of the foundation of
Matsuyama City.
^""おばあちゃんアイドル"の浦辺粂子 浴衣に引火し火傷死" ["Grandma Idol" Kumeko Urabe Yukata ignites and burns to death]. Nikkan Gendai. 20 June 2018. Archived from
the original on 10 April 2021.