1931 in Japan

Events in the year 1931 in Japan.

Incumbents

Emperor: Hirohito
Prime Minister:
- Osachi Hamaguchi: until April 14
- Wakatsuki Reijirō: April 14 – December 13
- Inukai Tsuyoshi: from December 13

Governors

Aichi Prefecture:
- starting 20 January: Masao Oka
- 20 January-21 December: Kosaka Masayasu
- until 21 December: Yujiro Osaki
Akita Prefecture: Koki Hiegata (until 18 December); Takeshi Uchida (starting 18 December)
Aomori Prefecture: Migaku Moriya (until 18 December); Teizaburo Miyamoto (starting 18 December)
Ehime Prefecture: Koichiro Sasai (until 18 December); Kume Shigeo (starting 18 December)
Fukui Prefecture: Tachibana Saitanao (until 18 December); Keizo Ichimura (starting 18 December)
Fukushima Prefecture:
- until 15 April: Koyanagi Makimamoru
- 15 April-18 December: Goro Kawasaki
- starting 18 December: Murai Hachiro
Gifu Prefecture:
- until 8 May: Ken Usawa
- 8 May-18 December: Yoshida Katsutaro
- starting 18 December: Takehiko Ito
Gunma Prefecture:
- until 27 June: Hotta Kanae
- 27 June-18 December: Kiichi Harata
- starting 18 December: Masao Kanazawa
Hiroshima Prefecture:
- until 8 May: Hiroshi Kawabuchi
- 8 May-18 December: Takekai Shirane
- starting 18 December: Ryo Chiba
Ibaraki Prefecture:
- until 27 June: Shozo Ushijima
- 27 June-18 December: Tanaka
- starting 18 December: Seikichi Kimishima
Ishikawa Prefecture: Nakano Kunikazu (until month unknown)
Iwate Prefecture: Toyoshiro Kubo (until 18 December); Hidehiko Ishiguro (starting 18 December)
Kagawa Prefecture:
- until 27 June: Susumu Tsuboi
- 27 June-18 December: Yusai Takahashi
- starting 18 December: Akira Ito
Kanagawa Prefecture: Jiro Yamagata (until month unknown)
Kochi Prefecture:
- until 27 June: Tanaka
- 27 June-18 December: Tsuboi
- starting 18 December: Kodora Akamatsu
Kumamoto Prefecture: Bunpei Motoyama (until 18 December); Kenichi Yamashita (starting 18 December)
Kyoto Prefecture:
- until October: Sasaki Shinichi
- October-December: Shinya Kurosaki
- starting December: Sukenari Yokoyama
Mie Prefecture: Keizo Ichimura (until 18 December); Hirose Hisatada (starting 18 December)
Miyagi Prefecture: Michio Yuzawa
Miyazaki Prefecture:
- until 18 December: Ariyoshi
- 18 December-21 December: Kiyoshi Nakarai
- starting 21 December: Gisuke Kinoshita
Nagano Prefecture: Shintaro Suzuki (until 18 December); Ishigaki Kuraji (starting 18 December)
Niigata Prefecture:
until 2 October: Toyoji Obata
2 October-18 December: Nakano Kunikazu
starting 18 December: Obata Toyoji
Okinawa Prefecture: Jiro Ino
Osaka Prefecture: Saito Munenori (starting month unknown)
Saga Prefecture:
- until 18 December: Inoue
- 20 January-18 December: Nakarai Kiyoshi
- starting 18 December: Saburo Hayakawa
Saitama Prefecture:
- until 15 April: Niwa Shichiro
- 15 April-18 December: Kozo Yamanaka
- starting 18 December: Umekichi Miyawaki
Shiname Prefecture:
- until 21 August: Keiichi Omori
- 21 August-18 December: Kanichi Misawa
- starting 18 December: Rinsaku Yagi
Tochigi Prefecture:
- until 27 January: Harada
- 20 January-27 December: Asari Saburo
- starting 27 December: Chokichi Toshima
Tokyo: Torataro Shizuka (until 18 October); Hasegawa Hisakazu (starting 18 October)
Toyama Prefecture: Kozo Yamanaka (until 15 April); Keiichi Suzuki (starting 15 April)
Yamagata Prefecture:
- until 24 October: Kubota Osamu Kosuke
- 24 October-18 December: Ken Yamaguchi
- starting 18 December: Sada Kawamura

Events

March - March Incident
March 27 – A real estate brand, Shōei Corporation was founded, as predecessor for Hullic.
June 5 – 1931 Empress of Canada stabbings: A man killed 2 and wounded 29 others with a knife aboard the Canadian Pacific Steamships liner RMS Empress of Canada as the ship sailed off Japan.
June 27 - Nakamura Incident
July 1 - Wanpaoshan Incident
September 21 – A Richer Scale magnitude 6.5 earthquake hit in Yorii, Saitama Prefecture. According to Japanese government official confirmed report, killing 16 persons, 146 persons were wounded.
October 21 - October Incident
November 4 - Resistance at Nenjiang Bridge
November 4–18 - Jiangqiao Campaign
Unknown date
- Teikyo Commerce School, later Teikyo University was founded in Tokyo.
- A time recorder and robot brand, Amano was founded in Yokohama, as predecessor name of Amano Manufacturing.
- A mail order cram school, Jitsuryoku-Zōshinsha (Ability Promotion), as predecessor of Zōshinsha Holdings (Z-kai) was founded.

Films

Tokyo Chorus

Births

January–March

January 2 – Toshiki Kaifu, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2022)
January 6 – Kaoru Yachigusa, actress (d. 2019)
January 20 – Ariyoshi Sawako, writer (d. 1984)
January 21 – Yoshiko Kuga, actress (d. 2024)
January 28 – Sakyo Komatsu, science fiction writer (d. 2011)
February 16 – Ken Takakura, actor (d. 2014)
March 7 – Atsuko Ikeda, fourth daughter of Emperor Shōwa
March 9 – Masahiro Shinoda, film director (d. 2025)

April–June

April 11 – Koichi Sugiyama, composer and conductor (d. 2021)
May 10 – Ichirō Nagai, voice actor (d. 2014)
June 22 – Teruyuki Okazaki, black belt in Shotokan Karate (d. 2020)

July–September

July 5 – Ryuzo Sato, economist
July 11 – Yasuo Ōtsuka, animator (d. 2021)
August 29 – Ichikawa Raizō VIII, actor (d. 1969)
August 30 – Jōji Yanami, voice actor
September 17 – Ayako Sono, writer (d. 2021)
September 21 – Syukuro Manabe, Japanese-American meteorologist and climatologist