1998 in Japan

Decades:	1970s; 1980s; 1990s; 2000s; 2010s;
See also:	Other events of 1998; List of years in Japan

Events in the year 1998 in Japan.

Incumbents

Emperor: Akihito
Prime Minister: Ryutaro Hashimoto (L–Okayama) until July 30, Keizo Obuchi (L–Gunma)
Chief Cabinet Secretary: Kanezō Muraoka (L–Akita) until July 30, Hiromu Nonaka (L–Kyōto)
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Shigeru Yamaguchi
President of the House of Representatives: Sōichirō Itō (L–Miyagi)
President of the House of Councillors: Jūrō Saitō (L–Mie) until July 25 and again from August 4
Diet sessions: 142nd (regular, January 12 to June 18), 143rd (extraordinary, August 7 to October 16), 144th (extraordinary, November 27 to December 14)

February 7 – February 22: The 1998 Winter Olympics are held in Nagano.
March 5 - March 14: The 1998 Winter Paralympics are held in Nagano.
April 1: Toyota City, Fukuyama City, Kōchi City and Miyazaki City become core cities.
April 5: The Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge linking Shikoku with Honshū and costing about ¥ 500 billion (US$3.8 billion), opens to traffic, becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world.^[1]
May 26: Takashi Imai is inaugurated as the 9th head of the Keidanren.
June 22: Financial Services Agency established.
July 5: Japan launches the Nozomi probe to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as an outer space-exploring nation.
July 12: Election for the House of Councillors held.
July 25: Masumi Hayashi poisons a curry pot at a festival in Wakayama, causing the death of two adults and two children.
October 8: Japan-South Korea Joint Declaration of 1998.
November 13: Free solo climber Alain Robert scales the Shinjuku Center Building, and is arrested on its roof.
November 26: Japan-China Joint Declaration On Building a Partnership of Friendship and Cooperation for Peace and Development

January 9 - Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
January 21 - Yoshifumi Kondō, animator (b. 1950)
January 26 - Shinichi Suzuki, violinist (b. 1898)
January 27 - Tamio Kageyama, novelist (b. 1947)
January 28 - Shotaro Ishinomori, Manga artist, "Father of Henshin heroes." (b. 1938)
February 5 - Takahashi Chikuzan, Tsugaru-jamisen performer and composer (b. 1910)
March 10 - Kenkō Satoshi, Sumo wrestler (b. 1967)
March 13 - Kosho Uchiyama, Sōtō priest (b. 1912)
April 20 - Yoshio Inaba, actor (b. 1920)
May 2 - Matsumoto Hideto (hide), Japanese musician (b. 1964)
May 10 - Nekojiru, manga artist (b. 1967)
May 19 - Sōsuke Uno, Prime Minister (b. 1922)
August 3 - Reizo Koike, breaststroke swimmer (b. 1915)
August 28 - Hirokazu Kobayashi, aikidoka (b. 1929)
September 6 - Akira Kurosawa, screenwriter, producer, and director (b. 1910)
September 27 - Narita Bryan, racehorse (b. 1991)
October 12 - Ineko Sata, communist and feminist author of proletarian literature (b. 1904)
November 1 - Silence Suzuka, racehorse (b. 1994)
November 5 - Momoko Kōchi, actress (b. 1932)
November 18 - Tase Matsunaga, supercentenarian (b. 1884)
December 1 - Shōji Nakayama, actor (b. 1928)
December 2 - Mikio Oda, athlete (b. 1905)
December 30 - Keisuke Kinoshita, film director (b. 1912)