1908 in Japan

Events in the year 1908 in Japan. It corresponds to Meiji 41 (明治41年) in the Japanese calendar.

← 1907 1906 1905 1908 in Japan → 1909 1910 1911
Decades:	1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s
See also:	Other events of 1908 History of Japan  • Timeline  • Years

Incumbents

• Emperor: Emperor Meiji^[1]
• Prime Minister:
  • Saionji Kinmochi (until July 14)
  • Katsura Tarō (from July 14)

Governors

• Aichi Prefecture: Masaaki Nomura
• Akita Prefecture: Chuji Shimooka, Mori Masataka
• Aomori Prefecture: Shotaro Nishizawa, Takeda Chiyosaburo
• Ehime Prefecture: Kensuke Ando
• Fukui Prefecture: Nakamura Junkuro
• Fukushima Prefecture: Hiraoka Teitaro then Shotaro Nishizawa
• Gifu Prefecture: Sadakichi Usu
• Gunma Prefecture: Arita Yoshisuke then Nanbu Mitsumi then Uruji Kamiyama
• Hiroshima Prefecture: Tadashi Munakata
• Ibaraki Prefecture: Mori Masataka, Keisuke Sakanaka
• Iwate Prefecture: Shinichi Kasai
• Kagawa Prefecture: Motohiro Onoda
• Kochi Prefecture: Sada Suzuki, Kenzo Ishihara
• Kumamoto Prefecture: Nori Oshikawa, Kawaji Toshikyo
• Kyoto Prefecture: Baron Shoichi Omori
• Mie Prefecture: Lord Arimitsu Hideyoshi, Hayashi Ichizo, Yoshisuke Arita
• Miyagi Prefecture: Kamei Ezaburo, Hiroyuki Terada
• Miyazaki Prefecture: Nagai Enjin, Tadayoshi Naokichi
• Nagano Prefecture: Akira Oyama
• Niigata Prefecture: Prince Kiyoshi Honba
• Okinawa Prefecture: Shigeru Narahara, Shigeaki Hibi
• Saga Prefecture: Fai Kagawa, Inoue Takashihara, Nishimura Mutsu
• Saitama Prefecture: Shimada Gotaro
• Shiname Prefecture: Matsunaga Takeyoshi, Raizo Wakabayashi, Maruyama Shigetoshi
• Tochigi Prefecture: .....
• Tokyo: Baron Sangay Takatomi, Hiroshi Abe
• Toyama Prefecture: Shinhare Kawakami, Usami Katsuo
• Yamagata Prefecture: Mabuchi Eitaro

Events

• April 30 – Masako, Princess Tsune, sixth daughter of Emperor Meiji, marries Prince Tsunehisa Takeda.
• May 15 – 1908 Japanese general election
• June 22 – Red Flag Incident
• November 30 – Root–Takahira Agreement
• Unknown date – Yasui Sewing Machine, as predecessor of Brother Industries founded in Nagoya.^{[page needed]}

Births

• February 27 – Kazuo Hasegawa, actor (d. 1984)
• February 29 – Masahiro Makino, film director (d. 1993)
• April 11 – Masaru Ibuka, electronics industrialist, co-founder of Sony (d. 1997)
• May 23 – Tomiko Itooka, supercentenarian, Japan’s oldest living People (since December 12 2023-December 29 2024) world's oldest living person (August 19 2024-December 29 2024) (d. 2024)
• July 8 – Kaii Higashiyama, painter (d. 2009)
• July 9 – Takashi Asahina, conductor (d. 2001)
• September 14 – Nobuo Nakamura, actor (d. 1991)
• October 17 – Kenji Miyamoto, communist politician (d. 2007)
• November 10 – Kenkichi Oshima, triple jumper (d. 1985)
• November 11 – Sadako Sawamura, actress (d. 1996)
• December 27 – Tadao Tannaka, triple jumper (d. 1986)

Deaths

• January 13 – Hashimoto Gahō, painter (b. 1835)
• March 25 – Iwasaki Yanosuke, businessman, and 4th Governor of the Bank of Japan (b. 1851)
• May 2 – Prince Yamashina Kikumaro, (b. 1873)
• June 23 – Doppo Kunikida, author and poet (b. 1871)
• October 18 – Nozu Michitsura, field marshal (b. 1840)
• October 26 – Enomoto Takeaki, politician, President of the Republic of Ezo (b. 1836)
• November 25 – Inagaki Manjirō, diplomat (b. 1861)
• December 17 – Inoue Hikaru general (b. 1851)