1896 in Japan

← 1895 1894 1893 1896 in Japan → 1897 1898 1899
Decades:	1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s
See also:	Other events of 1896 List of years in Japan

Events in the year 1896 in Japan.

Incumbents

• Monarch: Emperor Meiji
• Prime Minister:
  • Itō Hirobumi (until August 31)
  • Kuroda Kiyotaka (acting) (August 31 – September 18)
  • Matsukata Masayoshi (from September 18)

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) on June 15, 1896, approximately 166 kilometres (103 mi) 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 38.2 metres (125 ft); more than a meter lower than those created after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake which triggered the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.^[1]

Births

• April 22 – Chishō Takaoka, geisha, writer, and nun (d. 1994)
• 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)

Deaths

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

References