Events
- 1837 - Ōshio Heihachirō initiates an uprising.
- 1878 - The first arc lamp is used in Japan.
- 1906 - Shimazaki Tōson publishes The Broken Commandment (破戒, Hakai) with his own money.
- 1947 - Japan's holds its first cinema "road show" with the showing of Rhapsody in Blue. A "road show" is a form of pre-release publicity where a movie is shown is one theater per city before its general release. Rhapsody in Blue generated so much interest that it ended up running for ten weeks. Movie tickets at the time were 25 yen each.
- 1948 - Kawashima Yoshiko, known as the Asian Mata Hari, is executed as a Japanese spy. Kawashima Yoshiko was born as the daughter of Shànqí, the 10th hereditary Prince Sù of the Manchu Imperial family. However, she was raised by a Japanese family and convicted of spying for the Japanese after the war.
- 1956 - The first home run by a pinch hitter with bases loaded in Japanese baseball history is hit by the Giants' Higasa Kazuo, allowing the Giants to come from behind for a win against the Chunichi Dragons.
- 1973 - City-sponsored gambling is outlawed completely.
- 1992 - The Huis ten Bosch Palace (a recreation of a Dutch city) is opened in Sasebo, Nagasaki.
Births
- 1924 - Machiko Kyō, actress
- 1951 - Jumbo Tsuruta (d. 2000), wrestler
- 1987 - Nobunari Oda, figure skater