Events in the year 1964 in Japan. It corresponds to Shōwa 39 (昭和39年) in the Japanese calendar. 1964 is considered a seminal year in modern Japanese history. The Tokyo Olympics and first run of the bullet train reflected a society-wide sense that post-war reconstruction was over and that Japan had rejoined the international family of nations. Diplomatic negotiations underway this year between South Korea and Japan resulted in a formal normalization of relations the following year. Individuals born beginning around this date were often subsequently identified as "shinjinrui" (or new people) because they had not experienced the suffering older generations had during World War II or the post-war period, and on the contrary, grew up in material plenty. Incumbents Emperor: Hirohito Prime Minister: Hayato Ikeda (L–Hiroshima, 3rd term) until November 9, Eisaku Satō (L–Yamaguchi) Chief Cabinet Secretary: Yasumi Kurogane (L–Yamagata) until July 18, Zenkō Suzuki (L–Iwate) until November 9, Tomisaburō Hashimoto (L–Ibaraki) Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Kisaburō Yokota President of the House of Representatives: Naka Funada (L–Tochigi) President of the House of Councillors: Yūzō Shigemune (L–national) Diet sessions: 46th (regular session opened in December 1963, to June 26), 47th (extraordinary, November 9 to December 18), 48th (regular, December 21 to 1965, June 1) Governors Aichi Prefecture: Mikine Kuwahara Akita Prefecture: Yūjirō Obata Aomori Prefecture: Shunkichi Takeuchi Chiba Prefecture: Taketo Tomonō Ehime Prefecture: Sadatake Hisamatsu Fukui Prefecture: Eizō Kita Fukuoka Prefecture: Taichi Uzaki Fukushima Prefecture: Zenichiro Satō (until 23 March); Morie Kimura (starting 16 May) Gifu Prefecture: Yukiyasu Matsuno Gunma Prefecture: Konroku Kanda Hiroshima Prefecture: Iduo Nagano Hokkaido: Kingo Machimura Hyogo Prefecture: Motohiko Kanai Ibaraki Prefecture: Nirō Iwakami Ishikawa Prefecture: Yōichi Nakanishi Iwate Prefecture: Tadashi Chida Kagawa Prefecture: Masanori Kaneko Kagoshima Prefecture: Katsushi Terazono Kanagawa Prefecture: Iwataro Uchiyama Kochi Prefecture: Masumi Mizobuchi Kumamoto Prefecture: Kōsaku Teramoto Kyoto Prefecture: Torazō Ninagawa Mie Prefecture: Satoru Tanaka Miyagi Prefecture: Yoshio Miura Miyazaki Prefecture: Hiroshi Kuroki Nagano Prefecture: Gon'ichirō Nishizawa Nagasaki Prefecture: Katsuya Sato Nara Prefecture: Ryozo Okuda Niigata Prefecture: Juichiro Tsukada Oita Prefecture: Kaoru Kinoshita Okayama Prefecture: Yukiharu Miki (until 21 September); Takenori Kato (starting 15 November) Osaka Prefecture: Gisen Satō Saga Prefecture: Sunao Ikeda Saitama Prefecture: Hiroshi Kurihara Shiga Prefecture: Kyujiro Taniguchi Shiname Prefecture: Choemon Tanabe Shizuoka Prefecture: Toshio Saitō Tochigi Prefecture: Nobuo Yokokawa Tokushima Prefecture: Kikutaro Hara Tokyo: Ryōtarō Azuma Tottori Prefecture: Jirō Ishiba Toyama Prefecture: Minoru Yoshida Wakayama Prefecture: Shinji Ono Yamagata Prefecture: Tōkichi Abiko Yamaguchi Prefecture: Masayuki Hashimoto