1942 in Japan
Events in the year 1942 in Japan.

Incumbents
Emperor: Hirohito
Prime Minister: Hideki Tōjō

Governors
Aichi Prefecture: Yukisawa Chiyoji 
Akita Prefecture: Fumi 
Aomori Prefecture: Seiichi Ueda (until 9 June); Shunsuke Yamada (starting 9 June)
Ehime Prefecture: Masatomi Hatakeda (until 7 July); Ryuichi Fukumoto (starting 7 July)
Fukui Prefecture: 
 until 9 January: Kubota 
 9 January-15 June: Shigeo Miyoshi
 starting 15 June: Nagano Wakamatsu
Fukushima Prefecture: Sumio Hisakawa (until 7 July); Yoshio Araki (starting 7 July)
Gifu Prefecture: Tetsushin Sudo (until 23 May); Miyoshi Shigeo (starting 23 May)
Gunma Prefecture: Goro Murata 
Hiroshima Prefecture: Tokiji Yoshinaga (until 15 June); Saiichiro Miyamura (starting 15 June)
Ibaraki Prefecture: Kanichi Naito (until 7 October); Tsujiyama (starting 7 October)
Iwate Prefecture: Yoshifumi Yamauchi (until 15 June); Osamuzo Suzuki (starting 15 June)
Kagawa Prefecture: Osamu Eianhyaku (until 9 January); Yoshiji Kosuga (starting 9 January)
Kanagawa Prefecture: Mitsuma Matsumura (until month unknown)
Kochi Prefecture: Naoaki Hattori (until 7 July); Satoru Okino (starting 7 July)
Kumamoto Prefecture: Chioji Yukisawa (until 10 June); Hikari Akira (starting 10 June)
Kyoto Prefecture: Ando Kyoushirou 
Mie Prefecture: Yoshiro Nakano (until 7 October); Koji Soga (starting 7 October)
Miyagi Prefecture: Nobuo Hayashin (until 7 October); Otomaru Kato (starting 7 October)
Miyazaki Prefecture: Osafume Katsumi 
Nagano Prefecture: Noburo Suzuki (until 9 January); Nagoya Osamu (starting 9 January)
Niigata Prefecture: Doi Shohei 
Oita Prefecture: Ito Hisamatsu (starting 6 May)
Okinawa Prefecture: Hajime Hayakawa 
Saga Prefecture:  (until 23 May); Shogo Tanaka (starting 23 May)
Saitama Prefecture: Miyano Shozo (until 9 January); Toshio Otsu (starting 9 January)
Shiname Prefecture: Yasuo Otsubo (until 9 January); Goro Koizumi (starting 9 January)
Tochigi Prefecture: Saburo Yamagata (until 9 January); Sakurai Yasuemon (starting 9 January)
Tokyo: Jitsuzo Kawanishi (until 9 January); Matsumura Miro (starting 9 January)
Toyama Prefecture: Kingo Machimura 
Yamagata Prefecture: Hee Yamauchi (until 7 July); Akira Saito (starting 7 July)

Events 
Below, events of World War II have the "WWII" preface

 11 January – Japanese paratroopers land on Sulawesi.
 12 January –  Japan declares war on the Dutch.
 22 January – Hideki Tōjō warns Australia that "if you continue resistance, we Japanese will destroy you."
 4 February – Japan demands the surrender of Singapore.
 17 February – Singapore is renamed Shōnan ("Light of the South").
 20 March – The navy minister, Admiral Shigetarō Shimada says that in view of the Allies' "Retaliation and hatred", Japan would no longer follow recognized rules of sea warfare.
 18 April – Doolittle Raid, the first bombing raid on the Japanese home islands
 25 May – Four ships leave Hokkaido to stage a diversionary raid on the Aleutian Islands.
4–7 June – Battle of Midway
21 August – Battle of the Tenaru
11–12 October – Battle of Cape Esperance
12–15 November – Naval Battle of Guadalcanal

Births

 January 8 – Junichiro Koizumi, 56th Prime Minister of Japan
 January 27 – Tasuku Honjo, immunologist
 February 1 – Masa Saito, professional wrestler (d. 2018)
 March 29 – Kenichi Ogata, actor
 April 2 – Hiroyuki Sakai, chef
 April 25 – Katsuji Adachi, professional wrestler (d. 2010)
 May 24 – Ichirō Ozawa, politician
 July 3 – Mitsuhiro Kitta, golfer
 July 5 – Motoaki Inukai, footballer
 July 22 – Toyohiro Akiyama, astronaut
 August 31 – Isao Aoki, golfer
 September 16 – Tadamasa Goto, yakuza boss
 September 19 – Nobuo Sekine, sculptor (d. 2019)

Deaths
May 11 – Sakutarō Hagiwara, writer, poet and critic (b. 1886)
May 29 – Akiko Yosano, author and poet (b. 1878)
June 4 
Jisaku Okada, Naval officer, killed in action at the Battle of Midway (b. 1897)
Tamon Yamaguchi, admiral (b. 1892)
June 5 – Ryusaku Yanagimoto, captain (b. 1894)
August 21 – Kiyonao Ichiki (b. 1892)
August 26 – Junichi Sasai, aviator  (b. 1918)
September 5 – Toshinari Maeda, general (b. 1885)
October 12 – Aritomo Gotō, admiral (b. 1888)
October 21 – Toshio Ōta, aviator (b. 1919)
October 26 – Yumio Nasu, major general (b. 1892)
November 5 – Kiyoura Keigo, politician and Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1850)
November 23 – Tomitarō Horii, lieutenant general (b. 1890)
December 4 – Atsushi Nakajima, author (b. 1909)

See also
 List of Japanese films of the 1940s

References

 
1940s in Japan
1942 by country
Years of the 20th century in Japan
1942 in Asia