Events in the year 1998 in Japan. It corresponds to the year Heisei 10 (平成10年) in the Japanese calendar.
Incumbents
Emperor: Akihito
Prime Minister: Ryutaro Hashimoto (L–Okayama) until July 30, Keizo Obuchi (L–Gunma) Chief Cabinet Secretary: Kanezō Muraoka (L–Akita) until July 30, Hiromu Nonaka (L–Kyōto) Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Shigeru Yamaguchi President of the House of Representatives: Sōichirō Itō (L–Miyagi) President of the House of Councillors: Jūrō Saitō (L–Mie) until July 25 and again from August 4 Diet sessions: 142nd (regular, January 12 to June 18), 143rd (extraordinary, August 7 to October 16), 144th (extraordinary, November 27 to December 14)
Governors
Aichi Prefecture: Reiji Suzuki
Akita Prefecture: Sukeshiro Terata
Aomori Prefecture: Morio Kimura
Chiba Prefecture: Takeshi Numata
Ehime Prefecture: Sadayuki Iga
Fukui Prefecture: Yukio Kurita
Fukuoka Prefecture: Wataru Asō
Fukushima Prefecture: Eisaku Satō
Gifu Prefecture: Taku Kajiwara
Gunma Prefecture: Hiroyuki Kodera
Hiroshima Prefecture: Yūzan Fujita
Hokkaido: Tatsuya Hori
Hyogo Prefecture: Toshitami Kaihara
Ibaraki Prefecture: Masaru Hashimoto
Ishikawa Prefecture: Masanori Tanimoto
Iwate Prefecture: Hiroya Masuda
Kagawa Prefecture: Jōichi Hirai (until 4 September); Takeki Manabe (starting 5 September) Kagoshima Prefecture: Tatsurō Suga Kanagawa Prefecture: Hiroshi Okazaki Kochi Prefecture: Daijiro Hashimoto Kumamoto Prefecture: Joji Fukushima Kyoto Prefecture: Teiichi Aramaki Mie Prefecture: Masayasu Kitagawa Miyagi Prefecture: Shirō Asano Miyazaki Prefecture: Suketaka Matsukata Nagano Prefecture: Gorō Yoshimura Nagasaki Prefecture: Isamu Takada (until 1 March); Genjirō Kaneko (starting 2 March) Nara Prefecture: Yoshiya Kakimoto Niigata Prefecture: Ikuo Hirayama Oita Prefecture: Morihiko Hiramatsu Okayama Prefecture: Masahiro Ishii Okinawa Prefecture: Masahide Ōta (until 10 December); Keiichi Inamine (starting 10 December) Osaka Prefecture: Knock Yokoyama Saga Prefecture: Isamu Imoto Saitama Prefecture: Yoshihiko Tsuchiya Shiga Prefecture: Minoru Inaba (until 20 July); Yoshitsugu Kunimatsu (starting 20 July) Shiname Prefecture: Nobuyoshi Sumita Shizuoka Prefecture: Yoshinobu Ishikawa Tochigi Prefecture: Fumio Watanabe Tokushima Prefecture: Toshio Endo Tokyo: Yukio Aoshima Tottori Prefecture: Yuji Nishio Toyama Prefecture: Yutaka Nakaoki Wakayama Prefecture: Isamu Nishiguchi Yamagata Prefecture: Kazuo Takahashi Yamaguchi Prefecture: Sekinari Nii Yamanashi Prefecture: Ken Amano
Events
February 7 – February 22: The 1998 Winter Olympics are held in Nagano. March 5 – March 14: The 1998 Winter Paralympics are held in Nagano. April 1: Toyota City, Fukuyama City, Kōchi City and Miyazaki City become core cities. April 5: The Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge linking Shikoku with Honshū and costing about ¥ 500 billion (US$3.8 billion), opens to traffic, becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world. May 26: Takashi Imai is inaugurated as the 9th head of the Keidanren. June 22: Financial Services Agency established. July 5: Japan launches the Nozomi probe to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as an outer space-exploring nation. July 12: Election for the House of Councillors held. July 25: Masumi Hayashi poisons a curry pot at a festival in Wakayama, causing the death of two adults and two children. September 3: Metal Gear Solid is first released for the PS1 in Japan. September 7 1998: Serial Experiments Lain Episode 10 : LOVE is released in [J]apan. September 22 – 23: Typhoon Vivki causes damage to several cultural heritage sites in Wakayama, Nara, Kyoto and Shiga Prefecture and causing 19 deaths. October 8: Japan-South Korea Joint Declaration of 1998. November 13: Free solo climber Alain Robert scales the Shinjuku Center Building and is arrested on its roof. November 26: Japan-China Joint Declaration On Building a Partnership of Friendship and Cooperation for Peace and Development. December 18: Mario Party is released in Japan.