Events in the year 2012 in Japan.
The year 2012 corresponded to the year Heisei 24 (平成24年) in the Japanese calendar. It means the Year of dragon when the 12th day is done it beings the Year of the rat.
Incumbents
Emperor – Akihito
Prime Minister: Yoshihiko Noda (D–Chiba) until December 26, Shinzō Abe (L–Yamaguchi) Chief Cabinet Secretary: Osamu Fujimura (D–Osaka) until December 26, Yoshihide Suga (L–Kanagawa) Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Hironobu Takesaki President of the House of Representatives: Takahiro Yokomichi (D–Hokkaido) until November 16, Bunmei Ibuki (L–Kyoto) from December 26 President of the House of Councillors: Kenji Hirata (D–Gifu) Diet sessions: 180th (regular, January 24 to September 8), 181st (extraordinary, October 29 to November 16), 182nd (special, December 26 to 28)
Governors
Aichi Prefecture: Hideaki Omura
Akita Prefecture: Norihisa Satake
Aomori Prefecture: Shingo Mimura
Chiba Prefecture: Kensaku Morita
Ehime Prefecture: Tokihiro Nakamura
Fukui Prefecture: Issei Nishikawa
Fukuoka Prefecture: Hiroshi Ogawa
Fukushima Prefecture: Yūhei Satō
Gifu Prefecture: Hajime Furuta
Gunma Prefecture: Masaaki Osawa
Hiroshima Prefecture: Hidehiko Yuzaki
Hokkaido: Harumi Takahashi
Hyogo Prefecture: Toshizō Ido
Ibaraki Prefecture: Masaru Hashimoto
Ishikawa Prefecture: Masanori Tanimoto
Iwate Prefecture: Takuya Tasso
Kagawa Prefecture: Keizō Hamada
Kagoshima Prefecture: Satoshi Mitazono
Kanagawa Prefecture: Yuji Kuroiwa
Kochi Prefecture: Masanao Ozaki
Kumamoto Prefecture: Ikuo Kabashima
Kyoto Prefecture: Keiji Yamada
Mie Prefecture: Eikei Suzuki
Miyagi Prefecture: Yoshihiro Murai
Miyazaki Prefecture: Shunji Kōno
Nagano Prefecture: Shuichi Abe
Nagasaki Prefecture: Hōdō Nakamura
Nara Prefecture: Shōgo Arai
Niigata Prefecture: Hirohiko Izumida
Oita Prefecture: Katsusada Hirose
Okayama Prefecture: Masahiro Ishii (until 11 November); Ryuta Ibaragi (starting 11 November) Okinawa Prefecture: Hirokazu Nakaima Osaka Prefecture: Ichirō Matsui Saga Prefecture: Yasushi Furukawa Saitama Prefecture: Kiyoshi Ueda Shiga Prefecture: Yukiko Kada Shiname Prefecture: Zenbe Mizoguchi Shizuoka Prefecture: Heita Kawakatsu Tochigi Prefecture: Tomikazu Fukuda Tokushima Prefecture: Kamon Iizumi Tokyo: Shintarō Ishihara (until 25 October); Naoki Inose (starting 25 October) Tottori Prefecture: Shinji Hirai Toyama Prefecture: Takakazu Ishii Wakayama Prefecture: Yoshinobu Nisaka Yamagata Prefecture: Mieko Yoshimura Yamaguchi Prefecture: Sekinari Nii (until 21 August); Shigetarō Yamamoto (starting 21 August) Yamanashi Prefecture: Shōmei Yokouchi