Portal:Japan/Anniversaries/April/April 1

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April 1:

  • 1867 - Japan participates in its first world expo, the Paris World Expo. (Traditional Japanese Date: Twenty-seventh Day of the Second Month, 1867)
  • 1880 - The Mitsubishi Foreign Exchange, the precursor to the Bank of Mitsubishi, is established.
  • 1889 - Fukuoka City is established. The population at the time was a mere 50,847 people. The following year a proposal to change the name to Hakata City failed to pass by only one vote.
  • 1914 - The Takarazuka Revue perform for the first time.
  • 1929 - The Kotobukiya company, the predecessor to Suntory, begins selling the first whisky distilled in Japan.
  • 1930 - Japan's first underground shopping center is opened in Ueno.
  • 1940 - Income tax withholding begins.
  • 1947 - The 6-3 system of education (6 years of compulsory grade school followed by 3 years of compulsory junior high school) is implemented. The goal of the new system was to achieve equality of education for all. A high school system was implemented the following year and a university system was implemented in 1949.
  • 1957 - A law against prostitution is implemented.
  • 1964 - Restrictions on overseas tourism are lifted.
  • 1964 - The Wide Show, an hour-long morning television pogram aimed at housewives that features news and information on homemaking, cooking, health and education, airs for the first time.
  • 1982 - The government begins minting 500 yen coins.
  • 1985 - NTT and Japan Tobacco are established.
  • 1987 - Japanese National Railways is split up and privatized.
  • 1989 - Japan's first consumption tax is implemented. The tax started at 3% and was raised to 5% in 1997.
  • 1989 - Sendai becomes the eleventh city designated by government ordinance.
  • 1991 - Participation in the national pension scheme becomes compulsory for everyone between the ages of 20 and 60.
  • 2001 - An electronic consumer goods recycling law is implemented.