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Decades:	1950s; 1960s; 1970s; 1980s; 1990s;
See also:	Other events of 1972; History of Japan; Timeline; Years;

Events in the year 1972 in Japan. It corresponds to Shōwa 47 (昭和47年) in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents

Emperor: Hirohito^[1]
Prime minister: Eisaku Satō (Liberal Democratic) until July 7, Kakuei Tanaka (Liberal Democratic)
Chief Cabinet Secretary: Noboru Takeshita until July 7, Susumu Nikaido
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Kazuto Ishida
President of the House of Representatives: Naka Funada until November 13, Umekichi Nakamura from December 22
President of the House of Councillors: Kenzō Kōno

Governors

Aichi Prefecture: Mikine Kuwahara
Akita Prefecture: Yūjirō Obata
Aomori Prefecture: Shunkichi Takeuchi
Chiba Prefecture: Taketo Tomonō
Ehime Prefecture: Haruki Shiraishi
Fukui Prefecture: Heidayū Nakagawa
Fukuoka Prefecture: Hikaru Kamei
Fukushima Prefecture: Morie Kimura
Gifu Prefecture: Saburō Hirano
Gunma Prefecture: Konroku Kanda
Hiroshima Prefecture: Iduo Nagano
Hokkaido: Naohiro Dōgakinai
Hyogo Prefecture: Tokitada Sakai
Ibaraki Prefecture: Nirō Iwakami
Ishikawa Prefecture: Yōichi Nakanishi
Iwate Prefecture: Tadashi Chida
Kagawa Prefecture: Masanori Kaneko
Kagoshima Prefecture: Saburō Kanemaru
Kanagawa Prefecture: Bunwa Tsuda
Kochi Prefecture: Masumi Mizobuchi
Kumamoto Prefecture: Issei Sawada
Kyoto Prefecture: Torazō Ninagawa
Mie Prefecture: Satoru Tanaka (until 7 November); Ryōzō Tagawa (starting 24 December)
Miyagi Prefecture: Sōichirō Yamamoto
Miyazaki Prefecture: Hiroshi Kuroki
Nagano Prefecture: Gon'ichirō Nishizawa
Nagasaki Prefecture: Kan'ichi Kubo
Nara Prefecture: Ryozo Okuda
Niigata Prefecture: Shiro Watari
Oita Prefecture: Masaru Taki
Okayama Prefecture: Takenori Kato (until 11 November); Shiro Nagano (starting 12 November)
Okinawa Prefecture: Chōbyō Yara (starting 15 May)
Osaka Prefecture: Ryōichi Kuroda
Saga Prefecture: Sunao Ikeda
Saitama Prefecture: Hiroshi Kurihara (until 12 July); Yawara Hata (starting 13 July)
Shiga Prefecture: Kinichiro Nozaki
Shiname Prefecture: Seiji Tsunematsu
Shizuoka Prefecture: Yūtarō Takeyama
Tochigi Prefecture: Nobuo Yokokawa
Tokushima Prefecture: Yasunobu Takeichi
Tokyo: Ryōkichi Minobe
Tottori Prefecture: Jirō Ishiba
Toyama Prefecture: Kokichi Nakada
Wakayama Prefecture: Masao Ohashi
Yamagata Prefecture: Tōkichi Abiko
Yamaguchi Prefecture: Masayuki Hashimoto
Yamanashi Prefecture: Kunio Tanabe

Events

January 24 - Two hunters discover Yokoi Shōichi, a former lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army who lived in a cave in Guam for 28 years after the end of World War II. Upon his return to Japan on February 2, he proclaimed, "it is with much shame that I return."
February 3–13 - The 1972 Winter Olympics are held in Sapporo, Hokkaido.
February 19-28 – Asama-Sanso incident occurs in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture.^{[citation needed]}
May 12 – Industrial robot brand, Fanuc was founded in Yamanashi Prefecture.^{[citation needed]}
May 13 - A fire at the Sennichi Department Store in Osaka kills 118, injures 78.
May 15 - Okinawa returned to Japan after being occupied by the United States military for 27 years.
July 3 to 13 - A heavy torrential rain with debris flow hit Kyushu and Shikoku area, according to Fire and Disaster Management official confirmed report, 447 people were killed, while another 1056 person were injured.^[2]
July 5 - Kakuei Tanaka replaces Eisaku Satō as Prime Minister.
July 21 – MOS Burger was founded.^{[citation needed]}
November 6 - An express passenger train caught fire in Hokuriku Rail Tunnel in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, according to Japan Transport Ministry official confirmed report, 31 people died, and 714 people were injured.^[3]
December 10 - General election of 1972 - Liberal Democratic Party win 271 out of 491 seats.