January 2 –
2024 Haneda Airport runway collision: A
Japan AirlinesAirbus A350-900 collides with a
Japan Coast GuardDHC-8 aircraft and bursts into flames at
Tokyo's
Haneda Airport. The Coast guard plane was going to deliver aid to those affected by the earthquake in Ishikawa Prefecture the day before. All 379 occupants aboard the Japan Airlines flight are evacuated, while five of the six occupants aboard the Coast Guard aircraft are killed.[5]
January 23 – Two railway workers are injured after being electrocuted while trying to fix a massive power outage that shuts down the
Shinkansen system in a section operated by
JR East between
Omiya Station in
Saitama and
Ueno Station in Tokyo. A train is also damaged during the outage.[9][10]
January 29 – The man believed to be Satoshi Kirishima dies.[19] DNA comparison with relatives further confirms his identity as Kirishima.[20]
February
February 5 – Ukrainian-born
Karolina Shiino relinquishes her crown as winner of the 2024
Miss Nippon Grand Prix
beauty pageant after news emerges of her having an affair with a married man.[21][22]
February 27 –
Sony announces it will cut 900 jobs across its global workforce and proposes the closure of
London Studio as part of the restructuring.[23]
March
March 4 – The
Nikkei 225 reaches 40,000 points for the first time.[24]
The
Fuji-Q Highland amusement park announces the removal of the famed high-speed roller coaster
Do-Dodonpa,[28] which had been closed since August 2021 following numerous incidents resulting in injuries within a year.[29]
In separate lawsuits, the Sapporo High Court and the Tokyo District Court rule that the non-recognition of
same-sex marriage in Japan is unconstitutional.[31]
The Tokyo District Court convicts former State Minister of Justice
Mito Kakizawa of vote-buying worth 2.8 million yen ($19,000) during mayoral elections in the
Kōtō ward of
Tokyo in April 2023 and sentences him to a two-year suspended sentence.[32]
The Tokyo District Court convicts former Member of the
House of Councillors and
YouTuberGaaSyy of online harassment and sentences him to a three-year suspended sentence.[33]
March 30 – Authorities raid a facility of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Company in
Osaka after five deaths from kidney failure are linked to consumption of its health supplements containing the red mold benikoji.[39]
April 2 – The governor of
Shizuoka Prefecture,
Heita Kawakatsu, announces his resignation following uproar over comments he made the previous day comparing civil servants with other professions.[43]
May 14 – Three people are killed and two others are injured in an accident involving seven vehicles along the
Metropolitan Expressway in
Toda, Saitama Prefecture.[53]
May 17 –
The
National Diet approves a bill seeking to allow joint child custody for divorced couples.[54]
Three members of the
Japan Wings Party (Tsubasa no tō), including a candidate of the House of Representatives by-election on April 28 are arrested on suspicion of disrupting other candidates' campaign rallies.[55]
May 23 – Four people, including three children are found dead in suspicious circumstances following a house fire in
Shinagawa, Tokyo.[56]
May 24 – A probation officer is killed in
Otsu, in what is suspected to be the first of its kind by their charge in Japan since 1964.[57]