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]
April 20 – Two SH-60K helicopters of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces crash into the Pacific Ocean following a possible collision during a training exercise near Torishima Island, killing one person and leaving seven others missing.[49]
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]