← 1897 1896 1895 1898 in Japan → 1899 1900 1901
Decades:	1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s
See also:	Other events of 1898 History of Japan Timeline Years

Events from the year 1898 in Japan. It corresponds to Meiji 31 (明治31年) in the Japanese calendar.

• Emperor: Emperor Meiji^[1]
• Prime Minister:
  • Matsukata Masayoshi: until January 12:
  • Itō Hirobumi: January 12 – June 30
  • Ōkuma Shigenobu: June 30 – November 8
  • Yamagata Aritomo: starting November 8

• Aichi Prefecture: Egi Kazuyuki then Baron Mori Mamoru
• Akita Prefecture: Saburo Iwao
• Aomori Prefecture: Ichiro Konoshu
• Ehime Prefecture: Park Shin Maki Naomasa then Goro Shinozaki then Oba Kan'ichi
• Fukui Prefecture: Shingo Seki
• Fukushima Prefecture: Kimumichi Nagusami
• Gifu Prefecture: Yoshinori Yumoto then Anraku Kanemichi
• Gunma Prefecture: Masataka Ishizata
• Hiroshima Prefecture: Asada Tokunori then Baron Takatoshi Iwamura then Hattori Ichizo then Asada Tokunori
• Ibaraki Prefecture: Motohiro Onada then Prince Kiyoshi Honba
• Ishikawa Prefecture: Shiba Sankarasu
• Iwate Prefecture: Ichizo Hattori then Suehiro Naokata
• Kagawa Prefecture: Tsunenori Tokuhisa then Ryosuke Ono then Yoshihara Saburo
• Kochi Prefecture: Hiroshi Shikakui
• Kumamoto Prefecture: Kanetake Oura
• Kyoto Prefecture: Utsumi Tadakatsu
• Mie Prefecture: Terumi Tanabe then Yuji Rika
• Miyagi Prefecture: Viscount Kanetake Oura then Kiyoshi Shin
• Miyazaki Prefecture: Senda Sadakatsuki
• Nagano Prefecture: Gondo Ka'nichi
• Niigata Prefecture: Minoru Katsumata
• Oita Prefecture: Shigetoo Sugimoto then Nori Oshikawa
• Okinawa Prefecture: Shigeru Narahara
• Osaka Prefecture: Nobumichi Yamada
• Saga Prefecture: Takeuchi then Yasuhiko Hirayama then Takeuchi then Seki Kiyohide
• Saitama Prefecture: Munakata Tadashi then Hanai Hagiwara
• Shiname Prefecture: Hikoji Nakamura then Chuzo Kono
• Tochigi Prefecture: Sento Kiyoshi then Hagino Samon
• Tokyo: Viscount Okabe Nagahon then Koizuka Furo then Baron Sangay Takatomi
• Toyama Prefecture: Tsurayuki Ishida then Hiroshi Abe then Kaneoryo Gen
• Yamagata Prefecture: Nori Oshikawa then Sone Shizuo

• January Unknown date – A construction brand, Kumagai Gumi was founded in Fukui City.^{[citation needed]}
• January 12 – Ito Hirobumi begins his third term as Prime Minister.
• March 15 – March 1898 Japanese general election
• August 10 – September 1898 Japanese general election
• The first automobile (a Panhard-Levassor) is introduced in Japan.

• February 4 – Shinsui Itō, Nihonga painter (d. 1972)
• February 9 – Jūkichi Yagi, poet (d. 1927)
• February 15 – Masuji Ibuse, author (d. 1993)
• March 17 – Riichi Yokomitsu, writer (d. 1947)
• April 28 – Yuzo Saeki, painter (d. 1928)
• April 29 – Iwao Yamawaki, photographer (d. 1987)
• October 5 – Kenzō Masaoka, anime creator (d. 1988)
• October 17 – Shinichi Suzuki, violinist, (d. 1998)
• October 31 – Yoshitoshi Mori, artist (d. 1992)
• December 11 – Tarō Shōji, popular song singer (d. 1972)
• December 12 – Denji Kuroshima, author (d. 1943)
• December 27 – Inejiro Asanuma, politician, leader of the Japan Socialist Party (d. 1960)

• November 12 – Nakahama Manjirō, translator and castaway (b. 1827)