Events in the year 1916 in Japan. It corresponds to Taishō 5 (大正5年) in the Japanese calendar.

• Emperor: Emperor Taishō^[1]
• Prime minister:
  • Ōkuma Shigenobu: until October 9
  • Terauchi Masatake: from October 9

• Aichi Prefecture: Matsui Shigeru
• Akita Prefecture: Saburo Sakamoto (until 28 April); Genzaburo Kojima (starting 28 April)
• Aomori Prefecture: Matsujiro Obama
• Ehime Prefecture: Renarto Fukamachi (until 28 April); Sakata Kanta (starting 28 April)
• Fukui Prefecture: Sato Kozaburo
• Fukushima Prefecture: Sukeji Horiguchi (until 28 April); Takukichi Kawasaki (starting 28 April)
• Gifu Prefecture: Shimada Gotaro
• Gunma Prefecture: Miyake Gennosuke
• Hiroshima Prefecture: Terada Yushi (until 28 April); Eitaro Mabuchi (starting 28 April)
• Hyogo Prefecture: Seino Chotarno (starting month unknown)
• Ibaraki Prefecture: Keisuke Sakanaka
• Ishikawa Prefecture: Ōta Masahiro (until month unknown)
• Iwate Prefecture: Rinpei Otsu
• Kagawa Prefecture: Raizo Wakabayashi
• Kochi Prefecture: Toki Kahei (until 13 October); Takeo Kakinuma (starting 13 October)
• Kumamoto Prefecture: Kawakami Shinhare (until 13 October); Ōta Masahiro (starting 13 October)
• Kyoto Prefecture: Shoichi Omori (until April); Jūshirō Kiuchi (starting April)
• Mie Prefecture:
  • until 28 April: Eitaro Mabuchi
  • 28 April – 23 October: Shujiro Nagata
  • starting 23 October: Miki Nagano
• Miyagi Prefecture: Tsunenosuke Hamada
• Miyazaki Prefecture: Shutaro Horiuchi
• Nagano Prefecture: Tenta Akaboshi
• Niigata Prefecture: Keisuke Sakanaka (until 2 June); Tsuizui Katagawa (starting 2 June)
• Okinawa Prefecture:
  • until 28 April: Kyūgorō Ōmi
  • 28 April – 4 May: Iwatarō Otagiri
  • starting 4 May: Kuniyoshi Suzuki
• Osaka Prefecture: Marques Okubo Toshi Takeshi
• Saga Prefecture: Ishibashi Kazu
• Saitama Prefecture: Akiratani Akira (until 13 October); Tadahiko Okada (starting 13 October)
• Shiname Prefecture: Ichiro Oriharami
• Tochigi Prefecture: Shin Kitagawa (until 2 June); Hiroyoshi Hiratsuka (starting 2 June)
• Tokyo: Yuichi Ionue
• Toyama Prefecture: Ki Masesaku
• Yamagata Prefecture: Iwataro Odakiri (until 28 April); Soeda Keiichiro (starting 28 April)

• Japan during World War I
• January 22 – Japan launches its first domestically manufactured blimp. The blimp left Tokorozawa at 1:30 p.m. and, after landing and refueling at Toyohashi, landed in Osaka at 5:10 p.m. the next day.
• November 2 – Prince Hirohito is formally proclaimed Crown Prince and heir apparent.
• October 9 – Tokyo Confectionery, as predecessor of Meiji Holdings was founded.^{[citation needed]}
• Unknown date
  • A truck brand, Isuzu founded, as predecessor name of Ishikawajima Automobile Manufacturing.^{[page needed]}
  • Seinan Gakuin University was founded, as predecessor name was Seinan Gakuin in Fukuoka.^{[page needed]}

• January 9 – Masaharu Taguchi, freestyle swimmer (d. 1982)
• January 12 – Haruo Oka, ryūkōka singer (d. 1970)
• February 14 – Masaki Kobayashi, film director (d. 1996)
• July 1 – Olivia de Havilland, British-American film actress (d. 2020 in France)
• August 8 – Shigeo Arai, freestyle swimmer (d. 1944)
• August 25 – Saburō Sakai, naval aviator and flying ace (d. 2000)
• September 17 – Kuniko Miyake, film actress (d. 1992)
• October 10 – Sumiko Mizukubo, film actress
• October 15 – Yasuji Miyazaki, Olympic swimmer (d. 1989)

• January 11 – Takashima Tomonosuke, general (b. 1844)
• February 9 – Katō Hiroyuki, academic and politician (b. 1836)
• August 8 – Kamimura Hikonojō, admiral (b. 1849)
• December 9 – Natsume Sōseki, novelist and poet (b. 1867)
• December 10 – Ōyama Iwao, field marshal (b. 1842)

• List of Japanese films of the 1910s
• Asian and Pacific theater of World War I