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Events in the year 1979 in Japan. It corresponds to Shōwa 54 (昭和54年) in the Japanese calendar.
In film, Vengeance Is Mine by Shōhei Imamura won the Best film award at the Japan Academy Prize, at the Blue Ribbon Awards and at the Mainichi Film Award, Taiyō o Nusunda Otoko by Kazuhiko Hasegawa won Best film at the Yokohama Film Festival and at the Hochi Film Awards. For a list of Japanese films released in 1979 see Japanese films of 1979.
The asadora Mā-nē-chan [ja] and Ayu no uta [ja] began in 1979. For other television, see: 1979 in Japanese television.
Books published included Shiki Natsuko [ja] by Hiroyuki Itsuki and Tenchūsatsu Nyūmon (Japanese:天中殺入門) by Sōshō Izumi [ja].[4] See also Category:1979 Japanese novels.
In manga, the winners of the Shogakukan Manga Award were Doza no Ippon Tsuri by Yusuke Aoyagi (general) and Toward the Terra and Kaze to Ki no Uta by Keiko Takemiya (shōnen or shōjo).[9] Tonda Couple by Kimio Yanagisawa (shōnen) and The Star of Cottonland by Yumiko Ōshima (shōjo) won the Kodansha Manga Award. For a list of manga released in 1979 see Category:1979 manga.
In music, hit singles included "Omidezake [ja]" by Sachiko Kobayashi and "Ihojin" by Saki Kubota.[4] The 30th Kōhaku Uta Gassen was won by the Red Team (women). Hideki Saijo won the FNS Music Festival and Judy Ongg won the 21st Japan Record Award. For Japanese music in 1979, see 1979 in Japanese music.
Japan hosted the Miss International 1979 beauty pageant, won by Filipina Melanie Marquez.
In athletics (track and field) Japan hosted the Asian Championships and was first in the medal table with 20 gold medals and a total of 59 medals.
In baseball Hiroshima Carp won the Japan Series.
In basketball Japan hosted the ABC Championship and won the second place behind China.
In football (soccer) Japan hosted the FIFA World Youth Championship, won by Argentina. Fujita Engineering won the Japan Soccer League. For the champions of the regional leagues see: 1979 Japanese Regional Leagues. For more see: 1979 in Japanese football.