2000 Important Events

- The Millenium Boom hits

- Hideki Shirakawa wins the Nobel Prize for Science

- Sony releases the Playstation 2
2001 Important Events

- The animated movie Spirited Away reaches number one at the Japanese box office

- Japanese baseball player Ichiro gains popularity in the U.S. Major League
2002 Important Events

- Harry Potter becomes an international bestseller

- Masatoshi Koshiba wins a Nobel Prize for Physics, Koichi Tanaka wins a Nobel Prize for Chemistry

- The Soccer World Cup is jointly held in Japan and Korea
2003 Important Events

- Chijou no Hoshi by Miyuki Nakajima is a long-running hit

- The movie Odoru Daikensasen is a hit

- Sumo wrestler Asashoryu becomes the first Mongolian Yokozuna
2004 Important Events

- The ‘Kitty Ex.’ commemorative exhibition is held to mark 30 years of Hello Kitty

- Winter Sonata becomes popular, starting the Kanryu Korea boom

- The new 10,000 yen note features Yukichi Fukuzawa, the 5,000 yen note Ichiyou Higuchi, the 1,000 yen note Hideo Noguchi
2005 Important Events

- The Aichi Expo is held

- Chubu International Airport opens

- ‘Cool biz’ spreads as an anti global warming measure

- The Densha Otoko boom, born on the Internet, spreads to the cinema and TV
2006 Important Events

- Terrestrial Digital Television ‘1seg’ begins broadcasting

- The manga Nodame Cantabile is a hit, creating a classical music boom

- Japan wins the World Baseball Classic, to become number one in the world

- Shizuka Arakawa wins figure skating gold at the Torino Winter Olympics, making the ‘inner bower’ a buzzword
2007 Important Events

- The movies Cinnamon: The Movie and Nezumi Monogatari are released

- At 15 years and 8 months of age, Ryo Ishikawa becomes the youngest person ever to win the Men’s Golf Tour

- Comedian Higashi Sonomama is elected the Governor of Miyazaki Prefecture



































