WORLD HISTORY · 1998 日本語
Events of 1998Heisei 10 (Japan) · Year of the Tiger
What happened in 1998?
In 1998, Nagano hosted the Winter Olympics, and the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge opened. Amid continuing financial turmoil the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan failed, and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung visited Japan, where the two countries adopted a joint declaration.
- Nagano Winter Olympics openAsia
- Japan's financial "Big Bang" reforms beginAsia
- Akashi Kaikyo Bridge opensAsia
- Britain and Ireland reach Good Friday AgreementEurope
- Indonesia's President Suharto resignsAsia
- Pakistan conducts first nuclear testsAsia
- Kim Dae-jung visits; Japan–Korea joint declaration issuedAsia
- Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan failsAsia
Tap an event to jump to it in the timeline below.
1998 at a glance
| Japanese era | Heisei 10 |
|---|---|
| Chinese zodiac | Year of the Tiger |
| Age of people born in 1998 | Turn 28 in 2026 |
| Previous / next year | 1997 (Heisei 9) ／ 1999 (Heisei 11) |
| Events | 120 |
| AP World History | Unit 9 (Globalization) |
| AP U.S. History | Period 9 |
Famous people born in 1998
Our birthday pages list 325 people born in 1998. Here are some of them.
- Yoshinobu YamamotoBorn August 17 · turns 28 this year
- Neru NagahamaBorn September 4 · turns 28 this year
- Sakura MiyawakiBorn March 19 · turns 28 this year
- Kylian MbappéBorn December 20 · turns 28 this year
- Rui HachimuraBorn February 8 · turns 28 this year
- Takehiro TomiyasuBorn November 5 · turns 28 this year
- Satoko MiyaharaBorn March 26 · turns 28 this year
- Marc CucurellaBorn July 22 · turns 28 this year
- Luigi MangioneBorn May 6 · turns 28 this year
- Paris JacksonBorn April 3 · turns 28 this year
- XXXTentacionBorn January 23 · turns 28 this year
- Cristina BucșaBorn January 1 · turns 28 this year
Show 28 more
- Edwuin CetréBorn January 1 · turns 28 this year
- Enock MwepuBorn January 1 · turns 28 this year
- Frank OnyekaBorn January 1 · turns 28 this year
- TfueBorn January 2 · turns 28 this year
- Timothy Fosu-MensahBorn January 2 · turns 28 this year
- EmiruBorn January 3 · turns 28 this year
- Patrick CutroneBorn January 3 · turns 28 this year
- Arnoldas KulbokaBorn January 4 · turns 28 this year
- Coco JonesBorn January 4 · turns 28 this year
- Liza SoberanoBorn January 4 · turns 28 this year
- Rodrigo GarroBorn January 4 · turns 28 this year
- Carles AleñáBorn January 5 · turns 28 this year
- Corey HorsburghBorn January 5 · turns 28 this year
- Jhoan DuránBorn January 8 · turns 28 this year
- Tony BradleyBorn January 8 · turns 28 this year
- Brent RiveraBorn January 9 · turns 28 this year
- Kerris DorseyBorn January 9 · turns 28 this year
- Thomas MikaeleBorn January 11 · turns 28 this year
- Juan FoythBorn January 12 · turns 28 this year
- Maddison InglisBorn January 14 · turns 28 this year
- Alexandra EadeBorn January 15 · turns 28 this year
- Ben GodfreyBorn January 15 · turns 28 this year
- Chloe KellyBorn January 15 · turns 28 this year
- Boo Seung-kwanBorn January 16 · turns 28 this year
- Jeff Reine-AdélaïdeBorn January 17 · turns 28 this year
- Sophie MolineuxBorn January 17 · turns 28 this year
- Aitana BonmatíBorn January 18 · turns 28 this year
- Lisandro MartínezBorn January 18 · turns 28 this year
Events of 1998 (timeline · 120)
Tip: the PC view is best for studying
On a computer, each region has its own vertical line, so you can follow the flow of events and see what was happening in different parts of the world at the same time.
Argentinian physicist Juan Maldacena publishes a landmark paper initiating the study of AdS/CFT correspondence, which links string theory and quantum gravity.
Following a currency reform, Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence.
A massive ice storm hits eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, continuing through January 10 and causing widespread destruction.
Alfredo Ormando sets himself on fire in St. Peter's Square, protesting against homophobia.
In Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa, Guatemala, thirteen American students on a school trip are attacked and robbed at gunpoint; five were raped.
Clinton–Lewinsky scandal: Matt Drudge breaks the story of the Bill Clinton–Monica Lewinsky affair on his Drudge Report website.
Space Shuttle program: space shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-89 to dock with the Russian space station Mir.
Netscape announces Mozilla, with the intention to release Communicator code as open source.
During a historic visit to Cuba, Pope John Paul II demands political reforms and the release of political prisoners while condemning US attempts to isolate the country.
A suicide attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on Sri Lanka's Temple of the Tooth kills eight and injures 25 others.
Lewinsky scandal: On American television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
Rear Admiral Lillian E. Fishburne becomes the first female African American to be promoted to rear admiral.
Cebu Pacific Flight 387 crashes into Mount Sumagaya in the Philippines, killing all 104 people on board.
Cavalese cable car disaster: A United States military pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.
The 5.9 Mw Afghanistan earthquake shakes the Takhar Province with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). With 2,323 killed, and 818 injured, damage is considered extreme.
An oil tanker train collides with a freight train in Yaoundé, Cameroon, spilling fuel oil. One person scavenging the oil created a massive explosion which killed 120.
China Airlines Flight 676 crashes into a road and residential area near Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taiwan, killing all 196 aboard and six more on the ground.
American figure skater Tara Lipinski, at the age of 15, becomes the youngest Olympic figure skating gold-medalist at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
In the United States, tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42 people.
Data sent from the Galileo spacecraft indicates that Jupiter's moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.
Gay rights: Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc.: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that federal laws banning on-the-job sexual harassment also apply when both parties are the same sex.
An Ariana Afghan Airlines Boeing 727 crashes on approach to Kabul International Airport, killing all 45 on board.
A tornado sweeps through Dantan in India, killing 250 people and injuring 3,000 others.
Dr. Rüdiger Marmulla performs the first computer-assisted Bone Segment Navigation at the University of Regensburg, Germany.
Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden, aged 11 and 13 respectively, open fire upon teachers and students at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas; five people are killed and ten are wounded.
During the Algerian Civil War, the Oued Bouaicha massacre sees fifty-two people, mostly infants, killed with axes and knives.
The Food and Drug Administration approves Viagra for use as a treatment for erectile dysfunction, the first pill to be approved for this condition in the United States.
In Japan, the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge opens to traffic, becoming the longest bridge span in the world.
Nuclear weapons testing: Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of reaching India.
Air France Flight 422 crashes after taking off from El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia, killing all 53 people on board.
The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the European Union's monetary policy.
A federal judge in Sacramento, California, gives "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski four life sentences plus 30 years after Kaczynski accepts a plea agreement sparing him from the death penalty.
Kerry Wood strikes out 20 Houston Astros to tie the major league record held by Roger Clemens. He threw a one-hitter and did not walk a batter in his fifth career start.
Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for US$40 billion and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history.
Race riots break out in Jakarta, Indonesia, where shops owned by Indonesians of Chinese descent are looted and women raped.
India carries out two nuclear weapon tests at Pokhran, following the three conducted on May 11. The United States and Japan impose economic sanctions on India.
President Suharto of Indonesia resigns following the killing of students from Trisakti University earlier that week by security forces and growing mass protests in Jakarta against his ongoing corrupt rule.
A U.S. federal judge rules that U.S. Secret Service agents can be compelled to testify before a grand jury concerning the Lewinsky scandal involving President Bill Clinton.
The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with roughly 75% voting yes.
The Supreme Court of the United States rules in New Jersey v. New York that Ellis Island, the historic gateway for millions of immigrants, is mainly in the state of New Jersey, not New York.
The first "National Sorry Day" is held in Australia. Reconciliation events are held nationally, and attended by over a million people.
A MIAT Mongolian Airlines Harbin Y-12 crashes near Erdenet, Orkhon Province, Mongolia, resulting in 28 deaths.
Oklahoma City bombing: Michael Fortier is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorist plot.
Nuclear testing: Pakistan responds to a series of nuclear tests by India with five of its own codenamed Chagai-I, prompting the United States, Japan, and other nations to impose economic sanctions. Pakistan celebrates Youm-e-Takbir annually.
The 6.5 Mw Afghanistan earthquake shakes the Takhar Province of northern Afghanistan with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong), killing around 4,000–4,500.
Nuclear Testing: Pakistan conducts an underground test in the Kharan Desert. It is reported to be a plutonium device with yield of 20kt TNT equivalent.
Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-91, the final mission of the Shuttle-Mir program.
After suffering a mechanical failure, a high speed train derails at Eschede, Germany, killing 101 people.
A strike begins at the General Motors parts factory in Flint, Michigan, that quickly spreads to five other assembly plants. The strike lasts seven weeks.
Compaq Computer pays US$9 billion for Digital Equipment Corporation in the largest high-tech acquisition.
Propair Flight 420 crashes near Montréal–Mirabel International Airport in Quebec, Canada, killing 11.
In Clinton v. City of New York, the United States Supreme Court decides that the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 is unconstitutional.
Japan launches the Nozomi probe to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as a space exploring nation.
Hong Kong International Airport opens in Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong, replacing Kai Tak Airport as the city's international airport.
Catholic Church sexual abuse cases: The Diocese of Dallas agrees to pay $23.4 million to nine former altar boys who claim they were sexually abused by Rudolph Kos, a former priest.
France win their first World Cup title, defeating defending champions Brazil 3–0.
The Ulster Volunteer Force attack a house in Ballymoney, County Antrim, Northern Ireland with a petrol bomb, killing the Quinn brothers.
Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil MP S. Shanmuganathan is killed by a claymore mine.
A diplomatic conference adopts the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, establishing the permanent international court in The Hague, to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
The 7.0 Mw Papua New Guinea earthquake triggers a tsunami that destroys ten villages in Papua New Guinea, killing up to 2,700 people, and leaving several thousand injured.
Russell Eugene Weston Jr. bursts into the United States Capitol and opens fire, killing two police officers. He is later ruled to be incompetent to stand trial.
Puntland, an autonomous state in northeastern Somalia, is officially established following a constitutional conference in Garowe. Issims and tribal chiefs agreed to create a self-declared government until Somalia recovered.
Bombings at United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya kill approximately 212 people.
The Iranian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, is raided by Taliban, leading to the deaths of ten Iranian diplomats and a journalist.
HRH Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah is proclaimed the crown prince of Brunei with a Royal Proclamation.
Northern Ireland: Omagh bombing takes place; 29 people (including a woman pregnant with twins) killed and some 220 others injured.
Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky; later that same day he admits before the nation that he "misled people" about the relationship.
The Supreme Court of Canada rules that Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval.
U.S. embassy bombings: The United States launches cruise missile attacks against alleged al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical weapons plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
First radio-frequency identification (RFID) human implantation tested in the United Kingdom.
The first flight of the Boeing Delta III ends in disaster 75 seconds after liftoff, resulting in the loss of the Galaxy X communications satellite.
Second Congo War: Loyalist troops backed by Angolan and Zimbabwean forces repulse the RCD and Rwandan offensive on Kinshasa.
Pakistan's National Assembly passes a constitutional amendment to make the "Qur'an and Sunnah" the "supreme law" but the bill is defeated in the Senate.
Eighty people are killed when Cubana de Aviación Flight 389 crashes during a rejected takeoff from the Old Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito, Ecuador.
Second Congo War: Armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and their Angolan and Zimbabwean allies recapture Matadi and the Inga dams in the western DRC from RCD and Rwandan troops.
Swissair Flight 111 crashes near Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia; all 229 people on board are killed.
The UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda finds Jean-Paul Akayesu, the former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, guilty of nine counts of genocide.
Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two PhD students at Stanford University.
Telecommunications companies MCI Communications and WorldCom complete their $37 billion merger to form MCI WorldCom.
PauknAir Flight 4101, a British Aerospace 146, crashes near Melilla Airport in Melilla, Spain, killing 38 people.
The Google internet search engine retroactively claims this date as its birthday.
A Lignes Aériennes Congolaises jetliner is shot down by rebels in Kindu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 41 people.
Eric Rudolph is charged with six bombings, including the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, Georgia.
Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is arrested in London on a murder extradition warrant.
Deep Space 1 is launched to explore the asteroid belt and test new spacecraft technologies.
Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off on STS-95 with 77-year-old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space at that time.
ATSC HDTV broadcasting in the United States is inaugurated with live coverage of the launch of the STS-95 space shuttle mission.
Hurricane Mitch, the second deadliest Atlantic hurricane in history, makes landfall in Honduras.
In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities.
Iraq disarmament crisis begins: Iraq announces it would no longer cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors.
A U.S. federal judge, in the largest civil settlement in American history, orders 37 U.S. brokerage houses to pay US$1.03 billion to cheated NASDAQ investors to compensate for price fixing.
Capital punishment in the United Kingdom, already abolished for murder, is completely abolished for all remaining capital offences.
Clinton–Lewinsky scandal: The United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee begins impeachment hearings into U.S. President Bill Clinton.
A court in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan declares accused terrorist Osama bin Laden "a man without a sin" in regard to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
The first space station module component, Zarya, for the International Space Station is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Finnish satanist Jarno Elg kills a 23-year-old man and performs a ritual-like cutting and eating of body parts in Hyvinkää, Finland.
Tony Blair becomes the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to address the Oireachtas, the parliament of the Republic of Ireland.
The Unity Module, the second module of the International Space Station, is launched.
Thai Airways Flight 261 crashes near Surat Thani Airport, killing 101. The pilot flying the Airbus A310-200 is thought to have suffered spatial disorientation.
Yugoslav Wars: The Yugoslav Army ambushes a group of Kosovo Liberation Army fighters attempting to smuggle weapons from Albania into Kosovo, killing 36.
President Bill Clinton is impeached by the United States House of Representatives, becoming the second president of the United States to be impeached.
Iraq announces its intention to fire upon U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern no-fly zones.
Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the Cambodian genocide that claimed over one million lives.
The European Exchange Rate Mechanism freezes the values of the legacy currencies in the Eurozone, and establishes the value of the euro currency.
Source: Wikipedia date pages ("January 1" … "December 31") / CC BY-SA 4.0. Regions are assigned by the site editors.
FAQ
What year was 1998 in the Japanese calendar?
1998 was Heisei 10 in the Japanese era system.
What Chinese zodiac animal is 1998?
1998 is the Year of the Tiger.
How old is someone born in 1998?
They turn 28 on their birthday in 2026.
What happened in 1998?
In 1998, Nagano hosted the Winter Olympics, and the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge opened. Amid continuing financial turmoil the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan failed, and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung visited Japan, where the two countries adopted a joint declaration.
Dates and events are based on Wikipedia and other references. Summaries and regions are written by the site editors.