* Brett Austin ( 1959 – 1990 ), New Zealand swimmer

British Medical Journal, Jan. 3, 1959, 1 ( 5113 ): 1 – 6.

* 1959 – Gail Shea, Canadian politician

* 1883 – Dally Messenger, Australian footballer ( d. 1959 )

* 1959 – Paul Gross, Canadian actor, director, and writer

* 1959 – Stephen Harper, Canadian politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Canada

* 1959 – W. Thomas Smith, Jr, American author and columnist

* 1909 – Lester Young, American saxophonist ( d. 1959 )

* 1959 – Gerhard Berger, Austrian race car driver

* 1959 – Downtown Julie Brown, English television host and actress

* 1959 – Juan Fernando Cobo, Colombian painter and sculptor

* 1959 – András Petöcz, Hungarian author

* 1959 – Jeanette Winterson, English novelist

* 1959 – Rajendra Singh Indian water conservationist

* 1875 – Albert Ketèlbey, English conductor, composer, and pianist ( d. 1959 )

* 1959 – Kurtis Blow, American rapper and producer

* 1959 – Stuart Hughes, Canadian actor

* 1959 – Michael Kors, American fashion designer

* 1959 – Toni Servillo, Italian actor and director

* 1959 – Danny Bonaduce, American actor

* 1959 – Michael Bradley, Irish bass player and radio host ( The Undertones )

* 1959 – Bruce French, English cricketer

* 1959 – Tom Niedenfuer, American baseball player

* 1959 – Victoria Jackson, American comedian, actress, and singer

* 1959 – Apollonia Kotero, American singer and actress ( Apollonia 6 )

* 1959 – Yoshihide Ōtomo, Japanese musician and composer ( Ground Zero and Filament )

* 1959 – Koichi Tanaka, Japanese engineer and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

* 1959 – Yoshiaki Murakami, Japanese investor

* 1959 – Satoru Iwata, Japanese video game industry executive

* 1959 – Rosanjin, Japanese calligrapher, restaurateur and ceramicist ( b. 1883 )

* 1892 – Tochigiyama Moriya, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 27th Yokozuna ( d. 1959 )

* 1959 – Momoe Yamaguchi, Japanese singer and actress

* 1959 – Ryuta Kawashima, Japanese neuroscientist

* 1959 – Nobuo Uematsu, Japanese video game composer

* 1959 – Eriko Hara, Japanese voice actress

* 1959 – Toshihiko Sahashi, Japanese composer

* 1959 – Shirō Ishii, Japanese military microbiologist, head of Unit 731 ( b. 1892 )

* 1959 – Nearly 5000 people die on the main Japanese island of Honshū as the result of a typhoon.

In Japan, war films from the Japanese perspective were popular, such as Japan's Longest Day ( 1967 ), Submarine I-57 Will Not Surrender ( 1959 ) and Battle of Okinawa ( 1971 ).

** Shirō Ishii, Japanese microbiologist and lieutenant general of Unit 731 ( d. 1959 )

* December 4 – Nagai Kafu, Japanese writer ( d. 1959 )

* Keiichi Hara ( 原 恵一, born 1959 ), a Japanese director of animated films

Mao himself is officially regarded by the CPC as a " great revolutionary leader " for his role in fighting the Japanese and creating the People's Republic of China, but Maoism as implemented between 1959 and 1976 is regarded by today's CPC as an economic and political disaster.

His books of poetry include Poems 1913 and 1914 ( 1914 ); Poems Translated from the French ( 1914 ); Three Poems ( 1916 ); The Barn ( 1916 ); The Silver Bird of Herndyke Mill ; Stane Street ; The Gods of the World Beneath, ( 1916 ); The Harbingers ( 1916 ); Pastorals ( 1916 ); The Waggoner and Other Poems ( 1920 ); The Shepherd, and Other Poems of Peace and War ( 1922 ); Old Homes ( 1922 ); To Nature: New Poems ( 1923 ); Dead Letters ( 1923 ); Masks of Time: A New Collection of Poems Principally Meditative ( 1925 ); Japanese Garland ( 1928 ); Retreat ( 1928 ); Winter Nights: A Reminiscence ( 1928 ); Near and Far: New Poems ( 1929 ); A Summer's Fancy ( 1930 ); To Themis: Poems on Famous Trials ( 1931 ); Constantia and Francis: An Autumn Evening, ( 1931 ); Halfway House: A Miscellany of New Poems, ( 1932 ); Choice or Chance: New Poems ( 1934 ); Verses: To H. R. H. The Duke of Windsor, ( 1936 ); An Elegy and Other Poems ( 1937 ); On Several Occasions ( 1938 ); Poems, 1930-1940 ( 1940 ); Shells by a Stream ( 1944 ); After the Bombing, and Other Short Poems ( 1949 ); Eastward: A Selection of Verses Original and Translated ( 1950 ); Records of Friendship ( 1950 ); A Hong Kong House ( 1959 ); Poems on Japan ( 1967 ).

( born March 21, 1959 ) is a Japanese video game composer, best known for scoring the majority of titles in the Final Fantasy series.

Toshiba is responsible for a number of Japanese firsts, including radar ( 1942 ), the TAC digital computer ( 1954 ), transistor television and microwave oven ( 1959 ), color video phone ( 1971 ), Japanese word processor ( 1978 ), MRI system ( 1982 ), laptop personal computer ( 1986 ), NAND EEPROM ( 1991 ), DVD ( 1995 ), the Libretto sub-notebook personal computer ( 1996 ) and HD DVD ( 2005 ).

In 1959, Hiroshi Inagaki wrote and directed a Japanese version, Aru kengo no shogai ( Life of an Expert Swordsman or Samurai Saga ), setting the story in 17th century Shogunate Japan and starring Toshirō Mifune as the Cyrano character " Heihachiro Komaki " and Yoko Tsukasa as the Roxanne character " Lady Ochii ".

However, a musical score influenced by classical Japanese music by Deren's third husband, Teiji Ito, was added under Deren's supervision in 1959.