With five races left, Hamilton has a 48-point lead over Rosberg.
Hamilton claimed his eighth win of the season. It was his 41st career win, tying him with his childhood hero Ayrton Senna.
'I'm not a teary guy, but I'm full of joy and happiness today,' Hamilton said.
Hamilton, who had his first retirement of the season at last weekend's Singapore GP, capitalized on a strong start and surged ahead of Rosberg at the first corner.
He led the rest of the way, crossing the finish line a comfortable 18.9 seconds ahead. Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel was third, 1.8 seconds behind Rosberg, who started from pole.
Rosberg and Hamilton went through the first two bends side by side. Hamilton appeared to give Rosberg little room at the second turn, forcing the German partially off the track.
'I didn't think it was that close,' Hamilton said. 'The inside line is the inside line, so it was my corner.'
Rosberg was reserving judgment until he saw the incident on replay.
'It was a pity to do that on the start,' Rosberg said. 'We battled around Turns 1 and 2. It got very close on the exit at Turn 2 and I had to back out and that cost me the race.'
With Hamilton comfortably ahead throughout the grand prix, the focus shifted to the tight battle for second place between Rosberg and Vettel.
Ferrari elected to wait until Rosberg pitted before bringing in Vettel, and that proved critical. Even though Vettel's stop was four tenths of a second faster than Rosberg's, the Mercedes driver's lap on fresh rubber was enough to get him just ahead of Vettel, and that's how it stayed.
'I tried everything,' Vettel said. 'The tires were on the limit — not more that I could have done.' Vettel's Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen was fourth followed by Williams' Valtteri Bottas.
The podium positions were exactly the same as last year's race at Suzuka which was marred by a crash involving Jules Bianchi, who died in July, having never regained consciousness.
Force India's Niko Hulkenberg was sixth while the Lotus pair of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado finished seventh and eighth, giving the financially strapped team a confidence boost.
Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen — in his last race as a 17-year-old — was ninth ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz Jr.
'This is a circuit that I can honestly say I've struggled at through all the years I've come here,' Hamilton said. But it's one that I've loved driving at...so you really want to come here and dominate at this track.'
'For me to come here to a race where I used to love watching Ayrton drive, to match his wins... I can't really describe it. It doesn't feel real at the moment,' said a delighted Hamilton after saluting the fans from the podium.
Both Red Bull cars finished outside the top 10. Daniil Kvyat started from the pits, while Daniel Ricciardo had a tire-bumping duel with Williams' Felipe Massa soon after the start, leaving both with punctures that forced them to pit after one lap.
The next race is the Russian GP in Sochi on Oct. 11.
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