Reference

Japanese Era Year Converter

Japan runs two calendars at once. 西暦 (seireki) is the Western year you already use. 和暦 (wareki) counts from the start of the current emperor’s reign, and it is what government paperwork asks for. This page converts between them, both directions, back to 1868.

Right now it is

Reiwa 8

令和8年

Today in full: 令和8年8月3日. Western year 2026. To convert any Reiwa year, add 2018.

The five modern eras

One era per reign since 1868. Before that, an era could be renamed mid-reign, which is why every conversion chart starts here.

The five eras of the one-reign-one-era system, newest first.
Era	Kanji	Letter	Western years	Add
Reiwa	令和	R	2019 – present	+2018
Heisei	平成	H	1989 – 2019	+1988
Shōwa	昭和	S	1926 – 1989	+1925
Taishō	大正	T	1912 – 1926	+1911
Meiji	明治	M	1868 – 1912	+1867

"Add" is the number that turns an era year into a Western year. Reiwa 8 + 2018 = 2026.

The structure of a Japanese date

A Japanese imperial date is written in the order era name, year, month, day, with a Japanese character after each number instead of a slash or a hyphen: 年 marks the year, 月 the month, and 日 the day. Nothing separates the parts because the characters already label them.

令和Reiwa era
8年year 8
8月month
3日day

Today, in every form you will meet it

The same calendar date rendered in each written and spoken form a reader is likely to meet.
Format	Today	Where you see it
ISO 8601	2026-08-03	What you probably arrived with.
Japanese, Western digits	2026年8月3日	Everyday Japanese writing and most websites.
Imperial, Western digits	令和8年8月3日	Government forms, contracts, certificates.
Imperial, kanji digits	令和八年八月三日	Formal documents and older records.
Imperial, single-glyph era	㋿8年8月3日	Stamps and tight columns, where space is short.
Letter abbreviation	R8.8.3	Licenses, product stamps, databases, game data.
Read aloud (romaji)	Reiwa hachi-nen hachi-gatsu mikka	How the imperial date above is spoken.

The order is always largest unit to smallest: year, then month, then day. That is the same order as ISO 8601 and the reverse of the American month-first habit, which is why 2026年8月3日 and 2026-08-03 agree while an American reader writing the same day would lead with the month.

The three marker characters

The characters that follow each number in a Japanese date.
Character	Marks	Read as	Unicode
年	year	nen	`U+5E74`
月	month	gatsu	`U+6708`
日	day	nichi	`U+65E5`

The conversion table

Newest first, one table per era. Four calendar years appear in two tables on purpose, because an era ends the day the reign does: 1912, 1926, 1989, and 2019 each carry two era names. For 1912 and 1926 the boundary day itself is disputed, so follow the era printed on your document.

Reiwa 令和2019 to present, Emperor Naruhito

Reiwa era years and their Western equivalents. Reiwa began on May 1, 2019 and is the current era.
Western year	Japanese year	Written in Japanese
2035	Reiwa 17	令和17年
2034	Reiwa 16	令和16年
2033	Reiwa 15	令和15年
2032	Reiwa 14	令和14年
2031	Reiwa 13	令和13年
2030	Reiwa 12	令和12年
2029	Reiwa 11	令和11年
2028	Reiwa 10	令和10年
2027	Reiwa 9	令和9年
2026	Reiwa 8	令和8年
2025	Reiwa 7	令和7年
2024	Reiwa 6	令和6年
2023	Reiwa 5	令和5年
2022	Reiwa 4	令和4年
2021	Reiwa 3	令和3年
2020	Reiwa 2	令和2年
2019	Reiwa 1(Began May 1)	令和元年

Heisei 平成1989 to 2019, Emperor Akihito

Heisei era years and their Western equivalents. Heisei began on January 8, 1989 and ended on April 30, 2019.
Western year	Japanese year	Written in Japanese
2019	Heisei 31(Ended April 30)	平成31年
2018	Heisei 30	平成30年
2017	Heisei 29	平成29年
2016	Heisei 28	平成28年
2015	Heisei 27	平成27年
2014	Heisei 26	平成26年
2013	Heisei 25	平成25年
2012	Heisei 24	平成24年
2011	Heisei 23	平成23年
2010	Heisei 22	平成22年
2009	Heisei 21	平成21年
2008	Heisei 20	平成20年
2007	Heisei 19	平成19年
2006	Heisei 18	平成18年
2005	Heisei 17	平成17年
2004	Heisei 16	平成16年
2003	Heisei 15	平成15年
2002	Heisei 14	平成14年
2001	Heisei 13	平成13年
2000	Heisei 12	平成12年
1999	Heisei 11	平成11年
1998	Heisei 10	平成10年
1997	Heisei 9	平成9年
1996	Heisei 8	平成8年
1995	Heisei 7	平成7年
1994	Heisei 6	平成6年
1993	Heisei 5	平成5年
1992	Heisei 4	平成4年
1991	Heisei 3	平成3年
1990	Heisei 2	平成2年
1989	Heisei 1(Began January 8)	平成元年

Shōwa 昭和1926 to 1989, Emperor Hirohito

Shōwa era years and their Western equivalents. Shōwa began on December 25, 1926 and ended on January 7, 1989.
Western year	Japanese year	Written in Japanese
1989	Shōwa 64(Ended January 7)	昭和64年
1988	Shōwa 63	昭和63年
1987	Shōwa 62	昭和62年
1986	Shōwa 61	昭和61年
1985	Shōwa 60	昭和60年
1984	Shōwa 59	昭和59年
1983	Shōwa 58	昭和58年
1982	Shōwa 57	昭和57年
1981	Shōwa 56	昭和56年
1980	Shōwa 55	昭和55年
1979	Shōwa 54	昭和54年
1978	Shōwa 53	昭和53年
1977	Shōwa 52	昭和52年
1976	Shōwa 51	昭和51年
1975	Shōwa 50	昭和50年
1974	Shōwa 49	昭和49年
1973	Shōwa 48	昭和48年
1972	Shōwa 47	昭和47年
1971	Shōwa 46	昭和46年
1970	Shōwa 45	昭和45年
1969	Shōwa 44	昭和44年
1968	Shōwa 43	昭和43年
1967	Shōwa 42	昭和42年
1966	Shōwa 41	昭和41年
1965	Shōwa 40	昭和40年
1964	Shōwa 39	昭和39年
1963	Shōwa 38	昭和38年
1962	Shōwa 37	昭和37年
1961	Shōwa 36	昭和36年
1960	Shōwa 35	昭和35年
1959	Shōwa 34	昭和34年
1958	Shōwa 33	昭和33年
1957	Shōwa 32	昭和32年
1956	Shōwa 31	昭和31年
1955	Shōwa 30	昭和30年
1954	Shōwa 29	昭和29年
1953	Shōwa 28	昭和28年
1952	Shōwa 27	昭和27年
1951	Shōwa 26	昭和26年
1950	Shōwa 25	昭和25年
1949	Shōwa 24	昭和24年
1948	Shōwa 23	昭和23年
1947	Shōwa 22	昭和22年
1946	Shōwa 21	昭和21年
1945	Shōwa 20	昭和20年
1944	Shōwa 19	昭和19年
1943	Shōwa 18	昭和18年
1942	Shōwa 17	昭和17年
1941	Shōwa 16	昭和16年
1940	Shōwa 15	昭和15年
1939	Shōwa 14	昭和14年
1938	Shōwa 13	昭和13年
1937	Shōwa 12	昭和12年
1936	Shōwa 11	昭和11年
1935	Shōwa 10	昭和10年
1934	Shōwa 9	昭和9年
1933	Shōwa 8	昭和8年
1932	Shōwa 7	昭和7年
1931	Shōwa 6	昭和6年
1930	Shōwa 5	昭和5年
1929	Shōwa 4	昭和4年
1928	Shōwa 3	昭和3年
1927	Shōwa 2	昭和2年
1926	Shōwa 1(Began December 25)	昭和元年

Taishō 大正1912 to 1926, Emperor Yoshihito

Taishō era years and their Western equivalents. Taishō began on July 30, 1912 and ended on December 25, 1926.
Western year	Japanese year	Written in Japanese
1926	Taishō 15(Ended December 25)	大正15年
1925	Taishō 14	大正14年
1924	Taishō 13	大正13年
1923	Taishō 12	大正12年
1922	Taishō 11	大正11年
1921	Taishō 10	大正10年
1920	Taishō 9	大正9年
1919	Taishō 8	大正8年
1918	Taishō 7	大正7年
1917	Taishō 6	大正6年
1916	Taishō 5	大正5年
1915	Taishō 4	大正4年
1914	Taishō 3	大正3年
1913	Taishō 2	大正2年
1912	Taishō 1(Began July 30)	大正元年

Meiji 明治1868 to 1912, Emperor Mutsuhito

Meiji era years and their Western equivalents. Meiji began on October 23, 1868 and ended on July 30, 1912.
Western year	Japanese year	Written in Japanese
1912	Meiji 45(Ended July 30)	明治45年
1911	Meiji 44	明治44年
1910	Meiji 43	明治43年
1909	Meiji 42	明治42年
1908	Meiji 41	明治41年
1907	Meiji 40	明治40年
1906	Meiji 39	明治39年
1905	Meiji 38	明治38年
1904	Meiji 37	明治37年
1903	Meiji 36	明治36年
1902	Meiji 35	明治35年
1901	Meiji 34	明治34年
1900	Meiji 33	明治33年
1899	Meiji 32	明治32年
1898	Meiji 31	明治31年
1897	Meiji 30	明治30年
1896	Meiji 29	明治29年
1895	Meiji 28	明治28年
1894	Meiji 27	明治27年
1893	Meiji 26	明治26年
1892	Meiji 25	明治25年
1891	Meiji 24	明治24年
1890	Meiji 23	明治23年
1889	Meiji 22	明治22年
1888	Meiji 21	明治21年
1887	Meiji 20	明治20年
1886	Meiji 19	明治19年
1885	Meiji 18	明治18年
1884	Meiji 17	明治17年
1883	Meiji 16	明治16年
1882	Meiji 15	明治15年
1881	Meiji 14	明治14年
1880	Meiji 13	明治13年
1879	Meiji 12	明治12年
1878	Meiji 11	明治11年
1877	Meiji 10	明治10年
1876	Meiji 9	明治9年
1875	Meiji 8	明治8年
1874	Meiji 7	明治7年
1873	Meiji 6	明治6年
1872	Meiji 5	明治5年
1871	Meiji 4	明治4年
1870	Meiji 3	明治3年
1869	Meiji 2	明治2年
1868	Meiji 1(Began October 23)	明治元年

Meiji 1 is 1868 by the convention every Japanese government conversion chart uses: the era was proclaimed on October 23, 1868 and backdated to the start of that year, which it shares with the final year of the preceding Keio era. Japanese dates before 1873 follow a lunisolar calendar whose months do not line up with Gregorian months, so treat pre-1873 day and month values as approximate. The years above are correct.

Born in a year that changed eras?

A calendar year can carry two era names. Almost every single date maps to just one. Use the era that was in force on the day itself, not the one that covers most of the year. Two boundary days are contested, 30 July 1912 and 25 December 1926, and on those the era printed on your document is the answer.

14 November 1926

Taishō 15 大正15年

30 December 1926

Shōwa 1 昭和元年

Same Western year, different era, because the reign changed on 25 December. 1989 splits the same way on 7 January, and 2019 on 30 April. If you are filling in a Japanese form, the era printed on your own document is the one to copy.

Converting without the table

Each era is a fixed offset. Add it to the era year to get the Western year, or subtract it to go the other way.

Reiwa 令和

Reiwa year + 2018 = Western year

Reiwa 1 = 2019. Reiwa 8 = 2026.

Heisei 平成

Heisei year + 1988 = Western year

Heisei 1 = 1989. Heisei 31 = 2019.

Shōwa 昭和

Shōwa year + 1925 = Western year

Shōwa 1 = 1926. Shōwa 64 = 1989.

Taishō 大正

Taishō year + 1911 = Western year

Taishō 1 = 1912. Taishō 15 = 1926.

Meiji 明治

Meiji year + 1867 = Western year

Meiji 1 = 1868. Meiji 45 = 1912.

Character reference

Everything below is real text, not a picture of a table. Select it, search it, paste it into the form you are filling in.

Era names, glyphs, and letters

Each era in kanji, as a single Unicode glyph, and as the letter used in short dates.
Era	Kanji	Kanji code points	Single glyph	Glyph code point	Letter
Reiwa	令和	`U+4EE4 U+548C`	㋿	`U+32FF`	R
Heisei	平成	`U+5E73 U+6210`	㍻	`U+337B`	H
Shōwa	昭和	`U+662D U+548C`	㍼	`U+337C`	S
Taishō	大正	`U+5927 U+6B63`	㍽	`U+337D`	T
Meiji	明治	`U+660E U+6CBB`	㍾	`U+337E`	M

The single-glyph forms are one character each, not two. Reiwa’s (U+32FF) was added to Unicode in May 2019, weeks after the era began, which is why reference pages written before then stop at Heisei. If that cell shows an empty box on your screen, your system font predates the addition. The code point beside it is still correct, and copying it will paste the right character.

Kanji numerals

The eleven characters every other number up to 99 is built from.
Number	Kanji	Read as	Unicode
0	〇	rei	`U+3007`
1	一	ichi	`U+4E00`
2	二	ni	`U+4E8C`
3	三	san	`U+4E09`
4	四	shi	`U+56DB`
5	五	go	`U+4E94`
6	六	roku	`U+516D`
7	七	shichi	`U+4E03`
8	八	hachi	`U+516B`
9	九	ku	`U+4E5D`
10	十	jū	`U+5341`

Tens are positional: 15 = 十五, 26 = 二十六, 31 = 三十一, 45 = 四十五, 64 = 六十四. Era years never exceed two digits, so these eleven characters cover every date you will meet.

Months

Months are the number followed by the character for month.
Month	Japanese	Read as
January	一月	ichi-gatsu
February	二月	ni-gatsu
March	三月	san-gatsu
April	四月	shi-gatsu
May	五月	go-gatsu
June	六月	roku-gatsu
July	七月	shichi-gatsu
August	八月	hachi-gatsu
September	九月	ku-gatsu
October	十月	jū-gatsu
November	十一月	jūichi-gatsu
December	十二月	jūni-gatsu

The readings are not fully regular. April, July, and September use the older reading of their numeral, so they are shi-gatsu, shichi-gatsu, and ku-gatsu rather than what counting aloud would suggest.

Days of the month with irregular readings

The thirteen days whose reading you cannot work out from the number.
Day	Japanese	Kana	Read as
1	1\u65e5	ついたち	tsuitachi
2	2\u65e5	ふつか	futsuka
3	3\u65e5	みっか	mikka
4	4\u65e5	よっか	yokka
5	5\u65e5	いつか	itsuka
6	6\u65e5	むいか	muika
7	7\u65e5	なのか	nanoka
8	8\u65e5	ようか	yōka
9	9\u65e5	ここのか	kokonoka
10	10\u65e5	とおか	tōka
14	14\u65e5	じゅうよっか	jūyokka
20	20\u65e5	はつか	hatsuka
24	24\u65e5	にじゅうよっか	nijūyokka

Days 1 to 10, plus the 14th, 20th, and 24th, use native Japanese counting words. The 1st is tsuitachi, not ichi-nichi, and the 20th is hatsuka, not nijū-nichi. Every other day is its number read normally plus nichi, so the 15th is jūgo-nichi.

Days of the week

Weekday names carry their meaning in the first character.
Day	Japanese	Short	Read as
Monday	月曜日	月	getsu-yōbi
Tuesday	火曜日	火	ka-yōbi
Wednesday	水曜日	水	sui-yōbi
Thursday	木曜日	木	moku-yōbi
Friday	金曜日	金	kin-yōbi
Saturday	土曜日	土	do-yōbi
Sunday	日曜日	日	nichi-yōbi

曜日 (yōbi) means "day of the week". Calendars and timetables often print only the first character.

Where you will meet a wareki date

Japanese daily life mostly runs on 西暦. Officialdom does not.

Driver licence運転免許証
Residence card在留カード
Family register戸籍謄本
Certificate of residence住民票
Health insurance card健康保険証
Pension book年金手帳
Tax return確定申告
Contracts and certificates契約書

Common questions

What Japanese era year is it right now?

It is Reiwa 8, written 令和8年. Today’s full date is 令和8年8月3日. The Reiwa era began on May 1, 2019, when Emperor Naruhito acceded.

What is the difference between wareki and seireki?

和暦 (wareki) is the Japanese imperial calendar, which counts years from the start of the current reign. 西暦 (seireki) is the Western Gregorian calendar, the year you already use. Japan runs both at once: seireki for daily life and international business, wareki for government paperwork. The era name itself is called 元号 (gengō).

How do I convert a Reiwa year to a Western year?

Add 2018. Reiwa 8 plus 2018 is 2026. Going the other way, subtract 2018 from the Western year. The other eras use their own number: add 1988 for Heisei, 1925 for Showa, 1911 for Taisho, and 1867 for Meiji.

I was born in a year that changed eras. Which one do I write?

Whichever era was in force on your actual birth date, not the one that covers most of the year. Someone born on 14 November 1926 was born in Taisho 15; someone born on 30 December 1926 was born in Showa 1, despite sharing a Western year. Same for 1989: born 1 to 7 January is Showa 64, born 8 January onward is Heisei 1. A calendar year can carry two era names, and a single date almost always has one. The exceptions are 30 July 1912 and 25 December 1926, which sources assign to both adjacent eras. For those two days, copy the era printed on your document.

What does R8 or S39.7.21 mean on a document?

It is an era year abbreviated to the first letter of its name: R for Reiwa, H for Heisei, S for Showa, T for Taisho, M for Meiji. S39.7.21 is Showa 39, month 7, day 21, which is 21 July 1964. Separators and zero-padding vary by system, so that same date also prints as S39/7/21 or S39.07.21. The five initials do not collide, and keeping them distinct was a stated consideration when Reiwa was chosen in 2019.

What does 年 mean, and why is year one written 元年?

年 means "year", so 令和8年 reads "Reiwa year 8". The first year of any era is written 元年, read gannen and meaning "origin year", instead of 1年. Reiwa 1 is 令和元年 and Heisei 1 is 平成元年. Forms and printed dates follow this without exception, so a chart showing 令和1年 is a translation error.

Did the Showa era start on 25 or 26 December 1926?

Sources genuinely disagree. Emperor Taisho died on 25 December 1926 and his son acceded the same day, so most conversion charts, and this one, print 25 December as both the last day of Taisho 15 and the first day of Showa 1. The wording of the era edict is ambiguous about whether the day itself is included, and some Japanese institutions avoid the double-claimed day by starting Showa on 26 December. The same ambiguity applies to 30 July 1912. If you are converting a real document dated in that window, the era printed on the document wins.

Is Showa the same as Shōwa?

Yes. The macron marks a long vowel. English forms and databases usually drop it, so Shōwa is written Showa and Taishō is written Taisho. Meiji, Heisei, and Reiwa have no long vowels and are spelled the same either way.

How far ahead can this table go?

An era lasts exactly as long as the reign, and nobody can date the next succession in advance. Rows past 2026 here, and in every other conversion chart, assume the Reiwa era continues. If it ends, the years before that point stay correct and only the tail changes.

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