The Japanese era name will have changed since 2019. Normally, it changes when Japan's Emperor dies. You may think "why do you know the present Emperor will die in 2019?". I will explain the reason. Japan's Emperor Akihito announced last year that he wanted to step down from the throne because of his old age. He is eighty three years old now. He said that he wished he would be able to perform the constitutional functions of the emperor with all his soul but that he could not do them anymore. The Japanese government heard and accepted his statement.
The present Japanese era name is 平成(Heisei) and this year is Heisei 29 year. The previous era name is 昭和(Showa) and it continued for sixty three years. The one before Showa is 大正(Taisho) and it only continued for fifteen years because the Taisho Emperor died early after he ascended to the throne.
The Japanese government seems to have four appropriate options for the name of the next one. They are made up of two kanji and which seems to be words that aren't used commonly. However, the next era name wouldn't be used long because the next Japanese Emperor Naruhito, who is the crown prince, is already fifty seven years old. Does your country have era names?
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Comments
To Estanis Thank you for your compliment. Please visit Japan some day.
To Onee-chan Thank you for your comment and advice. It is interesting that the leader's name is used as the era name.
If I may say,, you should say...
"The Japanese era name will have changed by 2019"
Thank you for writing such a precious information. :)
Wow!! I like to read history nowadays. Thank you for sharing... :)
We don't have any specific names of era. We just name it the same with the leader's name, which is the president.
To Estanis Thank you for your comment. Some scholars put some options and the Japanese government choose one of them. Japanese era name has been used since about 1350 years ago and it's usually used in official documents. On the other hand, the Christian Era has been used after Japan accepted western culture, it is about 150 years ago.
Thank you for your blog, I like it. Just I would like to ask something if possible :)
Who put the name and what's the reason for the particular names of the eras in Japan?
Thank you!